Earlier that evening, before the music swelled and the laughter from the other side of the glass partition blended into a warm hum, Sebastian lifted his champagne flute the second the three men finally settled into the quiet corner of the lounge, his fingers tight around the stem like he needed something solid to hold on to, something steady in a world that had only recently stopped spinning out of control.
"I never thought I'd see this day," he began, his voice low but thick with emotion he wasn't even trying to hide anymore, his eyes gleaming in a way that had nothing to do with the overhead lights.
"I'm celebrating the recovery of my beautiful wife, Scarlet, because for a while there, I wasn't sure I'd ever get her back the way she is now."
He tipped the glass back and draine
