2

When Julian rushed into my studio, I was sorting through wedding design drafts.

He pressed his hand down on the folder. "Why did a real estate agent call me? You're selling the house?"

"I told him to contact you. You all need to move out before any showings."

"That's the house we're supposed to live in together after the wedding!"

I looked up at him, my eyes still puffy. "You remember that?"

His grip loosened. "I messed up. I'll add your fingerprint back. Just come home with me."

"What about Celia?"

"She hasn't found a place to stay yet."

I slowly pulled the folder back. "Then she can stay at a hotel."

"She gets scared on her own."

The room went quiet.

I looked at him, and my eyes started to sting again.

"I was out there alone last night. You don't think I was scared?"

At last, he looked away.

"Fine. I'll book her a hotel."

Of course, that was when his phone rang.

He answered, and his expression changed at once.

"You can't breathe? Did you take your medicine? Don't cry. I'm coming."

I reached out and grabbed his sleeve.

Julian looked down at me.

"Call an ambulance first," I said quietly. "It's not like you can cure her by showing up."

"There's no one with her. I have to go check on her."

"Julian, we're not done talking."

"Wait until I get back."

He pulled his sleeve free.

Even after the door shut, I stood there with my hand outstretched. It took me a long time to lower it.

My assistant, Tessa, stood in the doorway with a stack of files. She looked like she wanted to say something.

I asked, "What is it?"

She set a printout of an email on my desk.

"The client for the engagement party uptown wants to know why another studio has our proposal."

I flipped through a couple of pages, then stopped dead.

Even the three contingency plans I'd added last night were there. Only now, Celia was listed as the author.

It had been sent from Julian's email.

I called him, and he picked up quickly. "Something else?"

"Did you access my cloud storage?"

"Celia's just starting out. She borrowed your proposal for reference."

"She used it to pitch my client!"

"She's new to this. Can't you just explain the rules to her?"

I was so angry my hands shook, creasing the page in my grip.

"My team and I stayed up for three nights working on this proposal. You watched me revise it. You know why I came home so late last night."

"That's my point. This comes easily to you. Celia just needs something to put in her portfolio."

I closed my eyes for a moment and blinked back the tears.

"Tell her to withdraw the proposal and explain to the client where it came from."

"Is that really necessary? She already feels terrible about the wedding," he said, as though he hadn't expected me to take it seriously. "Wren, do you have to talk like that right now?"

"What else am I supposed to do?" I braced myself on the edge of the desk. "Smile and tell her to go ahead and use it?"

He didn't say anything.

I hung up and sent the client the original proposal, its revision history, and our email correspondence. I also contacted my lawyer to have the evidence preserved.

That evening, the client confirmed they were suspending their partnership with Celia's studio pending a review of the proposal.

Julian called right away.

"Celia's been crying all afternoon. Are you happy now?"

I gripped the phone, and despite everything, my chest still ached.

"That's what you called to say?"

He said, "She already apologized."

I waited a few seconds, but he said nothing else.

"Julian, my team is waiting on me for a meeting."

This time, I was the one who hung up first.

I changed my cloud drive password and revoked all sharing permissions.