Chapter 16 - The Final Walk
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Hélène turned back to me with a warm smile. “My team will be at your studio tomorrow morning at nine with the formal contract papers, Catherine. Let’s have breakfast.”
“I’ll be waiting, Madame Laurent,” I said, holding back a rush of triumphant tears. “Thank you.”
Hélène nodded, turned on her heel, and walked back toward her waiting black limousine, her assistants following closely behind.
The silence in the alleyway was absolute.
Charles Miller stared at the white scraps of his torn check sitting on his wet shoes, realization settling in that his power had failed completely. Without saying another word, he turned around and walked out into the street, his head held low.
Vanessa stood there for two seconds, looking between Brad and the exit, before turning and rushing after Charles, her red satin heels clicking frantically against the pavement.
Only Brad remained.
He stood near the edge of the white vinyl runway, looking at me with a profound, crushing sorrow in his eyes.
“Kate…” he whispered, taking a small, hesitant step toward me. “I… I didn't know you had a line like this in you.”
May you like
I looked at him—the man I had almost married, the man whose approval I had spent three years trying to earn.
“You never asked to see my work, Brad,” I said softly. “You only cared about how I looked beside you at your family’s dinners.”
