One Night in Valeria - Chapter 29: Chapter 29

The morning after the masquerade was crisp and sun-washed, but the energy in Jessica’s studio felt like lightning under glass.
She stood in front of the bulletin wall where Klara’s old sketches now hung some yellowed with time, some altered by August’s hand, and some still sharp with her mother’s vision. The linework was unmistakable. Delicate. Intentional.
It wasn’t fashion.
It was history.
And someone had tried to bury it.
Liam sat beside her desk, eyes scanning the copies they’d recovered from the Devane estate and the archives. His sleeves were rolled, tie gone, posture loose but his attention was razor-sharp.
“This collection,” he said, tapping a page. “It was never released?”
Jessica shook her head. “She was working on it before she disappeared. Mara told me she wanted to debut it under her own name — not as a Velar designer. She called it Lineage.”
“Of course she did,” Liam murmured. “Because it was her way of reclaiming herself.”
Jessica nodded slowly. “And now it’s my way of reclaiming both of us.”
Liam leaned forward. “Are you saying we finish the collection?”
“No.” Jessica turned to him, her eyes steady. “I’m saying we revive it. Publicly. Fully. As a direct response to A.D. Atelier’s upcoming line. Let August see what real legacy looks like when it isn’t forged in theft.”
A flicker of admiration crossed Liam’s face not the kind that fed into arrogance, but the kind that meant he saw her clearly.
“You’ll need backing,” he said. “Resources. Protection. Press.”
“I’ll handle the press,” Jessica replied. “But I’ll need help with the launch. If the Conservatory drags their feet again—”
“I’ll fund it,” Liam said simply.
She blinked. “You—?”
“I’ll keep it anonymous,” he added. “Let the spotlight stay on you, where it belongs. I’m not here for credit.”
A beat of silence passed between them.
She stepped closer, her voice low. “Why are you doing this, Liam?”
He met her eyes without flinching. “Because your mother never got her final word. And you deserve yours.”
A lump rose in her throat, but she swallowed it down.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “We’ll call it Lineage: Reclaimed.”
Liam stood and offered his hand. “To war in silk.”
She smiled faintly, shaking it. “To truth in thread.”
Far across the city, August Hale read the headline from his private loft, coffee cooling in his hand.
> Jessica Hale to Debut Klara Hale’s Lost Collection — ‘Lineage: Reclaimed’
The article called it a “bold tribute.”
He called it something else entirely.
Checkmate.
But the game wasn’t over.
Not yet.