round for the culinary c

recipes in my head, my hands. I

. Her voice was

t is it? I'

ition portfolio. It's gone from

ld I want your recipes? I'm a baker, remember

as too quick

udging, I went, not as a com

ed with a si

he was. Ma

ence. On the pr

re dishes, my presentation

ing my work. M

his

se it made me tremble

his fawning speech about

ked toward

voice loud and clear, cutting

startled. The at

f panic in his eyes before his e

' s voice. She was there, sitting in the

ace a mask of conce

she said, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "He'

"Ethan, darling, you're confused. This is Marcu

"You stole it! Both of you! Th

onal. He's just bitter

s been making wild accusations. I think he's trying

ing me.

faces was clear. The whispe

an, a sore lose

and by her lover; she actively destroyed

a sitter. Her son. Abandoned b

ce was a ph

woman I had loved was a phantom. This creatur

t of me, replaced by

left to say. They

eir lies and the crowd's con

like it was mad