Chapter 8

Whenever Stella paused to study a detail on the big screen, Claire would conveniently fall silent too, pretending to examine the same area through her magnifying glass.

After Claire correctly identified several difficult pieces in a row, the praise came exactly as expected.

Applause filled the room.

Everyone looked at her with admiration.

“No wonder she trained under Samuel Prescott. I heard she started studying antiques when she was seven and almost never gets an attribution wrong. People in the capital were calling her a prodigy before she was even out of her teens. Looks like the reputation was well deserved.”

“The next generation really is taking over. Makes the rest of us feel old.”

“Claire Moore is famous for being able to spot the truth at a glance. You can’t teach talent like that.”

The smile slowly disappeared from Eric’s face.

He sat sprawled in his chair, absently turning the plain ring on his finger.

Anyone who knew him well would’ve recognized the warning sign.

Eric Harlow was pissed.

His gaze moved from Claire to Stella.

Claire sat under the lights, soaking up the applause, the recognition, and the prestige.

Stella sat unnoticed in the shadows.

And somehow, she looked completely numb to it.

As if this had happened so many times that she no longer expected anything different.

For one ugly moment, Eric could almost picture Claire clinging to Stella’s back like a parasite, feeding off everything that belonged to her.

And Lucas stood beside them, keeping Stella trapped and silent while Claire took the credit.

Making sure she couldn’t defend herself.

Couldn’t even tell anyone the truth.

Eric didn’t interrupt the event.

He simply got up and walked out.

With his long stride, he disappeared from the room within moments.

Stella noticed.

She didn’t care.

The only thing she registered was the dangerous edge in his posture. People moved aside almost instinctively as he passed.

Apparently someone had managed to piss off the notoriously volatile Mr. Harlow.

Eric went straight to the garden terrace outside the exhibition hall.

He lit a cigarette, pulled out his phone, and called Tyler.

“Ty, I need you to look into something.”

Tyler answered immediately.

“Anything, as long as you stop calling me Ty. What do you need?”

Eric leaned against the railing and exhaled a stream of smoke into the night.

“What happened between Stella and Lucas over the past few years?”

That instantly got Tyler interested.

“Oh, now you’re asking the right person. You missed all the drama because your brother shipped you off to the military right after college. Those two have been a complete disaster. So basically...”

“Skip the commentary. Give me the important part.”

“Fine. About two years into their marriage, right after Stella had the baby, Claire came back and started seeing Lucas again.

“You remember Claire’s ex-husband? The shady antiques dealer I told you about? He got caught in some illegal trafficking scheme and ended up with more than ten years in prison.

“Anyway, not the point.

“Once Claire came back, Stella found out she’d basically been a substitute for her. Things got ugly. Stella was determined to divorce Lucas for a while.

“Then something changed. No idea what. She just... stopped fighting him.”

Eric thought about the way Stella had sat in that dark corner tonight.

Quietly letting someone else take credit for everything she knew.

What could possibly have made someone like her stop fighting?

Then he thought of her daughter.

“Got it. Find out everything you can about Stella’s daughter.

“And I want everything on Claire from the past two years.”

Tyler went quiet for a beat.

“Why are you digging into both of them?”

Eric dropped the bomb without hesitation.

“I’m into Stella.”

There was a long silence.

Then Tyler nearly shouted into the phone.

“You’re what?”

Eric frowned.

“Keep your voice down.”

“Okay. Wow.”

Tyler sounded genuinely stunned now.

“So... does Lucas know?

“Actually, he definitely can’t know, right? You know how possessive he is about Stella. If he finds out you’re going after his wife...

“Eric, are you two even going to be friends after this?”

Eric gave a low laugh and bit down on the cigarette between his teeth.

“Who cares?”