The applause around them was too bright.
People clapped for the music, for the charity, for the tasteful performance of generosity that allowed everyone to pretend they had not spent the last three minutes watching four people bleed politely on a dance floor.
Maya did not move.
Noah stood in front of her, his hand no longer touching hers, but the words he had given her still held the space between them.
He doesn’t know what Sienna did after you left.
Maya looked at him until the applause faded into ordinary noise. Around them, couples left the floor. Laughter resumed. Glasses clinked. Helen March announced another pledge with her practiced delight.
Noah’s eyes stayed on Maya.
“What did she do?” Maya asked.
Her voice was steady. That pleased her. It also frightened her a little, bec
