By the time the diminished convoy finally reached Infinity Chaos Hotel, the sun had climbed high enough to turn the colossal tower into a vertical sheet of reflected morning. Its glass caught the city, lake and sky together, while black architectural ribs climbed along its exterior and disappeared toward floors lost in brightness overhead. Security barriers recognized the approaching motorcade and withdrew, allowing vehicle after vehicle to sweep beneath the immense arrival canopy and settle across polished stone still faintly damp from the night's cold.
The first doors opened amid returning conversation.
Then almost everyone stopped.
Four people waited near the entrance.
Melissa stood nearest the center, composed as ever, though anyone who knew her well could have found the faint exhaustion buried beneath that calm. Elena remained beside her mother, and the Ashford Madam kept one hand close to her daughter as though even that small contact had become necessary overnight.
