Radiant Exception

Prologue

“Iknow what you’ve been up to, Lark.”

I met Darren’s gaze over my coffee cup, doing my best to withhold a grimace. Once upon a time, my poker face had been the stuff of legend, but a few years as a recluse in addition to Darren’s paternal scrutiny had thrown me off kilter.

I thought I’d been so careful, covering my tracks, but Darren was a real bloodhound when he wanted to be.

I took a pull of the dark and bitter liquid to recenter myself before acknowledging the accusation.

It was a stalling tactic.

He knew better.

Darren’s lips pressed into a thin, flat line, and his eyes darkened, unimpressed with my attempted obfuscation. “Lark Sterling. Don’t lie to me.”

Darren’s stern tone sent my stomach swooping, like a child who had disobeyed an authority figure. It didn’t matter that I was a grown woman, or that he wasn’t my father…not by blood anyway.

Silence permeated the air.

It was one of his favorite interrogation techniques.

Who’d be the first one to crack?

I sighed, tracing the pad of my index finger along the rim of the coffee mug.

We both knew it would be me.

“Why’d you ask me to meet you?” I said.

“You’ve gotten sloppy. I trained you better than this.

I’ve received multiple reports over the last few months about a tall brunette digging into the Phoenix and Meridian financials.

So, unless you have any convenient doppelgangers roaming around Tharsis that I don’t know about, there’s only one person that came to mind who has both the gall and the stupidity to go about it so brazenly.

” His bushy mustache twitched, a true sign of his concern through the admonishment.

“I know what I’m doing.” I crossed my arms over my chest, leaning back into the faded pleather booth. It wasn’t exactly a lie. Weren’t we all flying by the seats of our pants in some respect?

“Just like you knew what you were doing on Deimos?”

All decorum faded at the pointed remark.

Unable to hold back, I openly scowled at Darren.

Fail one mission—ONE—and I’d never live it down. Wasn’t it enough that it cost me my career?

“I’m worried about you, Lark.” The deep wrinkles around Darren’s eyes softened. “Every day I wonder if I’ll receive a missive about how you’ve died of an Elysian overdose.”

I blanched at the comment. “You know I’ve never touched the stuff. Especially not after what happened…”

Darren sighed, shifting in his seat. “Your recent antics have not gone unnoticed. It’s only a matter of time before the Phoenix finds you. And we both know how easy it would be for them to make it look like an accident…”

The truth of his words sank in. The overdoses had become so pervasive throughout the system in the last few years. How many of those overdoses were real and how many were convenient means to an end?

“Darren, this is all I have.” I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“All of them are gone—because of Meridian and the Phoenix. I couldn’t stop digging if I wanted to.

Dismantling the Meridian network piece by piece, starting with disrupting their revenue flow, is the only thing giving me purpose,” I argued, my voice more tremulous than I could help.

The Phoenix was the key to their entire operations. Take them down, the money stops, and Meridian crumbles. “I’ll go farther underground, erect more layers between me and my work. But I won’t stop. You can’t make me.”

Darren sighed. “I’m not here to scold you.”

My eyes shot up to meet his—still bright blue, despite the years of age that marred his skin.

“I’m here to offer you a lead and an off-the-books mission to rid the system of the Phoenix once and for all, and if we’re lucky, bring down Meridian as a result.”

A Cheshire smile slowly crept across my face. “Now you’ve got my attention.”