Chapter 4 The Encounter

Part One – Morning Light

Paris looked newly washed that morning.

The rain had finally stopped sometime before dawn, leaving the streets glazed and bright.

Amélie crossed the bridge toward Maison Devereux, her heels clicking against the stones in time with the city's waking pulse.

She liked this hour best, the moment before the building filled with voices and perfume, when she could still pretend the world outside was quiet.

Inside, the lobby smelled of lilies and polished marble.

She greeted the doorman with a nod, rode the elevator alone, and used the small mirror in the corner to smooth her hair.

Every detail mattered. In this place, perfection was the only armor that fit.

Her desk light glowed pale gold. She switched on the computer, typed the day's passwords, and began sorting the stream of messages that had arrived overnight: meeting requests, shipment delays, last-minute fittings.

Her fingers moved automatically, her mind half, elsewhere. The calendar pinged, a new entry blinking in neat serif letters:

Investor Presentation – Moreau Holdings. 11:00 A.M.

The name stirred nothing. Another client. Another meeting.

She marked it confirmed, then went to prepare the conference room.

The morning unfolded like choreography.

Assistants carried sketches and fabric boards, models rehearsed their steps, Lucien's voice drifted through closed doors, low, controlled, efficient.

Amélie kept the rhythm. She arranged water glasses, tested the projector, laid out folders embossed with the Maison's silver crest.

Everything in its place; everything silent.

By nine-thirty, Lucien appeared in the doorway.

"Durand," he said. "The presentation, everything is ready?"

"Yes, Monsieur."

He glanced around the room, adjusted a chair by half an inch, then looked at her.

"Be present but invisible," he said. "You understand."

She nodded. She always did.

When he left, the air seemed to release itself.

She stood alone for a moment, looking out at the city through the floor, to, ceiling glass. Clouds drifted past the rooftops, sunlight flashing on wet stone.

Sometimes she imagined walking out there and not stopping, just following the light until it led somewhere no one knew her name.

The elevator chimed. Staff began moving faster, straightening jackets, lowering voices. Visitors were arriving for earlier appointments; the day was gathering speed.

Amélie returned to her desk, answering calls, passing messages, the rhythm steady until the numbers on the clock blurred.

At ten-fifty, a message flashed on her screen: Investor arriving now.

She rose, smoothed her skirt, and went to stand beside the reception counter.

The elevator doors opened with their usual whisper.

A man stepped out, tall, tailored in charcoal wool, a scarf the color of wet slate. His eyes swept the lobby once before settling on her.

Something in the look pinned her to the moment.

Not recognition, not quite curiosity-something older, like memory pretending to wake.

"Good morning," she said, voice calm. "You're here for Monsieur Devereux?"

"Yes. Julien Moreau."

He spoke her language with a trace of warmth, the kind that softened the edges of consonants.

"Welcome, Monsieur Moreau." She offered a practiced smile. "If you'll follow me, I'll let him know you've arrived."

He fell into step beside her. The faint scent of cedar and rain clung to his coat.

As they walked, she felt his gaze brush her profile, light as static. She ignored it, focusing on the rhythm of her heels on the marble floor.

At the conference door she paused, gestured for him to enter.

Lucien stood inside, already turning from the window, expression unreadable.

"Julien Moreau," he said. "At last."

"Lucien Devereux." Their handshake was firm, polite, assessing.

Two men used to command.

Amélie retreated to her chair at the side of the room, notebook open, pen poised.

Outside, the city brightened. Inside, the air grew still again-the calm before something neither of them yet understood.

Part Two – The Meeting

The conference room was a box of light and silence.

Every surface shone-the glass table, the chrome fixtures, the pale wood walls that absorbed sound instead of echoing it.

Lucien Devereux liked rooms that obeyed him.

He motioned for Julien to sit.

Amélie poured water into three crystal glasses, her movements economical, practiced.

When she set one in front of Julien, his hand brushed hers lightly, an accident, barely contact, but it left a pulse in the air.

"Thank you," he said.

Her eyes flicked to his, polite, professional, and for a fraction of a second too long.

Then she stepped back, pen ready, gaze lowered.

Lucien opened the folder.

"Moreau Holdings expressed interest in our upcoming winter collection. You mentioned wanting exclusive access for your private clients."

Julien nodded. "My collectors prefer rarity. It's the only luxury left."

"Rarity," Lucien repeated, his tone dry. "A word that suits both art and survival."

Amélie took notes, the scratch of her pen the only sound between their measured phrases.

Julien watched Lucien speak-precise, deliberate, every sentence shaped to reveal as little as possible.

But his attention kept slipping toward the woman in grey at the edge of the table.

She sat very still, but stillness could be expressive.

He noticed the faint tension in her shoulders, the way she breathed before writing, the curve of concentration around her mouth.

He told himself it was habit, the art collector's impulse to study form.

But something about her presence disrupted the rhythm of the room.

Lucien's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Monsieur Moreau?"

Julien blinked once. "Yes, forgive me. I was considering the proposal."

A faint pause. "Good," Lucien said. "Consider it carefully. Maison Devereux doesn't repeat opportunities."

The rest of the meeting unfolded in elegant negotiation, percentages, commissions, timelines.

Amélie's handwriting moved swiftly, each note neat and narrow, like lines drawn to keep her emotions from spilling out.

At one point, Julien asked for clarification on a clause, and she answered before Lucien could, clear, concise, confident.

Lucien's glance toward her was sharp but not unkind, the look of a man measuring how much precision costs.

When the contracts were signed, Lucien rose.

"Thank you, Monsieur Moreau. My assistant will provide the final copies."

He extended a hand; the handshake lingered half a second too long, each man acknowledging the other's poise and power.

As they turned to leave, Lucien's phone rang.

He stepped aside, voice low.

Julien waited near the door, and Amélie approached with the documents.

"Here are your copies," she said.

Her tone was steady, but he could hear the thin thread of breath behind it.

He accepted the folder, fingers brushing hers again, this time deliberate.

"I appreciate your clarity," he said softly. "It's rare."

A faint line appeared between her brows, curiosity, maybe recognition, but she hid it quickly.

"You're welcome, monsieur."

Lucien ended his call, turning back to them.

"All settled?"

"Yes," Julien said. "Perfectly."

They exchanged parting courtesies, and then he was gone, his footsteps absorbed by the corridor's hush.

The door clicked shut behind him.

Lucien looked at Amélie for a moment longer than necessary.

"He's observant," he said finally.

"So are you," she replied before thinking.

His expression didn't change. "That's my job. See that you stay focused on yours."

He left. The room felt colder after he did.

Amélie gathered the empty glasses, heart still thudding a little too fast.

She told herself it was nothing-a normal meeting, an ordinary investor.

But the shape of his eyes stayed with her, the way they had seemed to search for something behind her calm.

Part Three – Evening Residue

The office emptied gradually, like a tide receding.

First the designers, then the assistants, then the cleaners moving quietly between the glass partitions.

By six-thirty, only the hum of the ventilation and the occasional creak of the building kept Amélie company.

She finished typing the summary of the Moreau meeting, saved it to the shared drive, and pushed the keyboard away.

Her hands were cold.

The air smelled faintly of paper, ink, and the lilies from reception, sweetness turning toward decay.

Through the windows, Paris was slipping into evening.

Streetlights bloomed one by one along the boulevard, their reflections trembling across the glass.

Amélie sat for a while watching them, letting her mind go blank the way divers empty their lungs before water.

She thought of the investor:

the calm precision in his questions, the quiet way he had looked at her as if she were a puzzle he meant to solve slowly.

She had met hundreds of men in this office, each certain of his own importance.

None of them had made her heartbeat stutter the way that glance had.

You're being foolish, she told herself.

It was only curiosity.

Curiosity passed.

A faint sound drew her back-a low echo from the corridor, the elevator doors opening.

Lucien appeared, jacket over one arm, phone in his hand.

"You're still here."

"I was finishing the report," she said.

He studied her for a moment, eyes unreadable.

"Go home, Amélie. The work will wait."

"Yes, monsieur."

He left without another word.

When the elevator closed, the office seemed to exhale.

She shut down the lights, locked her drawer, and walked out into the night.

The lobby was nearly dark; the lilies had been replaced, their fresh scent crisp and green.

Outside, the city air was cool and sharp. She pulled her coat tighter, started toward the Metro, and felt the first hint of rain again-thin drops, delicate as threads.

Across town, Julien stood on the balcony of his apartment overlooking the river.

The file from the meeting lay open on the table beside him, the papers untouched.

He should have been reading projections, comparing figures.

Instead he was sketching-quick strokes, charcoal on cream paper-the shape of a woman's hands resting on a folder, the tilt of her head, the quiet behind her eyes.

He told himself it was the discipline of observation, nothing more.

Still, when he set the pencil down, he realized he'd drawn the curve of a mask where her mouth should be.

Below, a barge moved slowly along the Seine, lights gliding over the dark water.

The city whispered in the distance, soft horns, laughter, a faint rhythm that might have been music.

He watched until the sound faded, until the outline of the woman in his sketch blurred into shadow.

Somewhere, in another part of the city, Amélie stood at her window, wiping rain from the glass with her sleeve.

For a second, she thought she heard the echo of a cello, low and distant.

She closed the curtain.

The room filled with darkness, and in it, her heart found a rhythm she didn't recognize.