Things were getting tense in the ballroom. The crowds of men and women in elegant evening wear milled about the magnificently gilded room, muttering irritable among each other, glancing at the large doors at the front of the room as the haggard orchestra launched into their fifth or sixth rendition of the processional. Well dressed servers hurried about, trying to shore up the depleted supply of canapes and punch.

Elsewhere in the hotel the organizers of the ball rushed about, not bothering to hide their rising panic anymore. They rushed into rooms, rushed out of rooms, rushed into each other when looking the wrong way. Through the building, one question was repeated by all: “Where are the debutantes? Where could they have possibly gone?”

Miles away, a charter bus pulled into the garage of a remote complex. The driver was incongruous dressed in a tuxedo and ski mask that matched only in the color. He parked the bus and turned back, a pistol appearing in his hand. “Okay ladies!” He called back, “We’re here!” There were whimpers and groans from the bus’s passengers but the gun in his hand and those held by his similarly attired associates further back in the bus left them little choice.

A line of girls shuffled fearfully off the bus. None was more than a year past their 18th birthday. They were all dressed alike, in pure white ball gowns, stockings and heels. Their elbow length opera gloves had been accessorized with white cotton rope lashing their hands together behind their backs. Above, white bands of cloth covered their mouths, holding in the gags which muffled their frantic, frightened questions and pleas.

The debutantes, a score in total, had been in a room just off the main ballroom, getting ready to make their grand entrance, when the masked men had burst in and taken them all captive at gunpoint. After tying the girls hands and gagging them, the men marched their prisoners out a backdoor where a bus had been waiting behind the hotel. As soon as they were aboard, it sped off.

“I know this isn’t the ball you ladies were dreaming of…” The driver said, following the last girl off the bus. “But there’s a lot of gentlemen in there just eager to meet you!” He and his buddies laughed as their captives moaned in terror.

The debutantes marched through a door into a long, dark corridor. At the far end was a large set of double doors. As the first girls passed through them, they were blinded by the sudden spotlights that shone onto them and stunned by the cheers and jeers from the crowd that filled the room, eager to see the captive girls as they were led in.

“I know you’ve been very patient…” The lead kidnapper said, his voice amplified by a microphone and speakers around the large ballroom. “But here they are! Introducing the new kidnappee's for the 2023 season!”