From the center of the ballroom, where politics wore perfume and chandeliers and pretended to be civilized, the balcony scene had not been invisible.
It had only been discreet.
Which, in rooms like this, was often worse.
Damian had seen the slap.
Gabriel had seen the aftermath.
Gregoris had seen the hold that came after, the way Arik had blocked Natalie from the glass instead of defending himself, and Rafael had seen enough of his daughter's face when she returned to know precisely how close the evening had come to becoming memorable in all the wrong ways.
None of them had moved.
There were four adults with enough experience to know the difference between intervention and intrusion and enough confidence in the children involved to wait until waiting stopped being the right answer.
It was, however, becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the posture of people merely enjoying a gala.
