The Design She Left Out

Chapter 3 The Mind Thief

I pushed the sketchpad and charcoal to the far end of the table.

Mia frowned. "That's it? You're giving up?"

"I'm removing the paper."

I lay back on the couch and closed my eyes. The ventilation hummed above us. This time, the design would stay in my imagination.

Mia sat across from me with her hands tucked under her arms. She had accepted the evidence from the safe, but she kept glancing at the steel door as though Chloe might still be standing outside it.

I chose a silk scarf. In my head, deep blue and gold serpents curled through a Byzantine pattern, their bodies interlocking across the silk.

I pictured the weight of the fabric and the way the gold would change under light. I traced every curve until the serpents joined cleanly at the border.

Then I made the eyes fluorescent purple.

Emerald or ruby would have worked with the palette. The purple belonged on a cheap plastic toy. Any trained designer should have rejected it at once.

That was the point. A person who understood the design would correct the color. Someone copying the final image would preserve it.

I held the completed scarf in my mind until I could count every scale, then let myself sleep.

Mia's scream woke me the next morning.

She stood at the door with her phone on the floor. "It's here. Serena, it's here."

Chloe had uploaded a scarf prototype less than an hour earlier. Deep blue and gold Byzantine serpents covered the silk. Each serpent had a fluorescent purple eye.

The photograph was close enough to show the weave. Chloe had already had a sample made and staged for her feed, still without questioning the one color that spoiled the whole pattern.

Her caption read: *“Sometimes, you have to break the rules to create something truly new. I adore this rebellious pop of purple! What do you all think? 💜”*

The comments had already started.

*“Genius!”*

*“Only you could make that color look so chic, Chloe!”*

*“A visionary!”*

"Call the police," Mia said. "Or an exorcist. I don't care which. She's reading your mind."

I enlarged the photograph. Chloe had copied the finished image and the mistake. She could see what I pictured, but nothing behind it. She had no process and no reason to question the purple.

The first test had ruled out access to my files. This one ruled out the paper itself. Whatever reached Chloe carried the completed picture and left the reasoning with me.

My phone vibrated on the table. Derrick had finally texted.

*I heard you've locked yourself away. Burn all the dresses you want, Serena. When you're done punishing me, come back. Your office is untouched. Hale is still your home.*

He had reduced the fire, the ring and the patents to a tantrum. In his version, I would calm down and come back to work where he had left me.

He had even kept my office untouched, ready for the same arrangement as before: my work behind closed doors, Chloe's name in public, and Derrick deciding when I had been punished enough.

I replied:

*Good luck, Derrick. You're going to need it.*

On Mia's screen, Chloe was accepting praise for those ugly purple eyes.

She wanted another complete design. I would give her one, including a mistake too expensive to hide.