Page 209 of Gathered Sparkle

“He’s been practicing that line all week.” Koen adjusts his jacket.

A laugh escapes me, but it catches in my throat when I glance at Oscar.

He’s gripping the table behind him, his knuckles white.

“Oscar?”

He doesn’t answer.

My heart kicks up, panic tightening like a fist around my chest.

“Oscar!”

I grab his arm as he collapses, his weight heavy on me. The world slows, the noise of the crowd, the lights, all of it blurs as I fall to my knees with him.

His eyes flutter closed.

“Help!”

The stage lights flash above us as the crowd roars, unaware that everything is crumbling behind the curtain.

The door behind us flies open, and Sylus rushes in, eyes wide.

“Help!” I shout again. “Call someone!”

But even as Sylus drops down beside me with his phone to his ear, I know.

This is the moment.

The final act before the curtain falls.

And I’m not ready for it to end.

Nova knocks against me, rocking lightly on her skates. The motion jolts me back, shattering the memory, and my chest heaves with the breath I was holding.

My arm tightens instinctively around her waist, clinging to her warmth, her steady heartbeat. It grounds me, pulls me away from the weight of the past that presses like a vice around my ribs, and I’m able to focus on what the twins are doing again.

Oscar would’ve loved this.

The thought twists like a knife. Not the crowd he hated crowds as much as I do, but the spectacle, the audacity, the impossible magic of pulling off something like this. He would’ve eaten it up.

The ache of his absence claws up my throat until I have to swallow it or risk falling apart right here in front of all these people.

We’re still here,I remind myself. Even without Oscar, we’re still here.

And as Nova’s fingers lace lightly over mine, a spark of something stronger than grief ignites in me.

Resolve.

Because if we pull this off, everything changes.

If we pull this off, we’re free.

My gaze drifts to the screen overhead. Koen’s posture is straight, his face calm but somehow also intense, looking every bit like the mentalist commanding the stage.

“Tonight isn’t only about magic,” he starts, initiating part two of the plan. “It’s about gratitude. About the people who stand with us, even in the hardest times. And we want to take a moment to thank someone who’s been a pillar for us during these past few months after Oscar’s death. Veronica Harrington.”

“A pillar of what?” Sylus huffs in my ear, his disdain unmistakable even through the static.“Lies and bullshit? If Vegas had a trophy for backstabbing, she’d have a whole damn shelf.”

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