Love Across Empires

hed sketches. She held her coffee cup tightly, staring at Lost Horizons, now tucked safely against the wall as the events of the night before replayed in her mind like a bad dream,

hand and her own coffee in the other. She set them down on the counter and sat o

roissant and tearing off a piece. "People loved you

ront of everyone. And now I'm wondering... what if there's some truth to it? What i

You are not a fraud. Your art is real, and so are you. Don

on the table. She reached for it and frowned a

answer that?" Alex

She pressed the button and brough

n-dollar deals, and built an empire from nothing. He had mastered control of himself

hours ago, yet Lily Colli

whiskey in his hand, staring at the city lights. His penthouse was silent, but

ly

d over in his mind like

the women he usu

ls, wasn't fighting for his attenti

d felt

er ar

ers wildly abstract, but Lost Horizons had been different. It had

hed something raw, something he

then

ccusa

ead like wildfire. Jake had wanted to shield her from it. He had never been a man w

ut thinking. And when she had fle

s, replaying the mo

railing, gripping it like she needed something solid to hold onto. She ha

scene," she had whispere

epping closer. "That man doesn'

to him, her eye

her voice shaking. "What if my painting

her eyes, and it had made

're not a fraud," he had told her. "I can see it in you." She had searched his

clenched at the memory of his ex's sh

ela had said, her arms crossed, e

own exactly what she was doing when she had turned to Li

in Lily's eyes after that. Carmela'

ne in his penthouse, he couldn't shak

women called him, women chased him. But to

ne. His fingers hovered over the sc

ine r

ce

wi

ily's voice was

w much he had wanted to he

was a

, sounding sur

't expecting his call.

he said, keeping his voice even.

se. Then, a

g about it." Jake felt something shift inside him. She was

lp you figure this out." "Jake, I don't know..." sh

he doubt, the fear. He had