"Stay with me."
I inhale. He exhales with me.
Through the glass, Victor leans toward Olivia and murmurs. She nods once. Victor catches Phoenix's eye across the ballroom. Small nod. A signal passed.
Candace's voice comes through the earpiece, tight and low. "He's really here."
I know who she means before Malachi responds. Harrison. My father. Somewhere on that floor.
"Yeah," Malachi replies.
I scan the ballroom through the glass. Table by table. Face by face. I see him. Third row, left side, charcoal suit, posture perfect. Sitting with the ease of a man who has never been touched. Scotch in his hand. He sips, smiles at the man beside him. He looks comfortable.
My body goes cold.
Knox reads it. His arm cinches around my waist, drawing me back against his chest. "I see him."
"I know."
"He can't see you."
"I know that too." My hands are shaking again. I flatten them against the glass. It's cool beneath my palms. I watch my father study the stage with the satisfied expression of a man at an event he helped build.
"Let them feel safe," Phoenix murmurs. "Let them show themselves."
"And let them spend," McKenzie adds.
"Security rotation just changed," Felix reports.
Arden opens his eyes. "I caught it. Adjusting the loop."
Frankie reappears in the corridor behind us, breathing slightly faster than before. She meets Arden's eyes. He nods. She nods back. Whatever happened on the service floor, it's handled.
The bids rise. The voice at the podium praises generosity. Mentions charity. Empowerment. Applause fills the ballroom.
Anna watches from the glass, arms folded tight across her chest. "I want to scream." The words are thin, meant only for me.
I turn to her. "Hold it. Use it. We need it to burn later."
Her eyes flick to me. Sharp. "You're good at that."
"I'm learning when to say the thing that matters instead of the thing that's safe."
Ruby's fingers fly across her tablet. "Three more names confirmed. Senator, judge, CEO, two councilmen. Evidence chain is solid." She pauses, scrolling back through the data. "I know someone who could use this."
Nash glances at her. His expression shifts, respect and something that might be pride, before he levels it out. "Yeah?"
"My father." She says it softly, eyes on the screen. "He'd want to see this."
Ruby's mouth tugs at the corner. She goes back to typing.
Malachi's voice comes through the earpiece, barely a murmur. "With us, Sloane?"
I lift my chin even though he can't see me. "Yeah."
Another bid. Another name. Another hand raised in a room that smells of champagne, cologne, and men who believe money makes consent.
Phoenix holds the floor with the stillness of a man gripping a detonator, waiting for the right second.
