ANMELDENJane had grown up understanding that Victor Winters had that effect on people.Not because he demanded respect.He rarely had to.People simply adjusted around him, quietly and instinctively, the way grass bent beneath the wind.She was sitting at her dressing table when she heard his voice downstairs.Low. The voice he used when he was talking about something that mattered, which was wierd, because the person he was talking to sounded really familiar to her.She looked at herself in the mirror.She looked fine.She went back to what she was doing.The knock at her bedroom door came few minutes later."Come in," she said.Marcus opened the door.She turned around on the sofa and looked at him."What are you doing up here?" she said. "I knew it, you came to see my father.""I did," Marcus said. He closed the door behind him. "Now I'm seeing you.""That's not how this works." She turned back to the mirror. "Since you came to him first, you came to see him. Not me.""Maybe I wanted both.
The old collection was in a box under the worktable.Evelyn had put it there herself — not thrown it, she just boxed it and slid it under and turned back to a blank sketchpad and started again. She breathed. "Clean page. New concept. I can do this," she said like a motivation.Rosa had watched her do it."You don't have to start from scratch," Rosa said."I know.""You've thrown away thirty-seven sketches.""Thirty-eight.""They weren't bad, Eve.""Well, 'not bad'isn't enough anymore." Evelyn looked at the blank page. "I want something nobody can stand next to and claim they inspired. And I strongly mean Isabella. Thatswhy I need to sketch out these styles myself, Rosa."Rosa nodded because she understood fully how important this was for Evelyn. Every show had been.Evelyn continued sketching.She continued starting over until she was satisfied with the outcome.Across the room Zara's phone buzzed.Zara picked it up. Read it. And did something Evelyn hadn't seen her do in a while — sh
The interrogation room was small and cold. That's where they took him. The goal obviously was to make him feel uncomfortable, but it wasn't working."Who hired you?" The officers asked.Nothing."Why her specifically?" Still he refused to say anything.He looked at the ceiling briefly. Then back at the wall, like he wasn't being spoken to.Priya stood behind the glass watching.She watched him with her arms crossed and her jaw tight and her patience, it was running low.She pressed the small device in her ear."He's not going to talk to them. You handle this." she said quietly.On the other side of the glass Damien looked up from where he was sitting beside the officer. He met her eyes through the mirror eHe nodded once.Damien leaned forward and said something to the officer.The officer looked at him, then at the man across the table, before \ he stood up and left the room.The other officer followed.When the dorr closed, Damien and the man were alone.Damien didn't say anything i
"So Richard remembered someone working for Victor," Priya said thoughtfully. "Someone who handled things for him."Damien nodded. She had come to his place because he wanted to tell her about the prison visit."But not the name of the person apparently." Damien sighed.She leaned back. "So where does that leave us?""Still looking. I feel like I'm in the middle of nothing at this point."A brief silence settled between them.Priya sighed. "There has to be someone who knows.""There is."She looked up."But we haven't found them yet."She nodded slowly."He only needs one mistake. There's no way he didn't make any.""And we only need to find it."Damien smiled slightly. "I like your optimism."Damien watched h
Zara had not planned on going on this date.She had planned on staying home for the weekend, eating something that required almost no effort, and sleeping for what she hoped would be eleven uninterrupted hours. The past weeks had drained her, and right now sleep felt like the only thing that could fix it.Then Luke had called.They had been texting consistently for the past two days. Funny messages. Random conversations. Small check-ins that somehow never felt forced. He had already asked her out twice.This time, she finally said yes."I know a place," he had told her over the phone. "If you're not doing anything."She looked around her apartment.Her sofa looked inviting, so did her bed.But..."One hour," she said, trying to sound firm.Luke laughed."We'll see."She laughed too, already knowing that one hour wasn't going to happen.The restaurant was a small private place. Not too ex
Aidan had to leave immediately, he didn't want to spend another second with them.He entered his car and opened google search on his phone.He sat with it for a moment.He had never typed those words before.He had never needed to, He had never felt the need to.Or maybe... he had simply convinced himself he didn't need to.Those weren't the same thing. He understood that now.He took a slow breath and began typing.Richard Cole. Convicted of Fraud.He hit search.The results appeared almost instantly.Old articles. 2020 and 2021, legal columns, a few broader news pieces.Prominent Businessman Richard Cole Convicted of Financial Fraud.Cole Sentenced to Twelve Years Following High-Profile T







