Francesca returned to Kingsward City. Two months had passed since she last saw Julian, with not even the barest trace of him in her life—not a call, not a message.

It was as though Julian had vanished from her world entirely.

By early July, Francesca’s auction house celebrated its first transaction—a monumental success that brought in an astonishing one hundred sixty million. The commission alone was substantial.

That evening, Index Gallery hosted ...