Chapter 69: Lost and Found
RAINE DROP BELMONT
Grandpa Belmont’s 85th birthday bash was in full swing, and the "old house" was drowning in champagne and pretension.
I adjusted the cuffs of my suit—black, tailored, and not a tux, because screw dress codes—and scanned the crowd. Ash City’s elite circled like hungry sharks around each other. Lawyers. CEOs. Old-money vultures who’d pick a carcass clean for a 2% stake in anything.
And me.
Raine Drop.
Or—technically—Raine Belmont now.
A waiter glided past with a tray of champagne flutes. I snagged one and downed it in a single gulp. Liquid courage, or liquid stupidity. Either worked.
"Slow down, kid. You’re not at a frat party."
Grandma Nettie materialized at my side, her bony elbow jabbing my ribs. She was wearing a dress—an actual dress—which meant she was either dying (again) or plotting something (always). The blue sheath swallowed her frail frame, but she looked ... sparkling. For a minute, I could think of her as healthy. Someone who wasn’t destined to leave me in this world alone.
"You look nice," I told her.
She scowled. "Rub it in, why don’t you." She plucked a shrimp puff from a passing tray and popped it into her mouth. "Where’s Daniel? Hiding from his own party?"