A murmur of excited, wealthy chatter instantly filled the hall as the patrons stood up to stretch their legs and refill their champagne flutes.
Aria exhaled a long breath, her heart still doing gymnastics against her ribs from Damien's public, very expensive declaration of love. She turned her head, scanning the rows behind them.
Her eyes zeroed in on the spot where Zoe had been sitting.
It was empty.
Aria frowned, her emerald eyes darting through the mingling crowd. The auction for the fifty percent block of Vale Entertainment was happening immediately after this break.
'Where the hell did Zoe go?'
Before Aria could abandon Damien to go look for her, the crowd parted.
Diana wheeled up to them. She was being pushed by a random waiter who was clearly just waiting to go on his smoke break.
But it wasn't Diana that caught Aria's attention.
Walking gracefully beside the wheelchair was Vittoria Rossi.
