LOGINEvelyn waited until they got back home. She didnt want it to seem strange or anything.Leon changed out of his clothes, ate his dinner, argued briefly about whether he needed a bath tonight or whether yesterday's bath still counted."It counts," he insisted."It absolutely does not." He sighed with deep acceptance of his faith.Bath. Pyjamas. Then Gerald in his correct position.Then she sat on the edge of his bed."Can I ask you something?" she said.He looked at her."Luke, the person that Zara brought today.." she said. "Why don't you like him?"Leon looked at Gerald.He picked him up. Turned him over once then put him back."I just don't," he said."Okay." She kept her voice light. "Can you tell me a bit more than that?"He thought about it.She could see him thinking — the small crease between his eyebrows that appeared when he was actually trying to find words for something rather than just picking the first ones available."I don't know," he said finally."You don't know why yo
Zara checked her reflection in the passenger mirror for the third time. Luke and her were going to LUXE, yes...she was taking him to meet Evelyn, and she was also supposed to be very excited about it.Luke glanced at her from the driver's seat."You know I can see you doing that," he said."I know.""You look fine.""I know that too.""Then why —""Because she's my best friend and my boss and she's going to look at you like this —" Zara demonstrated the look, chin slightly lifted, eyes assessing, warm but completely seeing. "And I need to be prepared for that."Luke laughed."Well, I think I'm the one who should be nervous," he said."Yeah, and you dont even look nervous.""I could be.""You're not." She looked at him. "You're never nervous."He glanced at her."Maybe you make me calm," he said.She looked out the window immediately.She was smiling and she knew it and she couldn't do anything about it."I really like you, Zara," he said and reached for her hand, his eyes still on the
Jane 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







