The silence that followed Seraphina's words did not break immediately. It held the room in place. The fundraising hall had shifted from a space of polished appearances into a battleground of reputation, perception, and timing. Evelyn had expected a visible fracture. She had built the entire event around the assumption that public pressure would force Seraphina into either denial or emotional exposure.
Instead, Seraphina gave her neither.
She stood beneath the glow of the overhead lights with the same calm expression she had worn when she first entered the room. The screen behind Evelyn still displayed the document pulled from Seraphina's past, a fragment of information stripped of its full context.
Lucien remained close enough to intervene, but he did not move. His stillness was deliberate. He had learned enough about Seraphina's instincts to understand that stepping in now would weaken the control she had just reclaimed.
