Michael Helwart's sudden announcement was like a lightning strike in the grand ballroom.

"I'm married."

A silence, thick and suffocating, swallowed the room whole.

Married? Did he just say married?

The golden lights flickered off the crystal chandeliers as gasps fluttered from the guests like moths stirred from the dark. Time seemed to halt, the air tense and brittle. Violet Bento's face turned ghostly pale, her eyes widening in disbelief as though someone had driven a cold blade ...