"Yes," I said hesitantly, "but I think maybe the party should wait just a few more minutes."
"Why is that?" Alexander asked. The tension in his voice was subtle but clear to me now—I’d come to know him so well in the past few months.
"Alexander," I said, forcing my voice to stay steady, "is there something you know about all of this that you’re not telling me?"
His eyebrows rose slightly, caught off guard by my bluntness. His gaze locked onto mine, and I held it even as my heart raced.
His eyes darkened, a flicker of something unspoken crossing his face. It wasn’t anger exactly—it was more like a calculated assessment, as though he were truly seeing me for the first time.
"If I knew something about it," he said slowly, his voice measured, "what reason would I have to hi
