Celeste’s POVBy the time the Beaumont International representatives arrived, I had already been awake for fourteen hours and running on a fragile combination of caffeine, adrenaline, and stubborn resolve.They came in pairs, always pairs. Impeccably dressed, polished smiles, voices trained to sound collaborative while circling like sharks.Today it was a woman named Elise and a man whose name I immediately forgot because he spoke like a press release given human form.We sat in the main meeting room at Rosemary Atelier, the long table between us cluttered with contracts, tablets, and carefully arranged cups of untouched coffee.I took the seat Grace used to occupy.The absence was physical. Tangible. Grace should have been here, shoulders squared, eyes sharp, calling out subtext before I even finished a sentence.Instead, the chair beside me was empty, and the weight of that emptiness pressed into my spine.Elise smiled first. “Ms Sinclair, thank you for seeing us on such short notice
Read more