CHAPTER 2: Champagne Does Not Hide Tears

The word moved through the gala faster than gossip and cleaner than a gunshot.
Mira froze with one arm around the boy and the other still balancing the tray. A tower of champagne coupes glittered behind her, each glass catching the chandelier as if the whole room had been built to turn panic into decoration.
Leo's face was pressed into her shirt. His shoulders shook. Mira bent around him by instinct, shielding him with her body before she remembered where she was and who had paid her to be invisible.
At the head table, Isadora Alden stood slowly in a silver gown sewn to look like moonlight. Her diamonds did not move. Her mouth did.
"Leo," she said, with a sweetness that made nearby guests look down. "Come here now."
The boy only clung harder.
Mira felt the whole ballroom waiting for her to obey the woman in diamonds. She had obeyed for two years. She had swallowed warnings, signed schedules, accepted back doors, and pretended Leo's whispered name for her did not break her heart.
Tonight, his fingers were locked in her sleeve.
So she did not let go.