Chapter 45

• I watched the light shift across the boutique floor as the sun moved higher in the sky. Morning bled into noon without fanfare, but the weight of the day pressed against my shoulders as if it knew what I was about to do.
• Simone’s heels clicked softly from the back hallway. She’d been organizing the guest list for hours, her posture tense but focused. Claudia had taken over press logistics. Lena was on the phone with someone from The Seasoned Edit, weaving another thread of quiet invitation. Everyone was working like the air itself had thickened into urgency.
• But I stood still.