Page 148 of Problematic

“I’ll go up,” I said. “For answers. Then I decide.”

“That is exactly what he expected you to say.”

Of course.

He got out and opened my door. The street air hit my legs, cool and damp. I stepped onto the curb, tipped my head back, and watched the tower swallow the sky.

Inside, the lobby hit me hard all over again. Everything was too big, too clean. I didn't belong here, didn’t belong in a world like this. The first time, I had been too busy pretending I wasn’t terrified to notice half of it. Now, walking beside Vale with my cheap bag bumping my hip, I saw everything. Ceilings high. Black stone. Silver lines pulsing through the floor. Demons in suits with predatory stillness.

I glanced down at my clothes. Black jeans. Work shirt under a hoodie. Scuffed boots. Coffee stain on one sleeve. Amazing.

Vale’s hand settled lightly at the small of my back. “First stop,” he said. “Security intake.”

We bypassed the main security scanners and went to a smaller desk near a wall of black glass. A demon woman with silver eyes sat behind it, typing like she knew everyone’s secrets and found most of them boring.

She looked up. Her gaze moved from Vale to me.

Down.

Up.

Down again.

“Badge intake?” she asked dismissively.

“Executive access,” Vale said. “Olivia Heart.”

Her brows lifted. “Executive?”

I lifted one hand and gave her a finger wave. “Unfortunately.” And . . . she didn’t laugh. Rude.

Her nails clicked across the keyboard. “Department?”

“Executive Protection Asset,” Vale said smoothly.

The woman stopped typing. “Asset?” she repeated.

“Top level,” Vale said.

Her silver eyes slid back to me. I stood there in my hoodie and scuffed boots while she visually dissected me and found nothing remarkable, but that, I was used to.

“You mean Lux-level coding?” she confirmed. “This girl?”

Vale gave her a stop-talking-while-you-still-can look.

She typed faster. “Escort protocols, medical priority, private elevator access, expense privileges, emergency extraction, building-wide ward recognition.”

I choked. “Expense what?”

“Yes,” Vale said.

Her eyes narrowed at me. Vale cleared his throat. “Run the badge.”

The woman’s mouth curved, but it wasn’t friendly. “Of course. Executive Protection Asset. Same security priority as Lux Draven himself.”

My stomach dropped through the floor.

“Sorry,” I said. “Same as who?”