Chapter 3

Claudia Sims POV

The night of the gala, I stood in the wings of the museum's Great Hall, hidden behind a thick velvet curtain that smelled of dust and decades of forgotten performances. I wore a simple black dress I had bought with my own money-money Ashton believed came from a small trust fund left by a grandmother who had never existed, a woman I had invented out of whole cloth to explain away the quiet, steady stream of funds that actually flowed from accounts he would never know existed. The dress was elegant but unremarkable. A sheath of matte crepe that skimmed my body without clinging, a neckline that revealed nothing, a hem that fell just below the knee. I was dressed to be invisible. That was the point. That had always been the point.

Through the gap in the velvet curtains, I watched Ashton take the stage. He wore a Tom Ford tuxedo, the fabric so dark it seemed to swallow the light around it. His dark hair was swept back from his forehead, his smile calibrated to charm the donors clustered near the stage and the cameras positioned at the back of the hall. He looked every inch the billionaire philanthropist, a man who had been born to stand in pools of golden light while hundreds of people applauded his generosity. And they did applaud. They always did. Because he had built his entire empire on the simple, brutal truth that most people would rather believe a beautiful lie than an inconvenient fact.

"Good evening, and welcome to a night that celebrates the power of art to transcend borders and transform lives," he began, his voice warm and practiced, each word landing with the precision of a stone dropped into still water. "The Artemis Collection represents years of dedication, and I am honored to share it with you tonight."

Years of my dedication, I thought, the words burning behind my eyes like the afterimage of a flashbulb. My sleepless nights. My expertise. My hands, dirty with archive dust and the residue of centuries-old bronze.

He gestured toward the side of the stage, and I watched Bianca Burks glide into the spotlight. She wore a gown of liquid gold, the fabric draped over her body like a second skin, and her smile was predatory and triumphant. She air-kissed Ashton, her perfectly glossed lips brushing the air near his cheek, her hand lingering on his chest just a moment too long-long enough for the photographers to capture it, long enough for the image to be seared into the retinas of everyone in the room, long enough for me to feel something inside my chest crack like thin ice.

"Thank you, Ash," she purred into the microphone, her voice a honeyed drawl that made my skin crawl. "Curating this collection has been the most fulfilling creative journey of my life. Every piece speaks to me on a deeply personal level. I feel like I've lived with them for years."

The lie was so brazen, so effortlessly delivered, that I almost laughed out loud. Bianca Burks couldn't identify a Cycladic figurine from a garden gnome. She had once, at a dinner party I had been forced to attend, referred to the Elgin Marbles as "those Greek statues that Lord Elgin was so sweet to rescue." I had written every label in that exhibit, every catalog essay, every word she was about to read from the teleprompter that I could see glowing faintly at the back of the hall. She was a mouthpiece, a mannequin, a pretty face that Ashton had draped over my work like a veil.

And he was beaming at her. His hand rested on the small of her back with the casual ownership of a man who believed he owned everything he touched. He looked at her the way he used to look at me-before I became a convenience, a source of comfort, a warm body who asked for nothing and received even less.

After the speeches, I slipped back to the donor lounge, a quiet room reserved for major benefactors, hidden behind a door marked "Private" in discreet gold lettering. The room was paneled in dark wood and lit by sconces that cast soft pools of amber light. It smelled of old money and expensive perfume. I needed a moment to breathe. I needed to remind myself why I was still here, still standing in the shadows, still letting this man erase me piece by piece.

For him, a small, stubborn voice whispered from somewhere deep inside me, a voice that sounded like the woman I used to be before I learned to make myself small. Because you chose him. Because you want to be loved for you. Because if you leave now, you'll never know if it was real.

The door opened. I heard the click of heels on marble, the low murmur of voices, the soft whir of camera shutters. Ashton and Bianca swept into the room, followed by a cluster of journalists and photographers like ducklings trailing after a mother duck. They were doing a private press tour, a behind-the-scenes exclusive for ArtForum magazine, and Bianca was playing her part perfectly.

"And this," Ashton was saying, gesturing around the lounge with the expansive ease of a man who owned everything his gaze touched, "is where our most generous supporters can view select pieces in a more intimate setting. Bianca personally oversaw every detail of the curation, down to the lighting."

"Ash, you're making me blush," Bianca simpered, leaning into him, her golden gown catching the light and throwing it back in a thousand tiny sparks.

One of the journalists, a sharp-eyed woman from ArtForum whose byline I recognized-she had once written a scathing review of a Caravaggio attribution that had made three curators resign-paused in front of the bronze stag. She leaned in, her glasses glinting, and studied the placard I had written.

"Miss Burks, this piece is exquisite. Can you tell us more about its provenance? The label mentions a previously unknown workshop in Macedonia. That's a significant discovery."

Bianca's smile froze. I watched it happen in real time-the slight tightening around her eyes, the way her glossed lips parted and then pressed together, the almost imperceptible dart of her gaze toward Ashton. She was a performer, but she was not a very good one. Not when the questions required actual knowledge.

"Of course. It's... it's a remarkable piece. The craftsmanship speaks to a sophisticated metallurgical tradition that... that predates the classical period."

She was reading from the placard. Reading words I had written, words that had taken me three months of research and two trips to Thessaloniki and more cups of coffee than my cardiologist would ever need to know about.

The journalist nodded, but her eyes narrowed. She was a bloodhound in designer heels, and she could smell the weakness in the air. "And how did you first come across it? The story of its rediscovery must be fascinating."

Bianca's composure cracked. Just a hairline fracture, but I saw it. Her eyes darted to Ashton again, a silent plea for rescue.

"Well, it's a long story. Ash, maybe you could-"