The Cross Family
Adrian, last, closed the door with a quiet click that felt like a lock sliding into place.
Inside the ballroom, the ceiling arched in a sweep of starlight. A string quartet sang through the opening hour, and the air smelled faintly of peonies and money. Waiters drifted with trays that glittered. The Cross family might as well have arrived with their own weather; the temperature shifted around them, conversations pivoting, faces lifting.
Mya kept her chin high, matching the brothers’ pace. For a full five minutes, it worked. Hellos, congratulations, the soft press of hands, a few sincere donors who’d known their father and meant what they said: Welcome home.