The Burden of the Crown Adrian did not merely possess wealth. He was the actual, living embodiment of it.

It was pouring rain in Brooklyn. Maya pulled her thin raincoat tighter around her shoulders as she walked out of the tiny accounting firm where she had just finished a ten-hour shift. She was exhausted. Her bank account was overdrawn, and her mother's prescription was due for a refill.

She turned the corner toward her rundown apartment building and stopped dead in her tracks.

Parked in front of her building, taking up three spaces and looking entirely out of place in the gritty neighborhood, was a sleek, black Maybach. Standing in the pouring rain, leaning against the hood of the car without an umbrella, was Julian.

He wasn't wearing a cheap polyester shirt, but he wasn't wearing a bespoke tuxedo, either. He wore a simple, dark sweater and jeans. He was soaked to the bone, his dark hair plastered to his forehead.

Maya’s heart did a painful, violent flip, but she forced her jaw to clench.

"You're blocking the hydrant, Vanguard," she said coldly, walking past him toward her stoop.

"Maya, please. Just five minutes," Julian begged, stepping into her path.

"We have nothing to say to each other. Go back to your penthouse before you catch a cold and the stock market crashes."

"I stepped down," Julian blurted out.

Maya froze on the first step of her stoop. She turned around slowly, the rain washing over her face. "What?"

"I stepped down as CEO of Vanguard Holdings this morning," Julian said, his voice cutting through the sound of the rain. "I transferred majority control to a blind trust, overseen by an independent board. I promoted Thorne to CEO."

Maya stared at him, stunned. "You... you gave up your company? Why?"

"Because it was a cage," Julian took a slow step toward her. "Because I built my whole life protecting this massive fortress, and it turned me into a miserable, cynical machine. But then I went to Queens. I met a girl who yelled at me for typing too slow, who shared her awful coffee with me, and who was brave enough to take down a corrupt VP to protect her friends."