The applause didn’t fade; it fractured. It splintered into overlapping noise, a restless hum of voices and flashbulbs that no longer knew who they were cheering for. Flashbulbs exploded in a back-to-back succession, turning the stage into a combat zone of white-hot light. Vincent Raines stood in the middle of it, feeding off the chaos, a wolf who’d found his spotlight. His grin was polished, indestructible. Jack Stanton sat only a few feet away yet might as well have been on