Chapter Nineteen: The Other Woman Walks In
The envelope was gone by morning, but Lena still felt its weight.
The words—You’re not the only muse—lingered like smoke in the corners of the villa. Every room she entered carried the faint, invisible residue of comparison. A story she hadn’t lived. A name she hadn’t spoken.
Until now.
Aurelie.
She whispered it aloud in the studio.
Let it settle on her tongue like old perfume.
It didn’t sting.
It didn’t haunt.
It just existed—a ghost with perfect timing.
Nikolai stood in the doorway. He hadn’t slept. His jaw was unshaven, his shirt wrinkled, his silence too polished to be real.
“You’re thinking about her,” she said, not accusing—just naming the obvious.
“I’m thinking about you,” he replied.
“No,” she said gently. “You’re thinking abo
