Page 20 of How to Get Even

Then, she carefully removed the doctored sugar sachets and placed them into the holder that Chase kept on the coffee station on top of the fridge, mixing them with the others. It had taken her nearly an hour and a half last night after finishing her call with the girls, but she had achieved perfection. And given the fact he consumed enough sugar a day to keep Krispy Kreme in business, it shouldn’t take him long to hit her substitutes.

She backed out of Chase’s office and went through the process of closing down the floor as Maurice had directed – in a very detailed, fifteen-minute briefing – and left the gallery humming all the way back to the apartment.

Round Two, Carmichael.

Just Desserts WhatsApp Group. 18.55EST.

Bella

Didn’t get caught!

4

Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight.

THE ART OF WAR, SUN TZU

Bella prised open one eye and peered blearily at a near aerial view of Central Park in surprise, having forgotten that she was no longer in her childhood bedroom at her parents’ house, and craned her neck to squint at the alarm clock beside her bed.

Ugh.

Six thirtya.m.

Four hours. She’d had four hours of sleep.

She pulled a pillow across her face and groaned into it, aware thatGood Belladidn’t do things like groan. Against the backs of her eyes, she saw slashes of paint, a large canvas, and an explosion of pigment.

Go away!she mentally yelled at Chase Miller, throwing the pillow across the room.

She’d been up late last night doing research;know thy enemy, Sun Tzu commanded. So, after scanning her copy ofThe Art of Warfor motivation, she had spent a few hours – okay, so maybe more likefourhours – watching videos and interviews with him through different stages of his career.

Which was fascinating, because Chase the painter was very different from Chase the gallery director.

Chase the painter was dynamic. The early videos on YouTube showed a softness and a humour that she couldn’t quite equate with the man in the apartment opposite her. Later videos were of ‘the artist at work’, promo pieces for up-and-coming exhibitions that she felt he’d tolerated more than courted. But there was one that had kept playing over and over in her mind, in her dreams and into this morning.

He’d been in his studio, a large warehouse-like space somewhere in London. The music in the background was angry, furious beats played across a hypnotic baseline. It wasn’t the kind of music she listened to, but she could see the attraction.

He’d painted like he was trying to run from something, the noise so loud it could drown out the world. And for just a moment she’d found herself wondering if he’d succeeded in drowning out himself.

Because she knew that feeling. Recognised it from when she ran. The music so loud in her ears, almost to the point of pain, where she couldn’t hear herself think, where all she could do was hold onto the music and keep going.

And then, flashing against the back of her eyes, there it was: Chase staring at the camera dead on, a knowing glint in his eye, bringing her out in goosebumps. She’d scanned the first few of the nearly five thousand comments left on the video and choked.

@helmart23 He can paint me any day.

@BensJammin Loving his use of acrylic and texture to define…

@HeavenlyFather You can find God in your heart, if know where to look.

@CMWIFE I know EXACTLY where he can put that paintbrush.

Which for some inexplicable reason, reminded her of the book that Delia had thrust into her hands just before she got on the last flight out of O’Hare.

Bella had fallen asleep and been dragged headlong into strange dreams about having paint thrown over her by journalists because she was marrying Tej Nayak, and being chased by a book-waving Delia, until a larger lady with magenta hair offered her safe harbour in a piece of red velvet cake.

She glared at Delia’s book where it peered at her from her nightstand.

Read me.

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