Miss J’s expression flickered, that sa shadow of pain from before. "Ah. That one is... different."
"Different how?" Bella asked softly.
Miss J took a slow breath. "Have you ever loved soone who couldn’t love you back? Not because they didn’t want to, but because sothing inside them was broken?"
Bella thought of Leo in those early days. So closed off.
"I think so," she whispered.
"When you love soone like that, you see the storm in their eyes. The pain they carry." Miss J’s voice dropped. "You want to save them, but you can’t. You can only love them and hope it’s enough."
She looked down at her hands.
"It wasn’t enough. Not then." A pause. "So I painted those eyes. All the love, all the storm, all the things I couldn’t say."
The lounge fell quiet.
Bella felt tears prick at her eyes. Without thinking, she reached out and took Miss J’s hand again.
"I’m sure they felt it," Bella said softly. "Your love. Even if they couldn’t show it. I’m sure they felt it."
Miss J looked at her and sothing in her expression cracked open, just slightly.
"Thank you, Isabella," she whispered. "That ans more than you know."
William watched them, his eyes glistening slightly.
In the end, as the afternoon light began to soften into evening, Miss J reached into her small clutch and pulled out a simple business card. It was elegant but understated, just a na, a number, and a small sketch of a paintbrush in the corner.
"Here," she said, holding it out to Bella. "If you ever need anything, advice, soone to talk to, or just want to hear more stories about paintings, you can call ."
Bella’s eyes went wide. She took the card like it was made of gold, holding it with both hands.
"Really?" she breathed. "I can really call you?"
Miss J laughed softly at her reaction. "Really. I don’t give my number to many people, Isabella. But you’re... special."
Bella’s cheeks flushed pink. She nodded rapidly, her hair bouncing with the movent. "I will. I an, I won’t bother you or anything, but I’ll call. Sotis. If that’s okay. Not too much. Just—"
Miss J reached out and gently touched Bella’s cheek, unable to resist any longer. Those cheeks really were impossibly pinchable.
"You’re adorable," she said warmly. "Call whenever you want. I’ll look forward to it."
Bella bead so brightly the whole room seed brighter.
William stood slowly, offering his hand to Miss J. "Thank you for today. This has been... more than I expected."
Miss J shook his hand, her eyes holding his for a mont. "Thank you for bringing her."
As they walked away, Bella clutched the card to her chest, glancing back at Miss J one more ti.
Miss J was still watching her, a soft smile on her face.
She’s so cute, Miss J thought, warmth spreading through her chest. Those pink cheeks, that eager nod, the way she holds my card like it’s precious. What a sweet girl.
Bella waved shyly.
Miss J waved back.
And in that small exchange, sothing began, a connection neither of them fully understood, but both of them felt.
William placed a gentle hand on Bella’s shoulder as they walked toward the exit.
"You made a friend today," he observed.
Bella looked at the card again. Miss J. Just a na and a number.
But it felt like so much more.
"Yeah," she whispered, smiling. "I think I did."
***
anwhile,
The bathroom was filled with the sound of running water, drowning out everything else.
Leo stood at the sink, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his knuckles split and raw. The water in the basin swirled pink as he let it run over his hands, washing away the evidence of his earlier eting. A eting that had ended badly for soone.
He tapped the tap absently, watching the red-tinted water spiral down the drain. His expression was calm. The kind of calm that ca after the storm had passed, leaving only cold calculation behind.
Behind him, a man stood rigidly, hands clasped in front of him, sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool air.
"Sir," the man said carefully, "we’ve been keeping watch, following every lead, but we haven’t found any solid clues about the stalker yet. No prints, no cara angles, no witnesses. He’s careful. Very careful."
Leo said nothing. Just kept watching the water.
The man swallowed hard. "But... there is one thing. I think you might need to know."
Leo finally turned off the tap. The sudden silence was deafening.
He reached for a towel, drying his hands slowly, deliberately. Each finger. The spaces between. Like he had all the ti in the world.
"Speak," he said, his voice flat.
He walked past the man into the bedroom, not waiting to see if he was followed. The man hurried after him.
Leo stood by the window, his back to the room, looking out at the city below. The towel hung loosely in one hand.
The man stopped a few feet behind him, keeping what he hoped was a safe distance.
"Sir... when you were away on your business trip to City F, ma’am received sothing." He paused, gathering courage. "A gift. And a rose."
Leo’s hand stilled on the towel.
The room went very, very quiet.
Slowly, Leo turned. His gray eyes locked onto the man with an intensity that made the man’s blood run cold. The temperature in the room seed to drop several degrees.
"What did you say?"
The man swallowed again, his throat working desperately. He recounted everything. He didn’t leave out a single detail, speaking quickly but clearly, desperate to get it all out.
When he finished, the silence returned.
Leo’s expression hadn’t changed. But his aura had beco darker, darker. Like the pressure before a storm.
"And you’re telling now?" His voice was dangerously soft.
The man flinched visibly. "We—we didn’t want to worry you while you were handling business in City F. We increased security imdiately. No one got near her. We thought—"
"You thought wrong."
The words dropped like stones into still water. Each one weighted with sothing deadly.
Leo took a step forward. Just one. But the man stumbled back as if physically pushed.
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