Ace Kane walked out of the hotel with his arm slung casually around Julian Mandel’s shoulders, beckoning Hudson Nolan to follow him into the night.
When they had arrived earlier that evening, Ace had been a ghost—a non-entity to be ignored or a convenient target for the cruel, jagged mockery of those who felt empowered by their own mid-tier titles. But as they departed the gilded foyer, a spontaneous and desperate retinue had formed. A sea of former classmates followed them in a silent, unprompted procession all the way to the hotel’s main entrance, their eyes wide with a mixture of reverence and paralyzing fear. It was as if they were accompanying royalty or witnessing a Tectonic Shift in their very social reality. They weren't just walking; they were tailing the source of the raw, preda
