Chapter 4 - The Sound of the Door
Back in the main ballroom, Alex was growing impatient. He swirled his champagne, ignoring his fiancee's quiet, furious lecture about decorum and family reputation. He kept his eyes sweeping across the service doors, waiting for the brunette to return so he could make a public spectacle of her inevitable failure.
"You're not even listening to me, Alex!" his fiancee snapped, her diamond rings clicking against her crystal glass. "My father is watching us from the head table. If you embarrass our families tonight over some low-class servant—"
"Quiet, Clara," Alex interrupted smoothly, not even turning his head. "You're ruining the mood."
Suddenly, the warm, ambient lighting of the ballroom dimmed by half. The soft string quartet died mid-note, replaced by a sudden, heavy silence that spread across the hundreds of assembled guests. The golden chandeliers flickered, their warm light fading into a low, theatrical glow.
At the far end of the ballroom, the massive, oak double doors swept open with a heavy, reverberating boom that echoed against the high ceilings.
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A single, blindingly intense white spotlight cut through the darkness from the upper balcony, illuminating the threshold in a beam of icy, uncompromising light. The air in the room became charged with static, every guest turning their head toward the entrance as a deep, authoritative voice boomed over the estate’s hidden sound system:
"Ladies and gentlemen, our special guest has arrived!"
