When the Billionaire Begs novel · Chapter 8 of 24
Chapter 8: Seventeen Layers
Carlton had let the phone ring twice in his hand.
On the third ring he stepped out of the frame and said, "Mother," in a voice I had never heard from him.
I did not hear what Veronica said back.
He walked out of my studio with the phone against his ear, and he did not look at me again that day.
By Sunday night he had sent nothing, and the stream's clip had passed six million views.
The Biennial board met on Monday at nine, in a glass room above the sculpture garden.
Three jurors sat behind a long table.
Carlton's lawyer sat on one side of it with a leather folder, and Odette sat beside him in dark glasses.
Carlton himself leaned against the back wall with his arms folded and did not look at me.
I stood alone at the other end with my phone and a printout.
Stellan came in late and took a chair at the side.
His place card read Harlow Fund, sponsor, and he looked at me and nodded.
I had not asked him to come.
I was more glad than I wanted to be.
The senior juror cleared her throat. "We are here on a complaint of original authorship. Counsel."
The lawyer rose. "My client, Miss Braithwaite, conceived the composition of The Empty Chair last spring. Ms. Farris has taken it. We have a post dated Friday in which Miss Braithwaite painted the same image, and we ask that the entry be withdrawn."
"Friday," I said.
"Yes."
"Miss Braithwaite painted hers on Friday afternoon, in about two hours, after she saw mine on my counter."
The lawyer smiled thinly. "Can you prove otherwise?"
I put my phone on the table and turned the screen toward the jurors.
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