Whispers of Destiny: His Belated Love

Hearing that, Rosemary was so mad she was at a loss for words. Finally, she slammed down the phone with a thud. That jerk really couldn't spit out a single nice word from his fricking mouth!

But 300 million was no chump change. How could she scramble up that amount in no time? Rosemary was seriously ticked off. In the end, she hailed a cab to Yolanda's antique shop. The staff there all knew her, "Ms. Chambers, the manager's upstairs."

"Alright, thanks."

She headed upstairs. Yolanda had just walked a customer to the staircase and did a double-take when she saw her, "What brings you here at this hour?"

Later, Rosemary flopped onto the sofa, deflated, and gave Yolanda the gist of the situation. Yolanda was gobsmacked!

"That guy's such a lowlife, huh? Is the Templeton Group going belly up or something, trying to nickel and dime a lady now?"

What Maxwell was thinking, Rosemary didn't have a clue. As for the Templeton Group, far from going bankrupt, they were actually thriving.

Yolanda pressed on, "So what's your game plan?"

"What else can I do? Pay up."

It was spelled out clear as day in the divorce agreement: the debt was hers alone from before the marriage, and she had to settle it to be square.

Yolanda was still fuming, "But you married him in the first place just to get out of this debt, right? Or is Maxwell pulling all these stunts because he doesn't want to divorce?"

Rather than not wanting a divorce, Rosemary'd prefer to think he just wanted his money back.

"Why not just stay married? Maxwell may be a jerk, but he's got the looks and the cash. He lets you swipe the card without a care and doesn't even ask you to do wifey duties. Lots of gals would kill for that."

Rosemary's mind wandered, but recalling the soul-sucking three years of marriage, her face clearly showed her disgust, "Divorce was my call. Yolanda, keep an eye out for me, will ya? If any decent gigs come up, snag 'em for me."

She needed cash, stat. The studio paid a fixed wage, and most of the restoration was on archaeological finds meant for museums, not exactly a gold mine. To rake in the dough, she'd have to take on private jobs.

Yolanda was silent for a beat, sensing Rosemary's resolve. Something came to mind, but her expression turned a bit sheepish, "I've actually got a job for you, but I'm afraid you might not want it."

Rosemary was puzzled, "Is it tough?"

"It's Victoria who's looking for you." Hearing that name made Rosemary frown. Yolanda added, "She's been asking around for you lately, even approached other restorers, but her painting is so badly damaged; hardly anyone dares to take it on. And those who do aren't sure they can actually fix it."

Rosemary remembered the last time she saw Victoria in the studio, coming to see Oswald about Rose. She would have refused before, but now.

"How much is she offering?"

Yolanda flashed a number, a pretty hefty commission by industry standards.

"Dance really does pay the bills." Rosemary mused, her lips curling into a dazzling smile, "Contact her, add another zero, and I'm in."

Yolanda caught on, and gave her a shocked thumbs-up. Ruthless! She turned right around to make the call, not to Victoria directly, but to leak a hint to their circle. Victoria had been burning bridges left and right to find Rose.

Soon enough, Victoria was on the phone, super polite, "Hello, are you Rose's agent?"

Yolanda spoke in a hushed tone, "Yes."

After half an hour of haggling, she gestured an “OK” to Rosemary, who was sitting by, "But she has one condition: it must be restored within two months."

With the clock ticking, Rosemary set up a time and place with the other party to pick up the painting.

She had to go fetch it herself, to check its authenticity and avoid any handover issues. Once at Victoria's place and her purpose explained, Victoria turned extremely shocked!

"You're picking up something for Rose? I don't buy it. Where is she?”

“Do you think she’s too idle to come herself? I'm her assistant, in charge of these matters." Rosemary didn't want to waste another word on her and got straight to the point, "Where's the painting?"

Naturally, Victoria wasn't going to take Rosemary's word for it and grilled her, "Weren't you an apprentice at Heritage Revive Studio? Since when did you become Rose's assistant? I haven't heard of her working at Heritage Revive Studio."

Rosemary was getting impatient. If it wasn't for the money, she wouldn't bother with this woman.

Finally, she gave out the phone number Yolanda had used to contact Victoria, and, sure enough, it checked out.

"I don't trust handing it over to you." Victoria said haughtily, chin up, "With a price that high, Rose herself should make the trip, right? If there's a problem with the restoration, who's gonna be on the hook?"

"If you don't trust her skills, then find someone else who's up to snuff," Rosemary didn’t bother to speak any further, ready to leave.

Victoria's eyes bulged, shocked that Rosemary would walk away so decisively. She was just an assistant; what right did she have to act so high and mighty?

"Do you have any idea how much I'm willing to pay for this restoration? For a mere assistant to make such a call, aren't you scared that as soon as you get back, Rose might give you the boot?"

Such threats were like feathers to Rosemary.

Seeing the woman almost out the door, Victoria clenched her teeth in frustration, but was out of options. She had to get Rose to restore the painting - it was meant for...

"Wait!"

In the end, Victoria caved, pulling the painting from its box with extreme care and unfolding it.

When Rosemary saw the painting, she raised an eyebrow in surprise - she hadn't expected this piece to be in Victoria's hands.

Back in the day, some mysterious collector snagged this painting for a whopping 20 mil at an overseas auction. After bringing it back home, they had it on display at the museum for a free month-long show, and since then, it was like it vanished into thin air.

Now, peeping the extent of the damage, Rosemary couldn't help but let out a sigh: No wonder nobody was brave enough to touch it.

This wasn't just damage; it was a hot mess!

Rosemary popped open her toolkit and started sussing out whether the painting was legit or not, a process that was not exactly a sprint.

Victoria's silently fuming on the sidelines. She never would've pegged Rosemary as Rose's right- hand woman!

"You keeping this side hustle from Oswald? What if I spill the beans? Think you'd get the boot from the studio?"

Rosemary was unshaken, "Go ahead; give it a whirl."

Victoria snorted. She was not about to test those waters. She hadn't got a clue how tight Rosemary was with Rose, and the last thing she wanted was to ruffle any feathers and come out worse for wear.

She'd just wait till the painting was all patched up and then maybe drop a dime to Oswald.

"Why didn't you spill the beans when I was sniffing around Heritage Revive Studio asking about Rose?"

If only she'd known, it would've saved her a ton of time, and time was ticking - only two months left!

Rosemary arched an eyebrow and shot back, "Since when are we that close?"

Victoria watched her bending over the artwork with a meticulous eye, but inside she was scoffing. Rosemary, still wet behind the ears, probably couldn't tell a fake from the real deal. The real pros in

antiques appraisal? They had got decades in the game.

Pfft, she was just putting on a show!

Eventually, an idea sparked in Victoria, and she smirked smugly, "Fixing this painting's gonna cost a pretty penny. Good thing Maxwell tossed me his supplementary card; otherwise, I'd be up a creek without a paddle." Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

Hearing this, the usually stoic Rosemary finally showed a reaction. She turned to look at Victoria, but her face wasn't the picture of outrage Victoria expected. Instead, she was all chill, "Rose hates homewreckers. You want me to pass that message along?"

Seeing Victoria zipped it, Rosemary dialed back the attitude and got back to work. But thinking about how she was earning Maxwell's dough, she was instantly kicking herself for not charging more.

She should've asked for a cool 300 mil!