CHAPTER 1: The Slap Beneath the Chandelier

The grand hotel lobby was built to make people lower their voices.
Crystal chandeliers hung over the marble floor. Gold walls reflected daylight from the revolving glass entrance doors. Staff in dark uniforms stood near the columns, trained to notice everything and react to almost nothing.
Then Benjamin Hale slapped Ava Carter across the cheek.
The sound cracked through the lobby once.
Ava dropped to one knee on the marble, one hand catching herself before her dress touched the floor. Her fitted white dress stayed smooth. Her black heels scraped softly against the stone.
Benjamin stood over her in a cream suit, a black phone still gripped in his right hand.
Guests froze near the reception desk. A bellman stopped with his hand on a luggage handle. A waiter lowered his tray by one inch and stopped breathing.
Benjamin looked down at Ava as if the entire room existed to confirm his opinion.
“You don’t belong in a hotel like this,” he said.
Ava touched her cheek.
Her eyes watered, but she did not cry.
That was the first thing Benjamin failed to understand.