Too Late, My Queen

ts. But she' d heard whispers of a musician, someone raw, someone real. She found him in Ethan Miller. His voice, a gravelly tenor, wrapped around lyrics that spoke of calloused hands

ed him aft

voice low, cutting through

at, just looked at her. He was young, maybe m

fered, extending a perfectly mani

ng, but it came with a lifeline: VME would cover a

needed treatments that cost more than Ethan would make in a l

a name she said had "star power." She bought him new clothes, a new ap

e paraded him at industry events, her arm possessively through his. She cont

tting-edge treatments. Ethan paid

e Julian

ored with the "refined" Lia

llion, a tech bro turned performance artist. He

ng, a chaos of flashing lights an

smirk, saw Tori not as a patron of the a

brash, and utterly uninterested in aut

esources, once Ethan' s lif

ing on a chaise in her penthouse, Julian smirking from a nearby

, Tori. Not... this." He gestured vaguely

poison in Tori' s ear. "He' s ungrateful

lbum... you promised to fund the string section

rm when they looked a

e. She' d just greenlit a seven-figure budget for Julian' s latest "immersive

nishment for hi

later. The room was cold, impersonal

e, like a doctor about to deliver a fatal diag

My attitude? Or you

yes. "Julian is exciting. Yo

ight. "Is her health predictable

expensive, Ethan. Very expensive. Continued funding d

g in the air,

u want me t

n difficult. That you understand

him, who had held his hand while Maya underwent painful proc

h. "I' ve been difficult. I understand." It was

ch full of buzzwords and self-congratulation. Tori had watched him, rapt, a strange light in her eyes. Ethan had felt a chill then, a pre

fession, Tori had wa

ary concern." Her eyes, however, told a different story. They gleamed with the thrill of her new c

arity. He was powerless. A pawn i

get, and her undivided attention. Tori, eager to please her new toy, agreed to everything. Soon, social media was flooded with pictures of Tori and Julia

er. "Tori, this is destroying my care

ugh Julian' s latest Instagram post. "It'

ve. "I can' t d

id, not even looking up. "Where wou

aya' s fragile health. Then Julian, in a fit of pique over some perceived slight from a c

ous, summo

!" she seethed, her

ault?

ult, so resistant to Julian, h

ng of reality. But he saw the

i," he pleaded, though he knew J

fix this. You need to take the

issued a public statement, a humiliating lie, claiming responsibility for the

doctor about a new complication, the world tilted. Ethan felt a sharp pain in his chest, his breath catching. He

distant, annoyed. "Eth

ell her he couldn' t br

in. "He' s probably just being dramatic, darl

Put him in his room, Charles," she instructed her driver.

e, gasping for air, the deni

, possessive fire he had once mistaken for love, was gone. Extinguished. He had been a beautiful object, and she had g