It didn’t happen all at once.

It started like raindrops before a monsoon. One sharp ping near the bar. Two vibrating hums near the ice sculpture. Then five. Then twenty.

Then, all at once, a cacophonous symphony of notification alerts swept through the crowd of a hundred and fifty elite guests.

A low, undeniable wave of collective murmuring began to rise, bleeding out of the ballroom and down the corridor.

It wasn’t the sound of polite society gossip; it was the sharp, panicked buzzing of a hornet’s nest that had just been struck with a baseball bat.

Daniel slowly, mechanically turned his head to look over his shoulder, peering through the double doors.