“Actually, there’s something I need to say first,” Riley told Gloria Van Lark as I walked up.

At least, I assumed that was actually her… I’d never seen the woman myself, but she did look like a rather self-assured, self-absorbed old woman.

Gloria checked her watch quickly, looking rather irritated. “You’d better make it quick. We’re pressed for time. What is it, Riley?”

Riley paused, lost in thought for a moment. I had considered hanging back for a few minutes and watching how this played out, but the aeroplane delays had already made me late enough as it was…

I walked up to her side, and her friends – the skittish thin one, and her Japanese friend, Reiko – glanced over at me with hushed tones. I smiled with a finger to my lips, preparing to surprise her.

Sure, this was an interesting moment to choose, but I’d gotten there as quickly as I could, and I intended on supporting her when she–

“Fuck you.”

My hand clasped onto her shoulder right then, and I froze out of complete confusion. What the hell did she just say?

Riley glanced up at me in equal surprise, and a large smile spread across her lips. “Lex,” she murmured. “You came after all. I was so afraid you wouldn’t make it.”

Gloria Van Lark looked impassive at best, but the stoic woman at her side bristled in anger.

“Excuse me… what the hell did you just say to Madame Van Lark?” The woman indignantly requested, her eyes becoming two blackened pits of coal beneath her spectacles. “How dare you speak to her this way, you ungrateful, impetulant disgrace of a–”

“You ruined my childhood, you miserable old bitch,” Riley turned to Gloria. “You offered this same fucking deal to my mother, and she took it… She walked straight out of my life forever.”

“I helped your mother blossom,” Gloria replied calmly. “She deserved to have her gifts recognized by the world. She needed someone to guide her. She was weak and impressionable…”

Gloria tilted her head thoughtfully.

“I had no earthly idea that my pupil’s progeny would grow to be such a talented and… dare I say it, fierce young woman,” Gloria commented. “I would have approached you years ago if I’d had the faintest clue… We can certainly make up for lost time.”

“You don’t seem to get it,” Riley told her. “I’m not going with you.”

“Nonsense,” Gloria rebutted. “You couldn’t possibly throw away this opportunity. Without my representation, you’ll be dust in the wind, child. I’ll find and train another to fill the hole you would have occupied. You’ll be cast aside to rot while a worthy inheritor to the art rises in your stead. You don’t truly want that, do you?”

Riley crossed her arms. “I think I’ll take my chances.”

“She’s a damned good painter,” I chimed in. “With the right people behind her, she’ll rise with or without you. If I can get your attention, then I think I can certainly draw the right sets of eyes across the art community, wouldn’t you say?”

Riley smiled my way. “There are other curators at other world-renowned museums. I can certainly knock on other doors.”

“Not if those doors remain closed to you,” Gloria Van Lark replied. “I can personally see to it that you are locked out of every reputable museum in the world. You’ll struggle to have your art displayed in anything more elegant than a cheap motel lobby.”

“Is that a threat?” Reiko chimed in.

“Absolutely,” the old hag replied. “I suggest that you take the opportunity while it remains available… or else I will end your career, right here and now.”

“You miserable old fuck,” her other friend responded – what was his name, Connor? “You would go out of your way to destroy an artist just because she turned down the chance to be forced into abandoning her life to come live under your thumb? You’re not asking her to sell you some art – you want her to give up everything and come stay with you for, what, how long?”

“A decade, bare minimum,” Gloria replied without a moment’s hesitation. “Perhaps even two, given her age. It really depends on her stamina. You’ll be able to paint round the clock with zero distractions…”

“I will absolutely not join you,” Riley told her in the darkest tone of voice I’d ever heard out of her. “You are a wicked, evil woman, preying on young artists dreams and locking them away from the world… but how? How has nobody come out against you yet?”

“Nobody who has ever been offered my representation has turned me down. I’m offering you something beyond simple measure. A future you can only begin to imagine.”

“Then call me the first,” Riley replied. “The first to turn you down.”

Gloria Van Lark and her proxy exchanged a meaningful glance, and then turned back to regard us coolly.

“Very well then, Riley,” the elderly woman responded. “You are lucky that I’m booked throughout the rest of the year… but I highly suggest that you make the wisest use of your time for the next five months. Find a new field. I’m afraid painting isn’t in your future…”

“Get out of my fucking sight, you miserable old fuck,” Riley smirked.

“Charming,” Gloria answered, descending down the steps between us. She paused to look Riley hard in the eyes.

“You have searched for me for so long, haven’t you? Many artists have, and many will continue to do so for years to come. I am afraid, my dear Riley, that you will come to regret this day.”

Riley didn’t say a word, and so the two of them stepped into a taxi and left the scene.

“Well… that was tense,” Connor replied with a half-hearted chuckle. “Jesus. What a complete cunt…” he turned to Riley. “What are you going to do now?”

“I have absolutely no idea,” she muttered. “I’ll figure something out.”

“So, what’s that?” I asked Riley, indicating the covered canvas that she was holding close to her chest. “I haven’t seen that since I walked up…”

Riley looked embarrassed for a moment, but revealed the painting to me.

I was completely taken aback.

“It’s… it’s…”

“It’s you,” she quietly told me.

The painting was unmistakably me. It was a portrait of me striking a football with my ankle, volleying around a player who dared to try to stop me. I was dressed in my Manchester United attire, from several years back…

It was the proudest game of my life.

“I looked you up, finally,” Riley offered. “I searched for the highlights of your career. This game looked like the one that the British public loved the most, and one particular moment near the end…”

“I remember it fondly,” I told her, feeling my chest swell with pride. “This moment happened in the last fifteen seconds of the game. It’s right when I scored the winning point and led us to a close but decisive victory… and it’s the game that finally put me on the road to the National team.”

She smiled softly. “It’s for you.”

“I love it, Riley,” I whispered, pulling her up into my arms and planting a firm kiss on her lips. When we pulled away, my eyes were full of love, and my heart was burning with passion for this wonderful, amazing woman. “And I love you.”

“I love you too, Lex.”

The other two shared a meaningful glance. Reiko stood a little closer to Connor as they turned away to allow us the moment.

I pressed my lips to her crown as I remembered one important detail…

I reached into my pocket and removed my phone, holding it up to the light. With a flick of my thumb against the screen, the microphone app stopped, and I saved the recording as Gloria Van Lark, Evidence.

“I need to make a quick phone call,” I told her, kissing Riley on the cheek. “Can you wait here for a moment?”

“Absolutely,” she groaned, sitting down on the stairs. “I don’t think I have the energy to do much of anything else right now…”

“I’ll be right back,” I smiled reassuringly.

Wandering away from the group, I stepped over to a nearby column and pulled up my contacts. Within a few moments, I had Jess on the line.

“Lex! How did it go?”

“It was… not quite what I expected,” I commented dryly. “Listen, I have something fascinating to share with you.”

“Oh yeah? Whatcha got?”

“An opportunity,” I smiled. “It would appear that Gloria Van Lark has a thing for scooping up promising young artists and giving them a classic case of Stockholm syndrome…”

“What?” She exclaimed. “No kidding!”

“Yes… I was intending to record Riley’s big moment in accepting Gloria’s deal, but what I wound up with is…” I paused, choosing my words carefully, “far more interesting.

“Jess, you’re one of the most talented publicists I’ve ever heard of, and you’ve sharpened your teeth on keeping my nose clean in the eyes of the British public. You’re skilled at representing me… and I don’t know a soul who could do a better job than you.”

“You flatter me,” she replied warmly.

I could practically hear her smirk across the phone line as she anticipated my next words:

“I’m offering you a chance to do the complete opposite… how would you like to help me take down the most legendary art curator in the world?”