Ayla's POV
The city lights slid across the window in blurred streaks of gold and white, but I wasn't really seeing them. My chest still felt tight, my breath uneven, my mind stuck somewhere between the boutique doors and the way Elena had opened the car door for me like it was the most natural thing in the world.
The engine hummed steadily beneath us.
"What you'll see tonight," Elena said at last, her voice cutting cleanly through the silence, "is not wealth."
Her eyes never left the road. One hand rested firmly on the wheel.
"It's influence," she continued. "And the difference matters."
The words landed sharp and deliberate. Enough to pull me fully back into myself.
"We're attending this gathering because Solaria made mistakes," she went on. "Tonight is not about charm. Not about the party we are going to. It is about using someone else's event to create our own opportunity. It is about correction of our mistakes. And we do not dare make another one tonight."
