“Well now,” he said, his voice even, but touched unmistakably with delight.

“This is an intriguing development.”

I watched it land on them one at a time.

Roman’s smug expression faltered and slid halfway off his face.

Bianca blinked rapidly, glancing between Roman and the judge, trying to read a room that had suddenly stopped following the script she had been promised.

And Marion frowned, deeply, the frown of a woman who has just discovered that the world has rearranged itself without asking her permission.

They did not know what was inside that envelope.