~Selena's POV~
They all think I'm waiting.
I'm too proud. Too blind. Too trusting.
But pride never built an empire.
Control did.
And I didn't rise from the ashes of a burned childhood just to be undone by whispers and ambition. The Viper thinks she's patient. Thinks she's coiling beneath me, waiting to strike.
But she forgets something important.
I don't flinch when the snake shows its fangs.
I tear out its tongue before it hisses.
4:47 a.m. | Black Marble Hotel – Operations Wing
The war room was silent but alive—monitors blinking softly, papers sprawled across the long oak table, shadows dancing as the city stirred beyond the glass. I hadn't slept in 36 hours. Sleep was a luxury I couldn't afford anymore. Not while someone was building a throne two steps from mine.
Victor stood beside me, dark circles beneath his eyes. He'd been my shadow for years, ever since the fire. Ever since the girl named Marie died screaming in smoke, the Queen Bee was born.
