THE LIE IN HIS SMILE

Chapter Ten: The Lie in His Smile

Paris , Theo Carter's Loft, 3:33 p.m.

Amira waited by the floor to ceiling window, watching the Seine below glitter like it had something to hide.

Theo poured two glasses of champagne behind her.

"So formal," he said with a smile. "Are we celebrating something?"

"I found Celeste's sketchbook," she said, not turning.

Silence.

Then, a quiet laugh. "You always did love mysteries."

She turned now, her gaze ice. "I found the letter too."

His smile didn't crack but his eyes changed.

"She wrote about you," Amira continued. "About how you made her feel safe. Then scared. Then nothing at all."

Theo set the glass down, slow and careful.

"She was unstable, Amira."

"No," Amira snapped. "She was scared. And you helped make her that way."

He stepped forward. "You don't understand the pressure we were under. Zion, the school, the family..."

"She was seventeen," Amira hissed. "You were twenty-two and playing with her heart like it was a game. And now she's dead."

"She was obsessed with me," Theo said coldly. "And when I tried to pull away, she threatened to expose things, things Zion and I had buried."

Amira stepped back like she'd been slapped.

"You didn't kill her," she said. "But you broke her."

Theo's jaw flexed. "And what now? You're going to tell Zion? He's no savior. He let her rot in that place."

"I don't need Zion to bring you down," Amira said, voice shaking. "I have her words. Her drawings. Her truth."

Theo looked at her like she was no longer a woman but a weapon.

"You think you're the first to chase justice in a world full of men like me?" he whispered.

"No," she said. "But I'll be the one who finishes what she started."

Later That Night at Amira's Apartment

Rosalie stared in horror as Amira laid the sketchbook and note on the table.

"This is enough," Rosalie said. "We can take this public. Burn them with it."

"No," Amira whispered.

"Why not?"

"Because if I burn them too fast," Amira said, staring at the city lights outside, "I'll never learn what Zion's still hiding."