Chapter 1: The Dinner of Smiles
The private dining room glittered like a jewel box.
Crystal chandeliers spilled gold across the long mahogany table. Silver knives rested beside porcelain plates. Champagne shimmered in tall glasses, untouched by anyone too afraid to miss the moment.
Everyone had come for one reason.
Adrian Blackwood was expected to announce his engagement.
Across from him sat Celeste Vale, the woman in the red dress. She smiled like a queen before her coronation. Her diamonds flashed each time she lifted her glass.
Beside her sat Marianne, Adrian’s stepmother.
Marianne had worn black silk and pearls, the same colors she had worn at Adrian’s mother’s funeral twelve years earlier.
Adrian noticed.
He noticed everything.
Celeste leaned closer, her voice soft enough for only him.
“Everyone is waiting, Adrian.”
He looked at her calmly.
“Let them wait.”
A faint shadow crossed Celeste’s face, but Marianne quickly covered it with a graceful laugh.
“My dear boy,” Marianne said, “tonight is not the time for coldness. This union will secure the company, the estate, and your father’s legacy.”
Adrian slowly set down his champagne glass.
“My father’s legacy?”
The table grew quieter.
Marianne’s smile remained perfect.
“And your mother’s memory, of course.”
At those words, Adrian’s eyes changed.
Not with anger.
With certainty.
He reached into his jacket and placed a small black remote beside his plate.
Celeste’s smile faded.
Marianne’s fingers tightened around her glass.
May you like
Adrian looked at both women and said quietly,
“My mother’s memory is exactly why I invited everyone here.”
