Chapter 28. The Photos

Camila swiped through the digital album with a flick of her slender fingers, each motion bringing up another photograph that echoed the last. She leaned back in her chair, her long, dark hair cascading over the high backrest, and exhaled a drawn-out sigh that seemed to fill the quiet of her studio. The soft morning light filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the scattered sketches, gemstones, and fabric swatches that covered her worktable, highlighting both the organized chaos of her creative mind and the intensity of her focus.

“Talk about a one-trick pony,” she muttered, her deep brown eyes skimming over the images displayed on her sleek laptop screen. The man in the photographs, undoubtedly handsome, sat entrenched in his plush executive chair, the lines of his tailored suit as rigid as his posture, and his expression unwaveringly controlled. He exuded authority, but authority wasn’t exactly what Ca