Chapter three
777 Words
It was early in the morning, the first thing I heard was a knock on the studio door, I had even opened for the day. I thought it might be Lucas, coming back for my answer before the three days were even over. Instead, it was two men in a black suit with frowned faces, holding an envelope between them.
"Sophia Carter?" one of them asked.
"Yes," I said, my stomach ached with fear at that moment…
"We are here on behalf of the property owner," he said. "This is an official notice to vacate. You have five days to remove your belongings from the premises."
He handed me the envelop. I opened it with fear,The letter inside was full of formal words, but the meaning was simple. My time was up. The landlord had sold the building to a new owner, someone who wanted the building cleared for renovation. There would be no more warnings, no more extensions.
Five days…
I sat down on the stool after they left, staring at the letter until the words blurred together. Five days to save fifteen years of memories… Five days to find a new home for my mother's mural…which could not even be moved, because it was painted straight onto the wall.
I called every bank I could think of. No one would give a loan to someone with no steady income and no collateral. I called two cousins I barely spoke to anymore, hoping family loyalty might still mean something… Both of them apologized and said they had their own bills to worry about. I even called an old art school friend who had once talked about opening a gallery together. She was kind on the phone, but kindness did not come with cash…
At that moment I had nothing. No plan, no backup, no help, no more people to call.all hope is gone.
I sat in the middle of the empty studio floor thinking of how to put things right, figuring things out but still no hope. The walls is surrounded by designs that no one seemed to want to buy fast enough to save up money. I thought about my father's , telling me once that art was not about money, it was about telling the truth... This is reality… I wondered what he would say now, watching his daughter about to lose everything he built with his own hands…
I found the card in my pocket, the one Lucas Sterling had left three days before. The card was with me all along… like some part of me already knew I would need it someday.
I stared at the plain white card for a long time.
Marrying a stranger for money was reckless and outrageous… It was the kind of decision that could ruin a life if it went bad. But losing the studio was already ruining my life already , piece by piece, day by day. At least this way, I would be choosing my own pain… instead of watching it happen to me.
I picked up my phone and dialed the number, it rangs the first time he didn't pick up, the second time he picked… before I could say a word,
He answered the call "Sophia," he said, like he already knew it would be me. All I want is just to save my father studio.
"I want to speak with you.." I said. My voice came out steadier than I expected…"In person."
"Come to the Sterling Holdings building tomorrow morning," he said. "Ask for the top floor. I will tell my security am expecting you."
"How did you know I would call?" I asked.
There was a small pause on the line... "I did not know," he said. "I hoped."
The call ended, and I sat there holding the phone against my chest, my heart pounding in a way that had nothing to do with fear this time… and everything to do with the strange idea, uncertain future I was about to walk into with Lucas.
I did not sleep much that night. I kept thinking about the contract, about what it would mean to live under his roof, wear his name, pretend in front of the world that I loved a man I barely knew… I told myself it was only for one year. One year, and then I would have my studio back, rebuilt, safe again.
What I did not know, what I could not have known that night, was that the moment I walked into that glass tower the next morning, my whole life would tilt sideways.. and there would be no simple way to tilt it back.
- Writer
