Raven Nightshade's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Raven Nightshade wanted a moon of her own, and only one man could buy it for her. He was a tech baron worth more than most countries. He never gave interviews. He never showed his face. If she could get close enough to seduce him, his fortune would be hers. But she had a problem. She had no idea where he lived. She sat in a rented office high inside the split tower, the one that divided homes from businesses down its steel spine. Below her, the city glowed. Somewhere in it, the baron hid. She had spent three weeks and most of her savings chasing rumors. Every trail ended in silence. Her black hair fell loose over bare shoulders. She never dressed for comfort. She dressed to make men forget their questions. So far it had bought her meetings, but no address. She opened the baron's public foundation page one more time. A single photo loaded. A charity garden, funded by his money. In the center stood a huge tree with glowing green leaves and pale bark. The caption named it his "personal gift." No location listed. Raven leaned close. The leaves were not paint or lights. They were engineered. Only one lab in the city grew things like that, and that lab shipped to private addresses only. She called the lab and dropped the baron's foundation name. "I'm confirming delivery for the client's second tree," she said. Her voice stayed bored, certain, like a woman who belonged. The clerk hesitated. "We only shipped the one. To the estate." "Right. The estate." Raven kept her tone flat. "Remind me of the ledger address. My copy smeared." He read it out. A private compound outside the city, gated, off every public map. Raven wrote it down. Her hand did not shake. Then the clerk paused. "Wait. Who is this?" She ended the call. Raven stared at the address. She had it. After weeks of walls, she finally had a door. She should have felt only triumph. But the clerk's last question stayed with her. He would flag the call. He would tell his manager a woman fished for the baron's private location. A man that careful with his face kept people watching for exactly this. She stood and looked at the photo again. The glowing tree. His personal gift, grown in secret, guarded like a treasure. A man who hid himself but treasured one bright thing. Raven smiled. That was her way in. Not the gate. The gift. She grabbed her coat and the slip of paper. She knew where he lived now. That was the good news. The bad news rode with it. By morning, the baron would know someone was hunting him. She had her opening. She just had to reach him before his guards reached her first.