Yolanda hugged Low ran her fingers through his hair, and walked closer to Quincy. "Cavalier is a single father, and he doesn't have time to help ugly weirdos. He adopted the daughter of a deceased woman, but we need to arrange a marriage for him."

"I hope you find a good wife," Quincy's voice cracked.

"Cavalier is a believer." Ralphy slapped Cavalier's back.

"Yes, I'm too busy." Cavalier Low folded his arms.

"I'll volunteer to keep him in line, but Ella is a better choice. He couldn't land a woman of her quality without my help." Yolanda touched Cavalier's shoulder.

"We'll do whatever you feel is best." Ella glanced at Cavalier Low and trembled.

"Not to change the subject, but what is Quincy's next article going to be on?" Yolanda asked.

Ella leaned in and spoke to Yolanda. "Quincy's next short essay is on charitable service."

Yolanda rubbed Quincy's arm. "Write about my amazing work in your Charitable Service article. Kindness provides housing and food to those who don't meet our standards. The board reduces homelessness and rids the hideous and sinful part of our society."

A blondish, tall woman named Brill approached Yolanda. She wore a badge on her dress, Leader of the Mark Board. "Only our media lists Alpha women as beautiful. The Mark Houses are sweatshops with cubicle beds. Maybe workhouses are a better description." Brill appeared well-preserved for her age, but she was a hundred-and-fifty-years-old.

Yolanda picked up a glass of mint tea from the table. "Brill, I have been on the board since I was seventeen. The Mark houses have pod beds and onsite jobs, such as complaint call centers. Ugly girls shouldn't exist in our society."

"Maybe you need to Botox your tongue instead of your face," Brill said under her breath.

Yolanda gripped Brill's wrist and smiled, but her grin looked freaky because of her filler-injected lips, or the soul behind her plastic mask of flesh. "Brill, I don't expect women to live by standards that you and I don't keep."

"Yolanda, what each man or woman finds attractive should be personal. I mean, few women are as stylish, and staring at imitations of you is off-putting," Quincy said.

Brill glanced at the buffet table and picked up a slice of Quincy's homemade bread, and she slathered it with apple butter. "Yolanda, I talked with a girl who escaped the Mark house. She is a back-alley surgeon."

Yolanda grinned at Quincy and wrapped her fingers around his hand. "Brill is fibbing. The girls don't want to leave. The Mark Houses are not prisons."

Quincy yanked himself away.

"Then why the armed guards?" someone asked.

"To protect them from being mocked or killed in our society." Yolanda took a diet bar off the table and ate the gray cube like a viper slurping a struggling rat. She spoke again, "Brill, most men won't marry a woman with two Marks. Impoverished males have standards. Prince Chaz let fifty of his courtesans back into the dating pool." Yolanda turned to Quincy and caressed his arm. "I'll handle stupid Josh and Lisa Mort. They are lying. We need to give a couple of interviews." Yolanda glared at nervous-looking Cavalier Low.

Yolanda touched Brill's arm. "Ralphy and I will drive you home before you go on vacation."

Brill frowned, but her eyes sparkled. "I understand."

The Mark Board members left, and a handful of guests remained.

"Ella, which one is Zeda?" Quincy asked.

"Zeda is upstairs..." Ella paused. "She wasn't invited, but she'll show. You needed to attend because Josh and Lisa posted another article during the party."

"How?" Quincy asked.

"The Ugly Rebels sent a dozen articles to our publisher under the direction of my head bodyguard. He should be here soon. Part of the deal is we never call him by his name for safety reasons."

*

Inside Ralphy's Limo

Ralphy and Alana-Hope's ex waited for hours inside the limo for Yolanda to finish talking to Brill. He didn't hear Brill scream from her seven-story house, but when Yolanda entered the limo with reddish-brown stains on her hands and clothes, he realized she must have.

Ralphy shrank back. "Did you have to kill her and track blood in my limo? You were supposed to talk."

"She was a traitor and was removing Mark badges illegally. Brill is imitating her, and she wouldn't hand over the information she has on us." Yolanda wiped her blood-stained hands with Ralphy's jacket.

"I want something in return for my silence," Alana-Hope's ex-boyfriend said.

"The most I'll give you is a hundred thousand Alpha bills." Yolanda frowned.

"Keep your money. I want you to help lose Alana-Hope's interplanetary working golden passport. I think she is working with the Ugly Rebels, but I don't want her harmed. I want her Marked if she doesn't praise you and the board and come back to me, so I can control her. She is not one of us, and I think she works with Josh and Lisa."

"Your plan will help both of us, but we'll back off if you ask. We could flush out the Ugly Rebels. I'll call Prince Kyle later."