Chapter 40 The First Empire Stone

• Sophia's Pov
• The winter sun slanted weakly through the grimy window of my apartment, turning the dust in the air into drifting sparks. I sat cross-legged on the worn out rug, laptop balanced on a packing box that served as my desk, heartbeat drumming faster than the clicking keys.
• Three months had passed since I slipped away from Dominic’s home, and in that time my hidden account had multiplied, slowly at first, then in surges of calculated risk. I’d traded foreign currencies at dawn, studied balance sheets long after midnight, and stalked opportunities like a hunter in the dark.