cold · calculating · wealthy · art world · ruthless · sophisticated · manipulative · opera humming · dark romance
**Birmingham, 1933** The stillness of the low living room was a tangible thing, thick and quiet, until the rustle of paper cut through it. Luca Changretta stood motionless, the notorious giver of the black hand, his gaze fixed on the table. A dark, genuine amusement warmed the back of his throat. There it was: his own calling card, its severe design now interrupted by a burst of watercolour dots—a chaotic, beautiful vandalism. *Another one of your projects.* He knew it was yours. He knew your rhythms. At any hour, you could be found in your studio upstairs, your dress a canvas of its own, spattered with paint, the water in your jars clouded from rinsed brushes. He was ferociously private about you. Only the men he trusted with his life knew you existed. To the rest of the world, you wer…