Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Velvet Noose
The sun had barely risen over the jagged New York skyline when the army arrived. They didn't come with guns or sirens, but with rolling racks of white lace, heavy books of guest lists, and silver trays of cake samples that tasted like ash in my mouth. Alexander had wasted no time. To the rest of the world, the gala was a romantic revelation, but inside the cold stone walls of the Knights mansion, it was the start of a military operation. The wedding wasn't being planned; it was being staged.
I sat in the middle of the grand drawing room, surrounded by people who moved like shadows. There were florists from Paris, caterers from London, and a woman named Madame Vane who was apparently the only person in the world trusted to touch the silk that would be
