Chapter 6

The guards’ heavy hands were inches from my shoulders, the heat of their exertion radiating against my silk blouse. Above us, my digital ghost continued to bleed in 4K on the massive LED screens. The crowd's laughter was a physical weight, pressing down on my chest.

"Touch her, and you will never work in this hemisphere again."

The voice was not loud, but it possessed the density of a collapsing star. The two thick-necked security guards froze, their hands hovering in mid-air, the color draining from their knuckles.

A figure detached himself from the periphery of the elite crowd. Kenji…