By the time I got downstairs, the house was already full of people. Not just any people, rich people. The kind who hold wine glasses like props and laugh too softly, the kind who wear suits that look like they cost more than my entire life.
I stood at the bottom of the stairs feeling like I’d walked into the wrong house, the wrong party, maybe even the wrong world. Everyone looked like they belonged here. I… definitely didn’t.
My eyes moved around the room until they landed on Mabel and Mr. Gates. They were talking to a man, both smiling politely the way rich people do when they greet someone they’ve known forever. Mabel’s eyes lifted and caught mine. Her smile widened instantly, warm in a way that made my chest loosen a little. She tapped Mr. Gates’s shoulder and he turned, his face bri
