Chapter 1: The Architecture of Ice

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 04:51:25 +0000

The silence in her Mayfair penthouse was a cultivated entity. It wasn't an accident of emptiness; it was a deliberate construction, as meticulously designed as the stark lines of her furniture or the flawless logic of her investment portfolios. It lived in the vast, cold space between the floor-to-ceiling windows that framed a glittering, indifferent London skyline. At precisely 7:17 PM, Chandni Deshpande stood motionless at its heart, a solitary curator in the museum of her own life.