Dinner unfolded like a symphony of restraint.
Crystal chimed against porcelain, laughter rose in perfectly timed waves, and every word carried a weight no one dared acknowledge.
Willow sat poised beside Zane at the long marble table, the picture of quiet elegance. Across from them, Christy's diamonds caught the candlelight, and beside her, Miles raised his glass with the poise of a man rehearsing control.
Dinner resumed as though nothing had happened, but across the table, every glance carried a new current.
Miles's charm was brittle now and Christy's laughter too sharp. Zane was all composure again, though his knuckles stayed white around the stem of his wineglass, and Willow, serene and unreadable, seemed to glide above it all, untouchable and radiant, even as the need for air pressed insistently at her ribs.
The wine, the tension, the stifling opulence closed in from every side, and her pulse thrummed under her skin like a second heartbeat.
