"We are even..." Alexander clutched the box and began coughing violently.
The pain in his chest felt as though someone were carving away a living piece of his heart.
He had told himself he favored Vivian because she was fragile and needed his protection, while Sylvie was independent, flawless, and capable of handling everything.
No matter how far he wandered, he had assumed she would always be waiting in the same place when he turned around.
Only now did he understand that he had pushed the woman who waited for him for 10 years off a cliff long ago.
*****
The scandal at the gala dominated the headlines.
Vivian, once admired by everyone, became a disgraced plagiarist and fraud.
Black paint was splashed across her gallery, and vicious insults covered its walls.
Collectors who had on
