"Keigh?"
Her voice was gentle and polished, the kind of softness trained through years of etiquette classes and whispered expectations.
Fiona Alaric stood a few steps behind them, her parents flanking her like elegant shadows.
Nara recognized them instantly. The Alarics were impossible to ignore. They had wealth, influence, and posture that always suggested they owned the air around them.
Fiona's mother gave Nara a brief, sweeping glance, polite, measured and dismissive. Her father didn't bother hiding his disapproval; it radiated off him like heat.
Fiona, however, wasn't harsh. She looked… curious and surprised that Keigh wasn't where he was supposed to be. None of them saw Nara as a threat, not yet.
They simply saw her as someone out of place, but they all noticed the same thing,
Keigh wasn't standing with them. He wasn't by Fiona's side, he wasn't following the carefully crafted choreography of the night. He was with someone else, but before anyone could make it into something bigger, Keigh subtly shifted his stance, angling his body to block Nara from direct attention.
Not touching her, not obvious, just protective.
Fiona's mother spoke first, her tone wrapped in silk but dipped in quiet control.
"Keigh, darling, your father has been looking for you. The stage preparations are almost complete."
Keigh nodded once polite, neutral, giving nothing away.
"I'll be there shortly," he said.
His tone was smooth, controlled and perfectly composed. No defiance or argument. Just enough respect to keep peace but not enough warmth to imply agreement.
Fiona's father narrowed his eyes, suspicious but unable to criticize him in public. Fiona herself offered a small, tentative smile, more out of confusion than anything else.
Her gaze flicked briefly toward Nara again, not accusatory or jealous, just trying to place her. Trying to understand why Keigh was standing so close to someone outside their circles.
Before the silence could stretch, Keigh spoke gently to Nara:
"I'll be back."
Soft enough only she could hear, not promising anything or inviting trouble, just reassurance.
Then he stepped forward, allowing Fiona and her parents to lead him away, playing along, exactly as he needed to.
As they walked, Fiona's mother leaned in to whisper something toward Keigh, her eyes darting briefly toward Nara. Fiona's father tightened his jaw, already piecing together assumptions and Fiona glanced back one more time, not with hatred or anger. Just uncertainty.
Like she had witnessed something subtle she wasn't supposed to see.
The event coordinator's voice boomed through the ballroom:
"Ladies and gentlemen, the Dynamite family is requested at the stage for the announcement."
Keigh gave Nara a final look, unreadable and steady before joining his family. Leaving Nara in a quiet corner of the room, untouched by the storm forming on the stage.
She hadn't been dragged into the drama because she hadn't caused anything. She was simply the woman he chose to look at first, and soon when the announcement began, he would make his choice public. But not here, not near her and not in a way that exposed her.
Tonight, the spotlight was on him and he was going to break the script without pulling her into the crossfire.