She quickly realized what she had let slip, snapped her mouth shut, but it was already too late.
She looked up at me, her eyes filled with confusion and unease.
“I didn’t finish the final stitches because… I was released from prison.”
She paused, her voice dropping even lower. “How could something from prison end up in your hands?”
I looked at her without answering right away.
The wind swept across the bridge, slipping through the space between us as the night deepened.
“Sir,” she finally couldn’t help asking, “how did you obtain this embroidery?”
My tone was steady, without a ripple.
“I bought it at an auction.”
“For twenty million dollars.”
Aria almost collapsed against the bridge railing in an instant. Her shoulders trembled as emotions she had suppressed for far too long fina
