The Empty Ballroom
The room, it hit me cooler right away... empty air brushing my skin like some secret whisper, no crowd buzzing, just that muffled thump of the jazz band leaking through the walls. Mirrors everywhere, throwing those fairy lights into endless twinkles, making everything feel huge and tiny all at once, claustrophobic, almost. I backed up without even thinking, heels scraping soft on the carpet, until my shoulders smacked that cool glass. The mirror chilled right through my dress, zipping straight to my spine. Just us. No one else. God, my heart was racing already.
Victor, he reached into his tux pocket. Slow. So deliberate it made me shiver. Pulled out that spool of wide red satin ribbon, the stuff they'd wrapped around those centerpieces back in the main ballroom, all fe
