***
She was headed toward the subway when her cell phone rang. She glanced at the number and stopped walking.
“Semele Cavnow,” she answered in a clipped voice.
“Semele, it’s Theo. I was calling to check on the delivery.”
“The delivery was fine.” Her tone hardened. “You’ll be pleased to hear I’ve been taken off the account.”
There was a pregnant pause. “What are you talking about?”
“Our senior consultant, Fritz Wagner, will now be overseeing your father’s collection, per your request—”
“I didn’t request anything.” Theo cut her off. “I don’t want anyone else handling my father’s collection but you. Only you.”
Semele didn’t know what to say. So much for Fritz’s theory. Now she had made things worse by upsetting her client—ex-client.
“This is unacceptable,” he stressed.
“Mr.— Theo, I’m sorry but it wasn’t my decision. I thought it was yours.…” She trailed off.
“No, Semele. It wasn’t mine.”
The warmth in his voice reached out to her. Thousands of miles apart and it was as though they were back in the gallery.
He let out a pained sigh. “I’m afraid I didn’t handle our good-bye as I should have. There are things I need to say.”
She waited for him to continue.
“Semele… I’m struggling.”
His admission twisted her inside. She wanted to tell him she was struggling too, and had been ever since they’d kissed. But saying so felt like cheating on Bren all over again. Instead she said nothing.
A long silence passed between them.
“Let me handle Kairos,” he said, sounding frustrated again. “I’ll call you back,” and he hung up.
Semele stood rooted on the street as people rushed past. Was Theo actually going to demand she be put back on the collection? Here she was trying to forget what had happened in Switzerland, and just hearing him say her name like that wasn’t helping.
She was sure Mikhail would figure out a way to get Theo to accept Fritz: her boss was a master at handling difficult clients. Maybe it was better if Fritz took over. Fritz would be the one to review the collection piece by piece with Theo after all the appraisals were finished; he’d be the one taking him to client dinners and holding his hand through the auction process. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like Fritz was the better choice. Theo Bossard made her make very bad decisions.
She still couldn’t figure out how to tell Bren what had happened.
The truth was, her life had been unraveling ever since she had found Marcel’s note and the manuscript.
Message to VS—
Potential problem.
No longer overseeing the collection.
Reply from VS—
Unexpected.
Message to VS—
Assigned to Beijing.
