licon Valley-tech billionaires, venture capitalists, politicians-filled the grand ballroom and spilled out onto the immaculate lawns. A live string
r slender frame like liquid moonlight. Her honey-blonde hair was swept into an elaborate twist, threaded with tiny seed pearls. She held a crystal
e crystal stem tightened. She was waiting. Waiting for the trailer-park trash to stumble down those
d cane planted between her feet like a scepter. People lined up to kiss her ring a
e. A momentary, breath-held s
ect quiet, s
azed around her silhouette, a dark figure carved out of light. Every head in the ballroom turned. The low
g the full ambient glow of the
the bla
er collarbones and the long, pale column of her throat. The fabric absorbed the light, shimmering with a dark, liquid luster that seemed almost alive. She wore no jewelry. Her dark hair was swept back
rl. She looked like a dark queen
ible gasp tore th
hock. Tech moguls and socialites stood frozen, mouths hanging open.
gne tower, Coretta
champagne sloshed over the rim and splashed directly onto the pr
The jealousy detonating in her chest was a physical, living fire, searing her lungs. This was impossible. The
ate, white-knuckled force. She leaned forward, her thin mouth opening and closing soundlessly, like a fish drowning in a
the heavy black silk of her skirt between he
teppe
ic
ble. The sound echoed throu
ic
idn't scan the crowd. She didn't acknowledge Coretta's twisted, ashen face or Mati
ic
llionaires and socialites instinctively scrambled back
ctly beneath the largest chandelier, and slowly lifted her chin. She looked past the hundreds of stari
d, dead eyes suddenly sparked-a violent, consuming heat flicke
littering lights, ignoring the erupting
ng fo
/1/115746/coverbig.jpg?v=d6805b2001516314359a4f005626674f&imageMogr2/format/webp)