He hangs up before I can respond.
I save my current configurations, lock the control center behind me, take the private elevator to the third floor. The ride is thirty-seven seconds that I spend trying to predict what Lucien wants. Elias's presence has disrupted something. Lucien's careful curation of tonight, his manipulation of Lana through Vera's art, his positioning of her as both patron and prey—Elias showing up unannounced has thrown variables into the equation.
The elevator doors open. Lucien's office door is already open, and he's standing at his window overlooking the main floor, hands in his pockets, posture rigid.
"Close the door," he says without turning around.
I close it.
"About Elias," Lucien says, still facing the window. "When did you last see him?"
"Three days ago. We had dinner."
He turns. "Did he mention anything about tonight?"
"No. Nothing."
"He contacted me this afternoon requesting entry. Said he's interested in Vera Molina's work - apparently they know each other from years ago." Lucien crosses to his desk, pours scotch, but doesn't offer me any. "Normally I wouldn't care. But he went directly to Lana Pope. Engaged her in extended conversation. That concerns me."
"Why?"
"Because I'm cultivating a potential patron and I don't need complications from your former employer." He studies me. "What did you observe?"
"She was more open with him than she's been with anyone else tonight. Her body language changed - less guarded, more engaged. They stood there for several minutes."
"Doing what?"
"I don't have audio authorization. I can only tell you they were looking at the photograph together.The Drop. And she was responding to whatever he said."
"That's what concerns me. She's been carefully controlled all evening. Then Elias appears and suddenly her guard drops." Lucien sets down his glass. "I don't know what his interest is - whether it's the artist, the exhibition, or something else. But I want you watching closely. If he approaches her again, I want to know immediately."
"Understood."
"Go back to your station." He dismisses me with a gesture. "Keep monitoring."
I leave without responding. Take the elevator back down to the control center. Unlock the door, return to my chair, and pull up my monitors.
Camera 7 shows the hallway is still empty. She's been in the bathroom for six minutes, forty-three seconds. Longer than necessary for composure adjustments. Long enough that I'm starting to wonder if she found another exit, if she's gone, if I've lost—
The bathroom door opens. She emerges, and her face is different. Flushed. Eyes bright. Hands steadier. Whatever she did in there—crying, breathing exercises, internal recalibration—she's composed herself enough to return.
But she doesn't return to the gallery.
Instead, she walks past Camera 7's coverage zone, toward the emergency exit at the end of the hallway. She’s not fleeing, her pace is measured and controlled. But she is leaving. Choosing departure over enduring.
I pull up Camera 2, which covers the exterior emergency exit and watch her push through the door into the alley behind The Dominion. The night is cool, clear, and she stands there for a moment, breathing like she's just surfaced from underwater.
Then she starts walking. Not toward the front entrance where her car would be waiting. Away from The Dominion entirely, into the darker streets of The Margin.
My hands move before I can think through the implications. Pull out my phone. Text the driver Lucien arranged:Subject departing on foot. Track but don't approach.
Then I'm up, grabbing my jacket, locking the control center, taking the stairs instead of the elevator because stairs are faster when you're not thinking clearly.
I shouldn't follow her. This crosses every professional boundary I've maintained for two years. Surveillance from a distance is voyeurism. Surveillance on foot is stalking.
But I'm already moving.
I exit through the staff door, scan the street for her black dress. There—two blocks ahead, walking with purpose into neighborhoods that get progressively less safe the farther away you get from The Dominion's sphere of influence.
