The rim of the crystal glass was less than an inch from Adrian Whitmore's mouth when Nora grabbed his wrist.
"Don't drink that."
The words came out louder than she intended.
For one impossible second, the entire ballroom seemed to stop.
Adrian Whitmore stood frozen beside the head table, one hand wrapped around a glass of Cabernet worth more than Nora's monthly rent.
At sixty-two, he was still an intimidating man. Silver hair combed neatly back. Black tuxedo tailored perfectly across broad shoulders. The expression of someone who had spent forty years giving orders and rarely hearing the word no.
His gray eyes dropped to Nora's hand around his wrist.
Then slowly lifted to her face.
"What did you say?"
Nora's heart pounded.
Behind them, nearly two hundred guests filled the Whitmore estate ballroom. Politicians, investors, celebrities, executives.
People who belonged here.
People unlike her.
Nora wore a white service shirt, black waistcoat and bow tie. Until thirty seconds ago, she had been just another temporary banquet employee carrying trays through the room.
Now everyone was staring.
She released Adrian's wrist but immediately pushed the wine glass away from him.
"There's something in the wine."
A woman gasped.
Then a sharp voice cut across the table.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Celeste Monroe pushed through the guests.
She was impossible to miss.
Champagne-colored silk clung to her body, diamonds glittered at her throat, and soft blonde waves framed a face that had appeared on the covers of magazines ever since Adrian announced their engagement six months earlier.
She looked furious.
Not frightened.
Furious.
Celeste pointed at Nora.
"Who let this girl near him?"
"Nobody needs to let me near him," Nora said. "I'm serving this table."
"You're a waitress."
The word landed like an insult.
Nora looked at Adrian instead.
"Sir, please don't drink it."
Celeste laughed.
"She's insane. Security!"
Two men near the ballroom doors immediately moved forward.
Nora's stomach twisted.
She had known this could happen.
She had spent the last four minutes deciding whether she should keep her mouth shut.
Keep her job.
Stay invisible.
But then she had watched Adrian lift the glass.
And she couldn't.
"Wait."
Adrian's voice stopped the security guards.
He studied Nora.
"Why?"
Nora reached into the pocket of her waistcoat.
Celeste's face changed.
Only slightly.
But Nora saw it.
"What are you doing?" Celeste demanded.
Nora pulled out her phone.
"Then explain this."
She opened the recording.
Ten minutes earlier.
The service corridor behind the ballroom.
The video shook slightly because Nora had filmed from behind a half-open pantry door.
Celeste appeared on the screen.
Same gold dress.
Same diamond bracelet.
She looked over her shoulder.
Opened her clutch.
Removed a tiny glass vial.
And poured its contents into the wine decanter reserved for Adrian Whitmore.
Nobody spoke.
The only sound was the faint music from the string quartet at the opposite end of the ballroom.
Nora raised her eyes from the phone.
"I saw her put something in your wine."
Celeste had gone pale.
"That proves nothing."
Adrian stared at her.
Celeste shook her head quickly.
"I can explain."
"Can you?"
"It wasn't poison."
Nora felt the room shift.
Adrian's expression became frighteningly calm.
"What was it?"
Celeste looked around at the watching guests.
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Adrian placed the untouched glass carefully on the table.
Then he looked toward the security guards.
"Lock the doors."
A murmur swept through the ballroom.
Celeste took one step backward.
And Nora realized something that made her blood run cold.
Celeste wasn't looking at Adrian anymore.
She was looking across the ballroom.
At someone else.
Someone Nora couldn't see.
And whoever it was —
Celeste was terrified of them.
