The night air outside the grand glass doors carried a soft warmth, the kind that lingered at the end of a successful evening. Lights from the banquet hall spilled across the pavement in golden patches, shimmering on the polished black car that rolled up to the entrance. But none of that mattered to him now.

Not the applause.

Not the congratulations.

What Andrei remembered most vividly was Elena, standing elegantly at his side, speaking when spoken to, smiling with that quiet grace he treasured ...