Chapter 2 - What Was Supposed to Stay Behind That Door
Alejandro reached Mariana before Rosa did.
“Enough.”
He gripped Mariana’s elbow.
Rosa knocked his hand away.
“Don’t touch her.”
Several guests turned.
Alejandro instantly lowered his voice.
That frightened Rosa more than shouting would have.
“Mariana is exhausted,” he said. “Her mother clearly doesn’t understand what’s happening.”
“I understand my daughter’s name was under that plaque.”
Celeste stepped closer.
“It’s more complicated than that.”
Rosa looked at her.
“You were standing beside her painting.”
Celeste’s cheeks reddened.
Alejandro glanced toward the auction staff.
“We’re ending this conversation.”
Mariana backed toward Rosa.
For almost three years she had lived with Alejandro in a Tribeca loft above one of his smaller gallery spaces. She had stopped exhibiting under her own name after they became engaged.
When Rosa asked why, Mariana always said the art world was draining her.
Alejandro had said she needed rest.
Rosa had believed both of them.
Now she wondered how many explanations had actually been Alejandro’s.
“Come home with me,” Rosa said.
Mariana looked toward the locked door.
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
Alejandro answered.
“She has contractual obligations.”
Rosa turned.
“To paint pictures another woman signs?”
Mariana whispered, “Mom.”
There was a warning in it.
Not for Rosa.
For herself.
Rosa noticed Alejandro’s hand moving toward his jacket pocket.
Not a weapon.
A key.
He caught her looking and immediately closed his fist around it.
The key to the locked gallery.
Mariana saw it too.
Her breathing changed.
Celeste stepped between them.
“You’re making this ugly.”
Rosa almost laughed.
“Ugly happened before I got here.”
An auction representative approached and quietly informed Alejandro that bidding on the disputed canvas would be paused until the attribution question was resolved.
Alejandro’s face remained composed.
Only his jaw moved.
Mariana looked terrified.
Not triumphant.
That told Rosa something important.
Stopping one sale had not freed her daughter.
It had made whatever Alejandro was protecting more dangerous.
Rosa touched Mariana’s wrist.
“We’re leaving.”
This time Mariana followed.
At the elevator, Alejandro called after them.
“Mariana.”
She stopped.
He did not threaten her.
He said something much more effective.
“Think about what happens to your mother’s house if you walk out.”
Rosa felt Mariana’s fingers go cold inside hers.
The elevator doors closed.
Neither woman spoke until they reached the lobby.
Then Rosa asked, “What does my house have to do with him?”
May you like
Mariana looked at her mother.
“Everything.”
