You Are My Destiny novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Dark Room

The Stannard ballroom held two hundred, and on Friday night it held about forty, all of them rich and all of them watching.

I stood against the wall by the French doors in a borrowed black dress, with my braid pinned up.

My right hand lay flat on the paneling.

Augustin had put me there himself.

He had taken one look at my face in the hallway and asked no questions.

"Cook goes at the end," he said. "By the wall."

I understood he knew far more than he said.

Six women stood in a loose line along the floor.

Four were wives of board members.

One was a young maid who looked terrified.

Rosalind stood in the middle, in a gold dress, chin high, the brass ring catching the chandelier.

Dewitt leaned on a column with a champagne flute and a satisfied smile.

At the far end of the room, in the center of the parquet, Phillip stood alone in a dark suit.

He had taken off his shoes.

He stood in his socks on a ballroom floor, perfectly composed.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Augustin said from his chair. "My grandson has made a request. Please be quiet and be still."

A murmur ran around the walls and died.

"At nine o'clock," Phillip said, "the lights go out. Whoever speaks, speaks. I will walk the line."

He looked down it, and for a heartbeat his eyes touched mine.

"Now," Augustin said, to the butler.

The butler pulled the master switch.

The room vanished.

It did not go dim.

It went completely, thickly black.

I made a small noise and pressed myself to the wall with both palms.

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