SHE HIRED A STRANGER FROM A DATING APP TO STOP HER CLASSMATES FROM HUMILIATING HER—BUT WHEN THE BILLIONAIRE TOOK HER HAND, THE WHOLE REUNION TURNED INTO A NIGHT THEY WOULD NEVER FORGET

in the charcoal suit approached the stage and spoke quietly to Ethan. Whatever she said made him sag. Preston tried to slip toward a side exit, but security stopped him. The ballroom’s fragile glamour split open, revealing what had always been underneath it: vanity, greed, performance, rot.

And suddenly, in the middle of all that collapse, you understood continue reading …