THE FLIGHT home from Milan should have given Sophie an opportunity to rest.
Instead, she spent most of it staring out the window while her thoughts moved in circles she could not seem to escape.
The attack on her servers had failed, but the implications continued to bother her. Whoever had targeted her prototype possessed significant resources, considerable technical skill, and enough confidence to leave behind a direct warning.
That combination rarely ended well.
Unfortunately, the cybersecurity crisis was not the only thing occupying her mind.
Lucien Keller had become increasingly difficult to categorize. For months, she had been comfortable placing him into a neat professional box.
Investor, mentor, ally, or a partner in the investigation. Those labels had made sense.
Lately, how
