The Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala—the MET Gala—was not optional. It was a battlefield in couture.
Catherine wore her own design. It was a midnight blue velvet gown, high-necked, long-sleeved, with an open back that revealed the sharp ridge of her spine. It was stunning, elegant, and somber. It hid her thinness and highlighted her bone structure.
Sebastian looked dashing in a tuxedo, but his eyes were constantly scanning the crowd.
They walked the red carpet together. Flashbulbs popped.
"Mr. Vanderbilt! Look here!"
"Catherine! Who are you wearing?"
Sebastian placed a hand on the small of her back for the photos, but his touch was mechanical.
Then, Serena arrived.
She was late. Calculatedly late. She wore white. A flowing, chiffon Grecian number that looked dangerously like a wedding dress. She looked ethereal, fragile, and angelic.
Sebastian's hand dropped from Catherine's back the moment he saw her.
The gala was a blur of fake smiles and air kisses. Catherine spent most of it sitting at the table, sipping water, feeling the exhaustion seep into her marrow.
When the night finally ended, the three of them ended up at the VIP exit at the same time.
"We can share the car," Sebastian offered immediately.
"We'll take the private elevator," he instructed the security team.
They stepped into the small, plush elevator. Sebastian, Catherine, and Serena. The atmosphere was suffocating. The scent of Serena's perfume and Sebastian's cologne mixed into a cloying cloud.
The doors closed. The elevator began to descend.
Clunk.
A violent jolt shook the car.
The lights flickered and died.
Pitch blackness swallowed them.
For a second, there was absolute silence.
Then, Serena screamed.
"No! No, no, no! I can't breathe!" Her voice was high-pitched, terrified.
Sebastian moved instantly. Catherine heard the rustle of his tuxedo.
"Serena? I'm here. I've got you."
Catherine stood frozen against the back wall. The darkness pressed in on her. Her heart began to race. Thump-thump-thump.
She was terrified of the dark. It was a childhood trauma—locked in a closet by a cruel nanny for hours. Sebastian didn't know. He had never asked why she always slept with a nightlight.
"Sebastian?" Catherine whispered, reaching out.
Her hand brushed his arm in the dark.
He pushed past her. Hard.
"Find the flashlight on your phone, Catherine!" he barked, his voice harsh. "Don't just stand there!"
He dropped to the floor. Catherine heard him gathering Serena into his arms.
"Look at me, Serena. Just breathe. Count to ten with me. One... two..."
Catherine fumbled for her clutch, her hands shaking so badly she dropped it. She fell to her knees, groping on the floor until her fingers found the cold metal of her phone.
She turned on the flashlight.
The beam cut through the darkness.
It illuminated Sebastian sitting on the floor, his back against the wall. Serena was straddling his lap, clinging to his lapels, her face buried in his neck. He was stroking her hair, whispering soothing words into her ear.
He looked up at the light. He saw Catherine holding it.
He looked annoyed.
"Call help," he ordered. "She's spiraling."
Catherine looked at the emergency button. She pressed it. Nothing. She checked her phone. "No signal."
"Just keep the light on her," Sebastian commanded. "Focus, Serena. I'm not going anywhere."
"Don't leave me," Serena sobbed, clutching him tighter.
"I won't. I promise."
Catherine leaned back against the cold metal wall. She pulled her knees up.
She watched her husband hold another woman. She watched him be the protector, the rock, the savior.
She sat in the dark, just outside the circle of light.
He doesn't know I'm scared, she realized. He doesn't know because I never screamed. I just endured.
She slid down until she was sitting on the floor too, but on the opposite side of the car.
For twenty minutes, they sat like that. Sebastian murmuring love to Serena. Catherine silent, invisible, holding the flashlight steady even as her arm burned with fatigue.
Suddenly, the power returned. The overhead lights buzzed on.
The elevator began to move.
The doors opened on the ground floor.
A team of firefighters was waiting.
What they saw was a tableau of a marriage: A man on the floor holding a weeping woman in white, and a woman in blue standing alone in the corner, holding a phone like a weapon, her face a mask of absolute desolation.
