The host looked down at the card in his trembling hand.
Alex stood perfectly still.
Only a few minutes earlier, he had been laughing with a champagne glass raised near his mouth, surrounded by people who treated his cruelty like entertainment.
Now nobody was laughing.
The woman in red stood directly across from him.
She had changed clothes, but nothing else about her seemed different.
Her expression held the same impossible calm she had worn while carrying the tray.
Her eyes were steady.
Her shoulders were relaxed.
Alex was the one who looked different.
The confidence had disappeared from his face.
The host lifted the microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, his voice carrying through the ballroom, “please welcome the woman who now owns half of this estate.”
For one second, nobody moved.
Then the room seemed to inhale at once.
The woman in silver released Alex’s arm.
His glass slipped several inches in his hand before he caught it.
“What?” he said.
It was barely audible.
The woman in red said nothing.
That silence was worse than any accusation.
Alex looked from her to the host, waiting for someone to laugh and admit this was another game.
Nobody did.
The guests who had raised their phones to record a waitress being humiliated now found themselves recording Alex’s face instead.
He turned sharply toward the host.
“What did you just say?”
The host swallowed.
“You heard me.”
Alex gave a quick, disbelieving laugh.
“No.
I heard something ridiculous.”
The woman in silver leaned closer to him, though this time there was no amusement in her expression.
“Alex…”
He ignored her.
“She’s a waitress.”
The words carried farther than he intended.
A few guests exchanged glances.
The woman in red finally moved.
She reached toward a nearby table where a slim folder had been placed for her arrival.
She opened it without hurry.
Alex watched the folder more carefully than he had watched her all night.
Inside were formal ownership documents relating to the estate.
The print was too small for the surrounding guests to read, but the host clearly recognized them.
So did Alex.
Or at least he recognized enough.
His jaw tightened.
“Where did you get that?”
She looked at him.
“You were more interested in my uniform than in asking who I was.”
A murmur moved through the ballroom.
Alex’s cheeks flushed.
He stepped closer and lowered his voice.
“This isn’t funny.”
“I agree.”
She did not raise hers.
That made the exchange even more uncomfortable to witness.
