The address in the anonymous text message was in a converted warehouse in the Meatpacking District, its exterior bearing the marks of industrial decay, while the interior hinted at a transformation. Like a forgotten boulder, it stood amidst upscale glass storefronts, its brick walls etched with the scars of decades of harsh winters. No sign indicated its purpose. Only the number painted on rusted metal confirmed she had found the right place.
Sierra insisted on coming with her and is now waiting in a café across the street, ready to intervene if Delphine doesn't come out within an hour. The arrangement seems dramatic and excessive, yet incredibly comforting.
Delphine rang the doorbell.
The door clicked open, and she stepped into a space deliberately designed to create contradictions: exposed brick walls and underfloor heating, vintage factory windows and climate-controlled air conditioning. A corridor stretched out before her, with unmarked doors on either side.
A man waited at the end of the corridor. Kai Mencher, though she didn't know his name at the time. He wore a gray coat the same color as the walls, and his pale eyes were illuminated by the morning light streaming through the high windows.
"Miss Ferrell, Mr. Richards wants to see you."
She followed him through a doorway into a room much larger than it appeared from the outside. The furniture was minimal: a desk, two chairs, and a sofa that seemed designed for contemplation rather than comfort.
Alistair Richards stood by the window, his back to her. She recognized him from photographs, from the edge of the financial newspaper she pretended to read on the breakfast table in Braxton. They called him "the architect." This man rebuilt companies as efficiently and thoroughly as others demolished them.
He turned around.
The impact was real. The air in the room seemed to thin. Every inch of her instincts, honed for survival, suddenly went on high alert, screaming that she was facing a apex predator who didn't need to bare his fangs to prove his dominance. Compared to the superior looks honed by generations of wealth and the immeasurable calmness, she suddenly found Braxton as naive as a newborn calf in his presence. His gaze caught her, and she felt herself suddenly become transparent, scrutinized, understood in a way she had never authorized.
“Miss Ferrer.” Her name sounded different in his mouth. Not the nickname Braxton used, nor the accusatory way Meredith addressed her. Just her name, acknowledged as a possession. “Thank you for coming.”
"I don't know why I'm here." These words slipped out of her mouth before she even had a chance to think them through.
Richards smiled. The expression didn't reach his eyes, but it changed his face, suggesting a warmth that might exist beneath the surface.
“Your husband,” he said, “mentioned that you are unwell and unable to participate in social activities. I want to verify his assessment.”
Delphine's hand touched her bruised wrist, and she unconsciously covered it. "I'm not his wife. Soon I won't be."
“I know.” He walked to the table, opened a drawer, and took out a document. “I have considered it my duty to understand it. Your situation interests me, Miss Ferrer. Your abilities interest me even more.”
He spread the photographs out on the table. They were her work, she realized. Dresses she'd designed for private clients, pieces published in small magazines, and the collection she'd presented at her FIT graduation show. She'd never imagined anyone would document, preserve, or cherish such things. Seeing them laid out like forensic evidence, revealing her suppressed talent, tightened her chest.
"You've been following me."
“Protect you,” he corrected, “that’s the important distinction.”
"Avoid what?"
He looked directly at her, and she saw something change in his expression, a crack appearing in his perfect facade. “To avoid self-destruction,” he said, “to avoid disappearing into the narratives others write for you. To avoid becoming what they think you are.”
Delphine approached the table, almost involuntarily. The photograph showcased her finest work: the draping designs she had once been obsessed with, the stitching that took hours to perfect, and the subtle design rebellions that kept her grounded during the long decline of her marriage.
"Why?"
Richards put the photos away and returned them to the file. “I have a proposal. That yacht party your husband mentioned is mine. I’ll host it. I’ll choose the guests. And I’ve realized I need a designer to design the event.”
"I don't work for strangers."
“You will work for me.” The figure he quoted made her hold her breath. “A weekend. A dress for my partner. After that, you will be free to return to… any life you choose.”
"Your partner."
“A form. A facade of dependence,” he said without any embarrassment. “Society needs certain performances. What I’m offering you is the role of a costume designer.”
Delphine recalled the expression on Braxton's face when he received the invitation. The despair in his eyes, the sudden shift in his stance. This incredible, powerful man—making her valuable simply by expressing interest. That power terrified her. It was a game of chess played above her, but this time, for the first time, she was allowed to sit at the chessboard, not be used as a pawn.
"What if I refuse?"
Richards' expression didn't change. "Then you refuse. I won't force you, Miss Ferrer. I don't need to." He walked to the window, becoming a silhouette again. "But consider this: your husband wants you to attend that party. He needs your presence, for reasons unrelated to your happiness. I'm offering you an opportunity to attend on your own terms. To be seen as someone worth cultivating, not someone who needs to be controlled."
Delphine looked at her hands, at the calluses left by needles and scissors, at the bruises on her wrists fading to yellow. She thought of the hotel room waiting for her, of the uncertainty of tomorrow, and of the long road of divorce and rebuilding that lay before her.
“A dress,” she said.
"A dress."
"After that, you stopped bothering me."
Richards turned around. For a fleeting moment, something flashed in his eyes—perhaps disappointment, perhaps resolve. Then it vanished, replaced by a perfectly composed demeanor that seemed to come naturally to him.
“Then,” he said, “you will be free to choose. That’s what I’ve always offered.”
He reached out his hand. She grasped it, feeling the warmth of his palm, and long after he withdrew his hand, the warmth of his skin lingered in her palm.
“Kay will provide the details,” he said. “The party is in five days. I look forward to your work, Miss Ferrer.”
She walked to the door, stopped, and placed her hand on the doorknob.
Why Ferrer?
She didn't turn around, but she felt his gaze fixed on her back, sharp and absolute. "What did you say?"
“You called me Ferrer, not Morton.” She then turned around, catching a glimpse of his momentarily unguarded expression. There was something there, almost like pain. “Everyone else uses his last name.”
Richards remained silent for a long time. When he finally spoke, his voice changed, becoming softer and more dangerous.
“Because Ferrer is you,” he said. “You before they came. You after they left.” He returned to the window, once again becoming a silhouette. “I find I prefer the original to the copy, Miss Ferrer. Even if the original no longer recognizes itself.”
Delphine stepped out into the morning light, into a city that suddenly seemed more bustling and brighter than ever before. Sera waited in the café, the question already brewing on her lips.
Delphine continued walking. She needed to act, to process, to understand what had just happened, and why her heart was beating so fast.
A man she had never met gave her money, protection, and the restoration of her name. He looked at her as if she were important. As if she were real.
She knew she shouldn't believe any of this. She knew that power always came at a price, and the interest shown by a man like Alistair Richards was never simple or safe.
But for the first time in three years, someone saw her. They saw the real her, the one overshadowed by the perfect aura of being a wife, a guardian, and her sister.
She kept walking until she found a fabric shop, until she touched silk and wool, until she felt the unique weight of Italian lace. She kept walking until her hands remembered their purpose, until her mind began to design the dress she was about to create, the manifesto she was about to deliver, the part of herself she was about to present to that which was trying to erase her world.
