Semua Bab Her Rebirth, His Regret : Bab 41 - Bab 50

The family waiting room at the end of the corridor had four chairs and a low table with a dying plant on it. Alexander closed the door behind us and I turned to face him and crossed my arms over my chest and waited.He didn't sit. He stood close, closer than the size of the room required, and looked at me with those blue eyes that I was still, against every reasonable instinct I had developed over the past weeks, not entirely immune to."Are you really going to Paris?" His hand came to my arm, his grip soft, nothing like the firm certain way he had held me before. Like he was asking permission just by touching me that gently.Alexander has never been one to beat around the bush, he has also never been a person to ask without sounding like he was giving an order.It took me a few seconds, but I finally got a response out."Yes," I said."Maeve—""It's what's best for me." I pulled my arm out of his hold and stepped back and watched his eyes go from whatever they had been doing to somet

Stefan's studio on West 28th was exactly as I remembered it from the outside, small and considered, the kind of place that didn't announce itself. I had been up since six going through the portfolio one more time and had made myself stop at seven thirty and get dressed and eat something and leave before I talked myself into changing anything else. The man who met me at the door was not Stefan. He was younger, mid-thirties maybe, dark hair pushed back, the kind of sharp focused eyes that moved over you and the thing you were carrying simultaneously and made an assessment before you had said a word. He extended a hand. "Marcus Veil. I work with Stefan. He sends his apologies, he was called away this morning. He asked me to conduct the meeting and report back." His handshake was firm and brief and he was already stepping back to let me in before I had finished processing the change in plan. The studio was warm and bright, pieces on the walls under their individual lights, the workta

ALEXANDER I found out at six in the morning.Liam sent a message to the group chat at five fifty-seven with a link to one of the articles I made the mistake of checking my phone before I was fully awake, and after that there was no going back to sleep.I sat at my kitchen counter with a coffee I never touched and read the article twice. By the second read, something in my chest had gone very still and very cold. Not the kind of anger that flares up and burns out fast. The kind that settles in and waits.Maeve didn't steal that brooch design at Hagreeves. I knew it without a shadow of doubt.I knew the design was hers. I also knew someone had picked up a phone yesterday and called a bunch of journalist, and the list of people with both the motive and the knowledge to do that was what kept me in edge.Despite the situation between us, Maeve didn't have enemies. She wasn't a bad person...only most times to her sister.I called Dorothy.She picked up on the third ring, her voice brighter

MAEVE The competition organizer's name was Clara and she had always been warm and efficient in equal measure every time we had spoken. So when I called her that morning and heard the careful measured quality that had replaced the warmth I knew before she had finished her first sentence that the news wasn't good."We've had to put the prize money transfer on hold," she said. "Just temporarily. Until everything is reviewed." A pause. "There's been a claim that the design may have been taken from another designer and we have to take that seriously before we can—""Clara." I kept my voice level. "I have sketchbooks with dated entries going back years. I can send you everything today.""Please do," she said. "And Maeve, I want you to know that we don't take accusations like this lightly on either side. We'll review everything thoroughly and fairly.""I understand," I said.We hung up and I set my phone down on the kitchen table and sat there.The prize money was on hold.I had quit my job

I called Mary the next morning and told her no.She was quiet for a moment and then she said "I thought so" in a tone that managed to be both accepting and slightly fond at the same time, which was very Mary, and then she told me she understood completely and that the offer would always stand if I changed my mind and that she expected to see me for lunch again soon regardless of any professional decisions and I told her I would and meant it.I sent the documentation to Clara that afternoon. Every dated sketchbook page, the college assignment, the photo timestamps from my old phone that I had scrolled back through the night before and found three photos I had taken of early phoenix sketches in 2020 sitting in my notes app doing nothing. The full timeline, clear and thorough and impossible to argue with.Clara called me back within two hours."Maeve." Her voice had the warmth back in it, all the careful measured quality of the previous call gone. "I owe you an apology. This should never