Chapter 10 - The Masterpiece of Tomorrow
Three months later.
The morning sun filtered brightly through the wide glass windows of my new apartment overlooking the campus of Crestwood College.
The toxic shadow that had hung over our lives for three years was completely gone.
After Alexis’s arrest, Dad initiated divorce proceedings and hired a forensic accountant. They recovered the full college trust fund my mother had left for me, along with every stolen piece of jewelry and antique costume design. Brianna had moved to live with her father in another state, unable to face the fallout from her mother’s public disgrace.
Most importantly, my dad had finally woken up.
He spent his weekends helping me pack for college, smiling, laughing, and talking openly about Mom without the dark cloud of grief hanging over him. He had painted the living room back to Mom’s favorite shade of warm yellow, and her photographs were back on the mantelpiece where they belonged.
I stood in front of the mannequin in my small apartment studio.
Draped over it was the champagne silk dress, perfectly restored, its silver ivy vines shimmering in the morning light.
My phone rang. It was Julian Vance calling from his New York atelier.
"Lily, darling," Julian’s voice boomed warmly through the speaker. "I saw the photographs of your embroidery work on your mother's gown. Your stitches are even cleaner than Claire’s were at your age."
"Thank you, Julian," I smiled, running my fingers over the silver thread.
"My offer still stands," Julian continued. "As soon as you finish your freshman year at Crestwood, there is a summer internship waiting for you here at my fashion house in Manhattan. The world needs to see what a Bennett can create."
"I'll be there," I said softly.
I hung up the phone and looked out at the bright blue sky.
May you like
I touched the silver signature stitched over the heart of the dress—Claire Bennett.
My stepmother had tried to wrap me in an ugly mustard curtain, hoping to hide me in the dark. But she forgot that the truest things cannot be hidden forever. Beneath the cheap fabric and the lies, my mother’s legacy had been waiting for me all along—and now, I was ready to sew my own future.
