Three days later, Miss Sterling came back to the studio. She looked happy.
"My mother loved the photo," she said, handing Evie a check. "She wants to meet you."
"That's great," Evie said, looking at the check. It was a lot of money.
"And," Sterling continued, "she has a favor. A job."
"What kind of job?"
"She wants a portrait of her son. Agustus."
Evie froze. "The tyrant?"
"Yes. He hates photos. He scares photographers. But Mom thinks you have the magic touch. She wants a portrait for the family archives. Which really means she wants a photo to send to potential brides."
"I... I don't know," Evie said. "Illa says he turns people to stone."
"Fifty thousand dollars," Sterling said.
Evie choked. Fifty thousand. That would pay off her student loans. It would give her freedom.
"I'll do it," she said.
She went home and told Illa. Illa screamed.
"You are going into the beast's lair!" Illa yelled. "Wear armor. Do not look him in the eye."
Evie texted Gus.
I have a job on Monday. At Williams Tower.
Doing what? he replied.
Photographing the monster. Agustus Williams. Wish me luck.
He's not a monster, Gus wrote back. Maybe he's just... misunderstood.
Illa says he eats people, Evie typed.
Illa is dramatic, Gus replied. Maybe he's handsome.
Not as handsome as you, she sent.
There was a long pause. Then: Good answer. I'll be in meetings all day Monday. So I won't be able to text.
Monday morning, Evie stood in the lobby of the Williams Tower. It was like entering a fortress. Security scanners, NDA forms, stern guards.
She was escorted to the top floor. The executive suite. It was silent, carpeted, and smelled of money.
"You have ten minutes," the secretary said, looking terrified. "Mr. Williams is in a meeting, but he will step out."
Evie set up her camera in the hallway. She waited.
Suddenly, the double doors at the end of the hall opened. A group of men in suits poured out.
In the center of them was a man. He was tall. Taller than everyone else. He was wearing a charcoal suit that fit him like a second skin.
He was walking away from her, toward a private elevator.
"Mr. Williams!" the secretary called out.
He didn't stop. He just raised a hand, dismissing them.
Evie lifted her camera. She didn't have a clear shot of his face. Just his back. The breadth of his shoulders. The way his hand adjusted his cufflink.
Click.
She took the shot just as the elevator doors closed.
Evie lowered the camera. Her heart was thumping. Even from the back, he radiated power. And... familiarity.
