THREE YEARS LATER

The ballroom glittered like a jewel box under a thousand chandeliers, each surface polished to an impossible gloss. Music drifted like silk through the air, and laughter blended with the clink of champagne flutes. But underlying the gilded surface was tension — the kind only the powerful disguised.

I moved through the crowd with the assurance of someone who belonged there, but every step was purposeful. My heels clicked on the marble floor, each one the measured beat ...