All Chapters of Empire of Dominance: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

“You aren’t listening to me,” said Raven, trying to swallow back her raw anger. She knew she was right about the inconsistencies she’d found in the data. And she knew it was important. Raven was a risk analyst: a specialized, every-second-counts sort of job where she made sure a given company’s money—in this case, huge amounts of money—were being managed safely, tailoring investments and predicting the market. And still, her direct supervisor barely looked up from his desk. “It’s your first day, honey. Don’t try to walk before you can run.”Raven could literally hear her teeth grinding. “I know what the data says.”“Watch your tone with me, miss. It’s five o’clock—Go get yourself a drink and celebrate your first day.”“But—”“We’re not discussing this right now.”She tried to make her angry rush look like a purposeful stride toward the elevator, but honestly—the whole day had been a wash. She didn’t care who knew it. Raven couldn’t believe how many

When Raven stepped out into her new office space the next morning, the sun was barely peeking over the horizon, lighting up the grid work of city streets outside. This office was a different world than the drab bullpen of the day before. Instead of a maze of uniform desks with flat fluorescent lighting, there was an entire office, just for herself, with a window overlooking the skyline. Her name was already on the nameplate on the door. Still, it all didn’t feel real.She was dressed to match the change in circumstances. No more sensible blank-slate first-day outfit. She’d put time into her hair this morning, scheduled a manicure after work yesterday, and ensured she appeared composed and pristine. No one would doubt that she belonged here by looking at her. And she would make sure they knew that she did when they saw her work.Raven wasn’t cocky, but she was certainly confident. If you put an earnings sheet in front of her, she could decode it to dig out the company's narrative

Sharon, Andre, and Raven all arrived at work around the same time, just after sunrise, one week after Raven had started her new position.“Morning,” she smiled genuinely at them as they approached.“Morning,” Sharon echoed back, holding out the coffees she’d brought for Andre and Raven.“Is it Friday yet?” Andre fake-whined dramatically, making the two women laugh.Raven liked her coworkers very much, and she had the strong impression they liked her too. Already, they’d fallen into a comfortable pattern with each other, arriving around the same time in the morning and sharing a quiet warm-up to the day, chatting and getting themselves situated.Then the real work of the day began, and they buckled down in their separate offices until the catered lunch was delivered. Their relationship was less as casual coworkers and more as comrades in the trenches. The work they were doing was serious; they all knew that. At the same time, they all understood that they were under the sa

Kade keyed in an access code and pressed his thumb to a reader, opening the way to a private elevator. This was his private entrance inside of one of the most exclusive and luxurious apartment buildings in the city. Raven knew it by sight, but just as the limo pulled away along the street, she found herself unable to think about the absurd amount of money it must cost to have this level of privacy in this specific building. All she could focus on was the tight hold of Kade’s arm around her waist, the unquestioning power of his muscles.She barely noticed the sleek gold of the elevator, its spotless over-large extravagance. All she could see was herself as a reflection in the pristine doors, pinned against the powerful, beautiful man beside her. She watched his hand slide upward, cupping and toying with one of her breasts through the thin fabric of the dress.Breathe, she thought, breathe.But just breathing was getting more and more difficult as she clung to him in turn, gr

It was a good thing Leo was such a bad con man—or at least a messy one, in terms of hiding the evidence—because Raven’s head was not in the game for the rest of the day at work. Kade had gotten Raven access to Leo’s company email account, and she spent hours absently matching up promises about “legitimate” investments and preferential treatment Leo made with when that money landed in his bank accounts. (Seriously, who conducted their fraud through undeleted emails on their proprietary company account? A genius Leo Braugh was not.) She knew this was her moment of victory, a major bust that was doing its part in keeping the company watertight. But her mind just kept wandering hours ahead, to nine o’clock. Sharp.She kept having to be reminded what they were talking about when Andre and Sharon tried to loop her into the conversation at lunch.“You are seriously out of it today, Senior Risk Analyst,” said Sharon, framing it as a joke but Raven heard the note of real concern un