REOMEN
The cool amusement I'd been cultivating all night evaporated, replaced by a cold, sharp fury that settled in my veins like ice.
I saw the marks on her skin—four angry, red crescents against the pale silk of her arm—and something in me just… snapped.
My jaw tightened, a muscle ticking relentlessly beneath my skin. The hum of the gala faded into a dull, insignificant buzz. All I could see was the violation. The fucking audacity.
I didn't look at Paige again. I didn't need to. The image was burned into my mind. I just turned, my movements deliberate and lethally calm, and cut through the crowd.
I found them exactly where I'd left them. Shunsuke, holding forth to some sycophant. Barbara, already recomposed, her mask of icy elegance back in place. She had the gall to look mildly surprised to see me approach alone.
I didn't break stride. I stopped directly in front of them, my presence cutting off Shunsuke's conversation mid-sentence.
