Riley paused, lost in thought for a moment. I had considered hanging back for a few minutes and watching how this played out, but the aeroplane delays had already made me late enough as it was…
I walked up to her side, and her friends – the skittish thin one, and her Japanese friend, Reiko – glanced over at me with hushed tones. I smiled with a finger to my lips, preparing to surprise her.
Sure, this was an interesting moment to choose, but I’d gotten there as quickly as I could, and I intended on supporting her when she–
“Fuck you.”
My hand clasped onto her shoulder right then, and I froze out of complete confusion. What the hell did she just say?
Riley glanced up at me in equal surprise, and a large smile spread across her lips. “Lex,” she murmured. “You came after all. I was so afraid you wouldn’t make it.”
Gloria Van Lark looked impassive at best, but the stoic woman at her side bristled in anger.
“Excuse me… what the hell did you just say to Madame Van Lark?” The woman indignantly requested, her eyes becoming two blackened pits of coal beneath her spectacles. “How dare you speak to her this way, you ungrateful, impetulant disgrace of a–”
“You ruined my childhood, you miserable old bitch,” Riley turned to Gloria. “You offered this same fucking deal to my mother, and she took it… She walked straight out of my life forever.”
“I helped your mother blossom,” Gloria replied calmly. “She deserved to have her gifts recognized by the world. She needed someone to guide her. She was weak and impressionable…”
Gloria tilted her head thoughtfully.
“I had no earthly idea that my pupil’s progeny would grow to be such a talented and… dare I say it, fierce young woman,” Gloria commented. “I would have approached you years ago if I’d had the faintest clue… We can certainly make up for lost time.”
“You don’t seem to get it,” Riley told her. “I’m not going with you.”
“Nonsense,” Gloria rebutted. “You couldn’t possibly throw away this opportunity. Without my representation, you’ll be dust in the wind, child. I’ll find and train another to fill the hole you would have occupied. You’ll be cast aside to rot while a worthy inheritor to the art rises in your stead. You don’t truly want that, do you?”
Riley crossed her arms. “I think I’ll take my chances.”
“She’s a damned good painter,” I chimed in. “With the right people behind her, she’ll rise with or without you. If I can get your attention, then I think I can certainly draw the right sets of eyes across the art community, wouldn’t you say?”
Riley smiled my way. “There are other curators at other world-renowned museums. I can certainly knock on other doors.”
“Not if those doors remain closed to you,” Gloria Van Lark replied. “I can personally see to it that you are locked out of every reputable museum in the world. You’ll struggle to have your art displayed in anything more elegant than a cheap motel lobby.”
“Is that a threat?” Reiko chimed in.
“Absolutely,” the old hag replied. “I suggest that you take the opportunity while it remains available… or else I will end your career, right here and now.”
“You miserable old fuck,” her other friend responded – what was his name, Connor? “You would go out of your way to destroy an artist just because she turned down the chance to be forced into abandoning her life to come live under your thumb? You’re not asking her to sell you some art – you want her to give up everything and come stay with you for, what, how long?”
“A decade, bare minimum,” Gloria replied without a moment’s hesitation. “Perhaps even two, given her age. It really depends on her stamina. You’ll be able to paint round the clock with zero distractions…”
“I will absolutely not join you,” Riley told her in the darkest tone of voice I’d ever heard out of her. “You are a wicked, evil woman, preying on young artists dreams and locking them away from the world… but how? How has nobody come out against you yet?”
“Nobody who has ever been offered my representation has turned me down. I’m offering you something beyond simple measure. A future you can only begin to imagine.”
“Then call me the first,” Riley replied. “The first to turn you down.”
Gloria Van Lark and her proxy exchanged a meaningful glance, and then turned back to regard us coolly.
“Very well then, Riley,” the elderly woman responded. “You are lucky that I’m booked throughout the rest of the year… but I highly suggest that you make the wisest use of your time for the next five months. Find a new field. I’m afraid painting isn’t in your future…”