35

Gwendolyn’s POV

Macau rose from the South China Sea like a gilded fever dream. Even at 4:00 AM, the Cotai Strip was a neon scar against the horizon, a monument to the world’s insatiable desire to lose everything on a single turn of the wheel.

"The Great Vault is situated 60 meters beneath the floor of the Palazzo Sinclair," I said, my voice cutting through the hum of The Jade Dragon’s engines. "Atmospheric pressure is constant. Security is a kinetic-dampening grid. Any sudden movement above