Lina stepped into the Nova Talent Agency the next morning, the small suitcase still in her hand. The receptionist looked up from her phone and blinked.
"Hi, do you have an appointment?" the girl asked.
"No," Lina said flatly. "I want to talk to someone about modelling work. Is the boss around?"
The receptionist hesitated, then picked up the phone. "Ms Reed? There's a walk-in. She says she wants to model."
A few minutes later, Carla Reed came out from the back office. She was in her forties, hair in a tight bob, cigarette in one hand, even though smoking was probably not allowed inside.
Carla looked Lina up and down. "Pleasant face, good height. But unfortunately, the industry is full of pretty girls with experience and with no experience. Why should I waste my time on you?"
Lina met her eyes straight on. "Because I'll work harder than anyone you've got. Give me a test shoot. If I'm bad, you lose nothing; if I'm good, you get a new face that will make your agency rise to the top."
Carla snorted and took a drag of the cigarette. "Bold, most girls your age come in crying about their dreams. Alright, we've got a catalogue test this afternoon for a sportswear brand. Nothing fancy, show up at three. Don't be late."
"I'll be there," Lina said.
She left the agency and found a cheap internet cafe nearby. She sat down at one of the old computers and started searching. She knew which photographers were about to blow up in the next couple of years. She knew which small brands would get big if they got the right push.
By two-thirty, she was at the studio, changed into the provided leggings and cropped top. The photographer was a skinny guy named Mike who looked like he hadn't slept in days.
"Stand there, chin up. No, not like that, look like you actually want to sell the damn clothes," Mike barked at the first girl.
Shortly after, it was Lina's turn.
When it was Lina's turn, she moved exactly as told, but she adjusted her shoulders a little, tilted her head the way she remembered from watching endless magazine shoots in her old life.
Mike lowered his camera after a while. "You, green eyes. Do that stare again, straight at the lens like you own the place."
Lina did as told.
Carla showed up halfway through, her arms crossed to her bosom, watching from the side.
After the shoot, Carla waved her over. "Not terrible for a beginner. The brand rep likes your shoots. They want you for the full catalogue next week. It's small money, but it's work. You in?"
"Yes," Lina said. "When do I start?"
"Next Tuesday. Sign the basic contract first. We take fifteen percent. Make sure you show up on time, no drama, and maybe we will talk about bigger things."
Lina signed the contract right there.
That evening, she checked into a small apartment hotel using cash. The room was tiny, with a single bed, a desk, and a window looking out at the street lights. Nothing like the Cole mansion, but it was her own space.
She sat on the bed and pulled out her phone. Still no messages from Lucien. She did not feel surprised.
What she did not know was that Lucien was sitting in his home office at that exact moment, staring at his laptop screen. The big house was dead quiet. The lilies she had ordered were already wilting on the foyer table.
He clicked through the photos the man had sent. Lina at the agency, her at the studio and her focused look at work during the shoot.
"She's really doing it," he muttered to himself.
He picked up his phone and dialled a number.
"Keep watching her. Make sure that if she is chosen for a job, rightly so, then it remains as such without any trouble. If anyone tries to push her out, handle it quietly, only when it gets serious, leave it to her if it is nothing to cause alarm. And send me every report."
He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair. The whiskey glass in his hand felt heavy. The bed upstairs was too big now.
"She'll fail," he told himself. "Three years and she'll come crawling back."
But as he watched the video clip of her test shoot, those green eyes staring straight into the camera like she was daring the world. Made him feel something twist in his chest.
He poured himself another drink.
Meanwhile, Lina stood up in her small apartment and looked at herself in the mirror.
"You only have this face and nothing else," she whispered, repeating Lucien's words. "Fine, I'll use this face to build everything you said I couldn't have."
She opened her notebook and started writing down the names of photographers, brands, and acting coaches she knew would matter in the coming years. She had knowledge no one else did, and she wasn't going to waste it.
The next morning, her phone rang. It was Carla.
"Pack your bag. The catalogue shoot got moved up. They liked your test shots so much that they want you tomorrow. Don't screw it up."
Lina smiled for the first time in days. "I won't."
She hung up and looked out the window at the busy street below.
This was only the beginning.
But she had no idea Lucien had already made sure the brand's marketing head had received a call. Making sure the job stayed hers.
And she had no idea how closely he was watching every single step she took.
All she had in mind was working hard to be able to stand up to her ex-husband.