Chapter 5 The Pull

Part One – The Visit

The week began with rain again, thin and constant, the kind that seemed to rinse the colour from the streets.

Inside Maison Devereux, the season's sketches lined the walls, winter silks, a thousand shades of shadow.

Lucien wanted revisions before the Milan showing; the building hummed with tension and caffeine.

I was at my desk when the message came through: Visitor , Julien Moreau.

My first thought was that it was a mistake; investors rarely returned so soon.

My second thought was that I had imagined the flutter under my ribs.

He arrived carrying a slim leather portfolio.

Lucien met him at the elevator, polite, controlled.

"Monsieur Moreau. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I had a few questions about the collaboration agreement," Julien said. "And I wanted to see the atelier."

Lucien's smile was professional. "Of course. Amélie will arrange the tour."

I stood before I could think.

"Yes, monsieur."

Lucien's gaze flicked between us, unreadable. "Keep it brief."

Julien waited while I gathered the access cards.

When we stepped into the elevator, the mirrored doors closed on our reflections, two people dressed for civility, both pretending calm.

The ride was quiet.

He broke it first. "You've worked here long?"

"Three years."

"Do you like it?"

"I'm efficient at it," I said. It came out sharper than I meant.

A small smile. "That wasn't my question."

I looked at the floor numbers blinking above the door. "Liking things here is a luxury. They change too quickly."

"I collect what changes," he said softly. "It reminds me that time still moves."

The elevator opened onto the atelier floor: bolts of fabric stacked to the ceiling, the air alive with the sound of scissors and conversation.

Seamstresses glanced up as we passed. Julien slowed, eyes taking in everything, the texture of velvet, the precision of a hem.

"This place," he murmured, "is quieter than I expected."

"It's the sound of concentration," I said.

He nodded. "And yours?"

"What about it?"

"Your silence. It feels... deliberate."

I almost laughed. "In this company, silence is a form of protection."

He looked at me as if he understood, though he couldn't possibly.

We reached the end of the room, where a mannequin stood half-dressed in silver fabric.

He traced the line of the stitching without touching it.

"Beautiful work," he said. "There's movement in it. Almost music."

His words struck something inside me, a faint vibration, as if he'd brushed an unseen chord.

I turned away. "The design team will be pleased."

Lucien appeared in the doorway then, voice carrying its usual calm authority.

"Everything satisfactory, monsieur?"

"More than satisfactory," Julien replied. "Your team works like a single instrument."

Lucien's gaze lingered on me for a heartbeat too long. "Miss Durand ensures it stays tuned."

I lowered my eyes. "Thank you, monsieur."

When the tour ended, Julien thanked Lucien and turned to me.

"Could you send me a copy of the atelier schedule?"

"Of course."

He smiled. "You've just guaranteed I'll visit again."

Lucien's expression didn't change, but I felt the air tighten between them.

Business courtesies followed handshakes, promises of updates.

Then Julien left, his footsteps fading down the corridor like an unfinished song.

I stood for a moment, files in hand, heartbeat uneven.

Lucien spoke quietly behind me.

"Don't mistake charm for interest, Amélie. He collects what he cannot keep."

"Yes, monsieur."

But the words felt heavy, as if they belonged to someone else.

Part Two – Interference

Lucien didn't mention Julien again, but his silence carried edges.

The following morning he reviewed schedules with unusual precision, revising meeting times, questioning details that rarely interested him.

When he asked for the latest investor correspondence, his tone was light.

I handed him the folder without comment.

He scanned the pages, then looked up.

"Did Moreau say when he plans to return?"

"He didn't specify."

"Let's hope it isn't often."

I managed a small nod.

Lucien's smile was faint. "Not everyone is drawn to this place for business, Miss Durand."

"I'm aware."

"Good. Keep it that way."

He went back to his notes, conversation dismissed.

But for the rest of the day, his gaze found me too easily.

Whenever I moved through the office, I felt it, light, assessing, a presence reminding me that every gesture here belonged to someone else's rhythm.

By afternoon, an email arrived:

From: julien.moreau@moreauholdings.fr

Subject: Gratitude

Thank you for the tour yesterday. I find myself thinking about the precision of your work, the way the pieces fit together. Please extend my compliments to Monsieur Devereux. – J.M.

I read it twice before forwarding it to Lucien.

He replied almost immediately:

Forward this to PR for the records. No personal correspondence.

I closed the message but left it in drafts, unread in the system.

That evening, as I filed reports, I caught my reflection in the glass wall, posture straight, expression neutral, eyes tired.

It struck me how easily I resembled the mannequins in the atelier: perfectly dressed, perfectly still.

Later, when I left the building, the sky had deepened to indigo.

Rain had returned, thin needles against the pavement.

A figure stood across the street beneath an umbrella, half-shadowed by the glow of a café sign.

He wasn't watching the entrance, not exactly, but his stillness felt deliberate.

When I glanced again, the figure was gone.

Inside his car a few streets away, Julien closed his notebook and watched the lights blur through the rain.

He told himself he was only studying patterns, the way he would before buying a painting: observe it at different hours, different angles.

And yet, the more he told himself this, the less convincing it sounded.

He remembered the way Amélie had looked at him during the tour, polite, cautious, detached, and how the air between them had carried something unspoken.

He was good at reading surfaces; this one refused to stay still.

He would write to Lucien again, perhaps request another visit.

Purely professional.

He smiled at the thought, knowing it for the lie it was.

The next morning, Maison Devereux stirred with talk of expansion.

Lucien summoned his staff, voice steady but sharper than usual.

Amélie recorded the minutes, though her attention drifted.

Between the buzz of plans and deadlines, she heard the faint echo of strings, an imagined cello tracing through her mind, pulling the air into rhythm.

When the meeting ended, she lingered by the window.

Below, the city moved in fragments: cars, umbrellas, colour.

A woman crossed the street carrying a violin case, the motion precise, practiced.

Something about it made her throat tighten.

She pressed a hand against the glass and stayed like that until the pressure steadied her heartbeat.

Part Three – The Thin Line

Julien returned two days later.

No appointment, no notice, just a courteous message sent from the lobby:

Monsieur Moreau requests a moment of your time.

Lucien received him with the same poised civility as before, but something in the air shifted.

The conversation in the glass office carried only fragments to the hall, numbers, contracts, the scrape of chairs.

When Lucien called for coffee, Amélie went in, tray steady, eyes lowered.

Julien looked up as she entered, the smallest smile crossing his mouth.

Lucien's glance flicked between them; the silence felt measured.

Amélie set the tray down. "Will that be all, monsieur?"

"For now," Lucien said.

Julien's voice followed. "Miss Durand, if I may, your help with the last document was invaluable. I hope I didn't take too much of your time."

She met his eyes for an instant. "It was my work, monsieur."

"Then I envy your work," he said lightly.

Lucien's expression didn't change, but the edge in the room was unmistakable.

Amélie left as quickly as courtesy allowed.

Back at her desk, she forced her breath into rhythm. The day felt too long already.

By late afternoon, Lucien summoned her again.

"Send these to accounting."

When she turned to leave, his voice stopped her.

"Miss Durand," he said quietly, "I don't like distractions."

"I understand, monsieur."

"I'm sure you do."

He went back to his paperwork, and she left with the sense of a warning that would echo later.

The evening brought relief in routine.

She changed her shoes in the lobby, stepped out into the soft dusk, and let the wind find her face.

The city smelled of wet stone and perfume from the passing crowd.

Every sound, the rhythm of footsteps, the brief cry of brakes, a saxophone from somewhere unseen, seemed to tug at something deep inside her.

At home she made tea, but the steam reminded her of stage smoke.

She opened the window, hoping for air, and heard faint music drifting from a nearby café: a cello tracing the outline of a melody she almost recognised.

The notes slid under her skin, settling where words could not reach.

Across the river, in his apartment, Julien listened to the same rain.

He had planned to review new acquisitions, yet his mind replayed details instead: a voice, a posture, the quiet power of restraint.

He poured a drink, left it untouched, and finally reached for his sketchbook.

The charcoal moved easily tonight.

He drew without thinking, lines becoming shapes, shapes becoming her.

The curve of a shoulder, the fall of hair.

But when he shaded the space where eyes should have been, the pencil hesitated.

He set it down.

He would see her again soon.

For business, of course.

At the same hour, Amélie stood before the mirror brushing her hair.

Her reflection watched, expressionless, until the movement itself began to feel like someone else's.

She stopped, met her own gaze, and whispered, "Stay still."

Outside, the city lights flickered against the windowpane, a pulse almost in time with her heartbeat.

The two worlds, light and shadow, waited on opposite sides of the glass.