CHAPTER 3: The Doors at the End of the Room

At the far end of the ballroom, the main double doors stood closed beneath a carved gold frame.
Every guest seemed to notice them at the same time.
Not because they had opened yet.
Because Noah had looked toward them.
Caleb followed his gaze and laughed once. “What are you waiting for? Management?”
Noah did not answer.
The silence stretched through the room. Champagne glasses remained suspended in guests’ hands. White floral arrangements trembled only from the faint movement of air conditioning above the chandeliers.
Ava stepped half a pace toward Noah, but Caleb blocked her with his shoulder.
“Stay there,” he said.
The words landed wrong.
Not loud. Not dramatic. Just wrong enough for Ava to hear the future inside them.
Then the double doors opened.
Slowly.
First came the sight of the hallway beyond them. Then a man in a navy three-piece suit appeared just outside the threshold, flanked by two security guards in black suits with earpieces.
Charles Whitmore stepped into the ballroom.
And half the guests stopped breathing.
The Obsidian staff reacted first. Backs straightened. Eyes lowered. Hands folded in front of black jackets.
They knew exactly who had entered.