Chapter 4 Offer in Black Glass

The building smelled like new leather and cold money. Elena stood in the lobby and felt small under the high ceiling. The receptionist looked up, polite and smooth, then nodded when she said her name. Zara's hand squeezed hers once, hard, like a warning and a prayer.

"You sure?" Zara whispered.

Elena let out a short laugh. "No. But I'm here."

They rode the glass elevator up. The city slid by in long lines of light. When the doors opened, a man in a suit took them in with steady eyes. They walked down a long hall lined with photos of dresses and people in applause. When they reached the office, the door was open. Aryan stood behind a desk that looked more like a stage.

He wore black. Everything about him was clean cut. When he looked at Elena, his expression did not change much. It was small things that shifted-the tilt of his head, the way he rested his hand on the table.

"Ms. Carter," he said. The voice was even, not warm. "Thank you for coming."

Zara gave a small, proud smile and then stepped back. Elena noticed Jordan in the corner, phone down, watching. Leah stood near the door with a clipboard. The room smelled faintly of lemon and coffee. There was a window that showed the city like a soft map.

Aryan gestured to a chair. "Please sit. We'll keep this brief."

Elena sat. Her hands found each other in her lap and held. The contract on the desk looked heavy. A black pen sat on top of it like a judge.

"We saw your work," Aryan said. "It's honest. Your technique is raw, but there's a voice. We would like to offer a limited collaboration. We will bring you into a project for one season, provide a stipend, studio access, and PR. Credit will be listed as part of the collection release."

Zara's chest hit the table like a small drum. Elena could hear her breathe.

"It's not just for me," Elena said. Her voice was steady enough. "My mother-Margaret Carter. She was taken from us. She was accused of stealing a design years ago. People killed her name. I-" She stopped because the words were too loud in the room.

Aryan's face did not show surprise. He nodded once. "We reviewed the old files. There were complications. Paperwork was thin. Records lost. It happens in any company with a long history."

"You know what happened," Elena said. "You and your mother-your company-took it. They took her name. She died with that on her neck." She could not make the shame small. It seemed to sit in the air like dust.

"There are two sides to everything," Aryan said. "We don't pretend otherwise. But this is a chance to credit her posthumously. To make the record show what you want." He tapped the contract. "Sign, and we will announce your collaboration. We will run a piece on Margaret's work and publicly acknowledge her influence on the collection."

It sounded like a hand offered. It sounded like a trap. Elena's fingers curled.

"And the design?" she asked. "If I work with you, who owns what? I need to protect-her-my family."

Leah stepped forward with a folder. "We're offering a buyout for the specific pieces created during the collaboration. We will provide royalties and your name in the campaign. The legal terms are standard for the industry."

"Standard meaning?" Elena said. "If you take a piece I designed now and claim it later-what stops you?"

Jordan, who had been quiet, let out a breath. "We have precedent. Contracts protect both sides. We have lawyers."

Elena stared at them. The office felt colder. She thought of the two machines at her shop. She thought of her mother's hand sketching with a cheap pen. She thought of Cecilia Cole's face in old gossip-smooth and controlled. She thought of the small, slow death that had come for her mother after the accusation.

"Give me the contract," she said. Her voice was small but there was an edge. She reached out and took the paper. The words looked dense and polite. She read line by line. Most of it said money, timelines, credits. Then, under a heading in thin print, she stopped.

"Clause twelve," she read aloud. "All rights, present and future, including any related sketches, drafts, or prior works associated with the designs submitted during the term, shall be assigned to Cole Atelier upon acceptance of this agreement."

She lifted her head slowly. Aryan watched her like a man reading a book he had read before.

"That means anything I bring while working for you becomes yours," she said. "But what about what I already brought? My mother's sketches? The dress in the photograph?"

Aryan's jaw moved. "We suggested this clause so projects can move quickly. We offer royalties and credit to avoid dispute. If you have prior claims, we can discuss those separately. We-" He cut off and let the office breathe.

Elena felt the room tilt. She had come for her mother's name. She had not come to sign away pieces of the past. She had not come to be tidy like paper under someone else's stamp.

She folded the contract and set it down. "I want to protect my mother's designs. I want her name cleared. I don't want to hand everything over and hope the paper means anything."

Aryan leaned forward. "You'll have public credit. You'll have access. You'll have a platform that can make the whole thing right."

"You'll have my work," Elena said. Her voice was simple. "The shop has two machines. Two. They keep us fed. I can't give away the things that connect me to her. I can't lose the only proof of who she was."

"You won't," Aryan said. His voice was softer. "You'll be part of something bigger. You'll have what you asked for."

Zara stood now, fingers white on the back of Elena's chair. "Ellie, they're offering a way to clear her name. We can-"

"Wait," Elena said and put her hand out. The pen gleamed on the contract like a small knife.

Suddenly, Leah's phone buzzed. She glanced at it and her face went still. "Security alert," she said. "There's been an incident at a property under Cole's protection. It's being monitored. We're getting a live feed."

Elena's stomach dropped. "What property?"

Leah swallowed. "Your shop."

The words left a sound like broken glass. Elena's hand found the edge of the desk. The city outside went on in its soft, indifferent way. Jordan's expression hardened. Zara's face turned a color Elena did not like.

"Show it," Aryan said quietly.

Leah tapped a screen. On the wall, a small monitor blinked and loaded. For a second it was nothing. Then the feed arrived: a shaky camera angle, a narrow street, the sign of Elena Carter's Tailoring. Two men in plain clothes moved in and were opening boxes. The camera caught a flash of fabric, the edge of an old photograph pinned to a wall inside.

Elena's world collapsed into that one frame. She saw the two machines through the window, chairs overturned, a box being lifted. Her brother's hoodie lay draped over a chair. She felt the breath leave her.

She had a dozen things to do. She had a pen in front of her and a contract that smelled like steel and lies. She had a man across the desk who had promised to set her mother's name right, and maybe the first thing he had done was let someone take from the shop.

"Stop them," she said without thinking. Her voice shook.

Aryan's face was a small, flat mask. "We can," he said. "But it will complicate-"

"No," Elena said. Her fingers tightened until the paper creased. "Stop them. Now."

Jordan was already moving. He reached for a phone. Zara began to pray in a way Elena had heard before-quick, sharp lines of words. The monitor stuttered as the feed continued.

Elena stood up. The pen slid on the contract and fell to the floor with a soft sound. She stared at the screen and then at Aryan. For the first time since she had walked into the glass tower, she did not know what he wanted.

Someone on the feed lifted a box, and for a second the camera saw the corner of her mother's old postcard pinned to a board, the same smile she knew. Elena's throat closed.

She had come for justice. Instead, the first night had become a race. Her hands were empty of more than fear.

The elevator chimed in the hall. A knock sounded at the door.