Chapter 10: The Colors We Choose
The name on the report belonged to Marcus.
For several seconds, Jada could not move.
Not because she was surprised.
Because she wasn’t.
Somewhere deep inside, she had already known there was another layer.
Another wound.
Another truth waiting.
But knowing something might hurt did not make it hurt less.
Marcus sat across from her in the empty studio.
The same room where they had once painted walls together.
The same room where they had planned futures.
“I didn’t forge the entire document,” he said.
Jada looked at him.
“But you forged enough.””
Marcus lowered his head.
“Yes.””
“Why?””
He swallowed.
“Because I thought I was fixing the problem.””
Jada almost smiled.
Everyone had used the same excuse.
Fixing.
Saving.
Improving.
Different words.
Same damage.
Marcus explained.
When he discovered the foundation clause, he panicked.
He believed Hudson Colors could not survive without a major sponsor.
Claire offered a solution.
A corporate partnership.
A stronger financial structure.
All he needed to do was make the transition easier.
“But then she changed everything,” Marcus said.
Jada looked at him.
“No.””
Marcus looked up.
“She showed you what she was always going to do.””
He said nothing.
Because that was the truth.
The danger was never that Claire fooled everyone.
The danger was that everyone gave her pieces.
A signature.
A file.
A silence.
A compromise.
And eventually, those pieces became a weapon.
Months later, the Hudson Colors residency reopened.
Not the way it had been.
Better.
The selection process became public.
The contracts became transparent.
Artists joined the advisory board.
No single person could quietly rewrite decisions again.
The rainbow crepe cake was replaced.
Min Seo returned with a new design.
This one was smaller.
Simpler.
Still colorful.
At the opening ceremony, Jada stood beside the artists.
The same place where everything had collapsed.
Theo approached her.
“Do you regret the cake?””
Jada laughed.
“That is a complicated question.””
“Because?””
“Because I regret losing control.””
She looked toward the artists.
“But I don’t regret refusing to pretend nothing happened.””
Theo nodded.
The truth was rarely clean.
It rarely arrived in perfect timing.
Sometimes it came covered in cream and surrounded by broken glass.
Eleanor joined them.
“You know,” she said, “everyone will remember the cake.””
Jada smiled.
“I know.””
“They’ll tell the story forever.””
Jada looked at the artists painting in the studio.
“Good.””
Eleanor raised an eyebrow.
“Good?””
“Yes.””
Jada watched the young artists create.
“Because maybe next time someone sees a colorful mess, they’ll ask what happened before they decide who is guilty.””
Years later, people would still talk about the night at the Hudson manor.
Some remembered the shove.
Some remembered the cake.
Some remembered Claire Radford losing control.
But the people who mattered remembered something else.
They remembered twelve artists who refused to disappear.
They remembered a program that survived because people finally stopped protecting reputations and started protecting people.
And Jada Marlow remembered the lesson she never wanted to learn.
A lie could be beautifully arranged.
It could have sponsors.
It could have signatures.
It could wear expensive clothes and speak confidently in crowded rooms.
But eventually, someone always noticed the missing color.
And when the truth finally arrived, it did not ask permission.
It simply appeared.
May you like
Layer by layer.
Until everyone could see what had been hidden underneath.
