Prodigy by Theft
Nothing hidden here.
The idol was somewhere else. Somewhere I hadn't looked yet.
For three days, I played along. I visited the inspiration room. I asked Alessia questions about her process. I watched her eyes light up whenever I mentioned starting a new project. She was hungry. Desperate, even. The competition was approaching, and she hadn't produced anything original in weeks—not since I'd stopped designing.
Then, the night before the competition, I heard her crying.
Not the soft, performative weeping she'd used in the office. This was different—raw, frustrated, the sound of someone whose supply line had been cut. I stood at the top of the stairs and listened.
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