Chapter 5

I drove to Sophie' s ridiculously expensive high-rise apartment, Chloe silent and supportive in the passenger seat. The lobby was all chrome and glass, cold and impersonal, just like its residents.

Sophie' s assistant, a nervous young woman named Lily, met us at the door. She was wearing a knockoff of my favorite brand of shoes, a detail so petty it was almost funny. She wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Ms. Chen," she mumbled, "Ms. Davis is very upset."

"I'm sure she is," I said, walking past her into the apartment.

The place was a shrine to Sophie' s supposed artistic genius. Abstract canvases in jarring colors covered the walls. In the center of the plush white rug, Daniel was kneeling, stroking the hair of a weeping Sophie. The dead cat, Snowball, was laid out in a satin-lined basket nearby, looking like a morbid prop.

"What are you doing here?" Daniel snapped, his eyes flashing with anger when he saw me.

"I' m here to clear my name," I said calmly, ignoring him and addressing Sophie directly. "You' ve made a very serious accusation. I' ve called Dr. Evans, the best veterinarian in the city. He' s on his way to perform an independent examination."

Sophie' s tears magically stopped. A flicker of panic crossed her face. "There's no need for that! It's obvious what happened!"

"Is it?" I countered. "Because I was home all day. And my stray cat, Ash, has been missing since yesterday morning. So unless he's a ghost cat with a vendetta, your story has some holes."

Lily, Sophie' s assistant, stepped forward. "Ms. Chen, maybe you should just apologize. Snowball was very special to Ms. Davis. He was a gift from Daniel' s mentor, Mr. Henderson."

She was good. She subtly dropped the name, raising the stakes, implying that this wasn't just about a cat, but about offending a powerful man.

"If anything happens to upset Mr. Henderson," she continued, her voice gaining confidence, "Daniel will be the one to pay the price for it."

The threat was clear. Drop this, or I'll make sure Daniel' s career is collateral damage.

I looked at her, then at Sophie, then at the man I once loved, who was now just a stranger staring at me with cold fury.

"I'm not dropping it," I said. "Dr. Evans will be here in ten minutes."

I would not be the villain in her story. Not this time.