Chapter 2 - One Guest Recognizes Naomi’s Stance
Naomi released Vanessa’s ankle.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Vanessa stumbled backward into a chair.
Three hundred guests stared.
Then she slapped Naomi.
The sound cracked across the ballroom.
Naomi did not move.
“Know your place,” Vanessa hissed.
Across the room, retired General Samuel Whitaker stood.
His champagne glass remained untouched.
He had spent thirty-four years in the Army.
He recognized balance.
Weight distribution.
The way Naomi’s hands stayed open instead of forming fists.
The way she had turned slightly sideways when Vanessa struck her.
Not aggression.
Control.
He had seen that posture in military combatives training.
But something else bothered him.
Naomi’s face.
Older now.
Thinner.
Different hair.
Still familiar.
Whitaker whispered:
“No.”
His wife looked at him.
“What?”
He stared at the maid.
Then said a name nobody in the Sterling ballroom had heard in seven
years.
“Captain Naomi Reyes.”
May you like
Naomi’s eyes moved toward him.
For the first time all evening, her calm expression cracked.
