More laughter followed.
Elena looked toward Daniel.
He wore a black tuxedo and the dark glasses he sometimes used when camera flashes triggered headaches from an old injury.
Vivian and Clara assumed the glasses meant weakness.
They assumed Daniel was an ordinary consultant with no powerful family and no reason to challenge them.
Daniel walked toward the microphone.
He removed his glasses.
The ballroom gradually fell silent.
“I’m not blind.”
He moved beside Elena and rested one hand gently on her shoulder.
“She ran into a burning building for me.”
The large screen behind the stage illuminated.
Smoke poured from a twelve-story hotel.
Firefighters surrounded a woman being carried toward an ambulance.
Her face was hidden beneath an oxygen mask.
A rescue report appeared beside the photograph.