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hispered, her hand pressing f
ghost in her borrowed, slightly-too-tight black dress, trying to make herself invisible. Her phone, tucked away in a small clutch, felt like a lead weight. She'd seen the email from Mount Sinai just before they'd le
s old, he looked like any other kid in his miniature suit, but the old tablet he
s a shadow, while Fiona tugged on Seraphin
ne mini grilled cheese sandwich left. She grabbed i
age where a man in a tailored tuxedo commanded the microphone. Donovan
ered, her eyes wide,
ht, and a blinding panic that stole her breath. She blinked it away, her hand ins
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! T
wind of scrolling names. Seraphina grabbed the kids'
hined, digging her heels into the pl
at was impossible. But he had found a loophole in the guest registration portal an hour earlier. A simple glitch. Names entered in the final thirty seconds before the raffle began were
second. The scrolling slowed, the names blurring, u
ER TRI
ge, slicing through the dim lighting like a blade, l
Every pair of eyes in the room-socialites, billionaires, heiresses-turned
ing off the high ceilings. "It looks like we have ou
floor. This wasn't supposed to happen. They were s
won!" She yanked her hand free from Seraphina's grip and started marching
na,
scooped up the hem of her dress and chased after them, her face
expression unreadable. But the older man beside him-Theodore Vance, the pat
or. She stopped the kids a few feet away from the
and finally landed on Pax. Pax didn't look away. The five-year-old stared
muscle feathered near his e
air. She needed to get out of this spotlight. She reached
the small, star-shaped birthmark on the i
ible, but it cut through the noise of the applause. His e
gling beneath him, her hands pushing against his
ht. She looked up, her eyes colliding with his. The cold calcu
grabbed the kids, pulling them behind her like a shield. "Thank you," she blu
her path. Alex Dunn, Donovan's assistant, stoo
tions. Mr. Vance would like to congratulate you personally and verify the prize detail
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