Chapter 2: The Secret Hidden in Her Father's Notebook
The backstage area smelled of hairspray, hot fabric, and expensive perfume.
Contestants adjusted their costumes in front of illuminated mirrors while assistants hurried between clothing racks carrying safety pins and makeup kits.
Maya stood beside a stack of black curtains, her phone still glowing in her hand.
Ask her what happened to your father's final design.
She read the message again.
Her father's final design.
Daniel had been working on something during the last six months of his life. Maya remembered seeing him sketching a dramatic pair of wings in his workshop, drawing lines and measurements that seemed almost architectural.
Whenever she asked what he was creating, he would smile.
“It's a surprise, sweetheart.””
“Is it for me?””
“Perhaps.””
He had died before showing her the finished design.
After the funeral, Maya searched the workshop, his desk, and the storage cabinets. She found hundreds of sketches, but never the final design.
When she asked Vanessa about it, her stepmother claimed Daniel had destroyed it shortly before his death.
“He didn't want anyone seeing his unfinished work,” Vanessa had said.
Maya had believed her.
Until now.
“Miss Sterling?””
A stage assistant waved a clipboard in front of her.
“Sorry,” Maya said, locking her phone.
“I'm listening.””
“You're contestant number seven. You'll have ninety seconds on the runway, then the judges will ask you one question. Don't leave the backstage area until your number is called.””
“Understood.””
The assistant glanced at Maya's wings.
“Those are incredible. How did you make them?””
Maya smiled faintly.
“Lots of wire, feathers, and stubbornness.””
The woman laughed.
“Then you've got the perfect ingredients.””
She hurried away.
Maya slipped her phone into her pocket and opened the little black notebook she had brought with her.
The worn leather cover had softened at the corners. Her father's handwriting filled its pages, mixed with measurements, fabric samples, and small sketches of creatures he had imagined.
She flipped through it quickly.
A page near the back contained a drawing of a pair of enormous black wings.
Unlike the wings Maya wore, these were not symmetrical. One wing curved upward while the other swept downward, as though the wearer had fallen from heaven and was fighting to rise again.
Beneath the sketch, Daniel had written three words.
The Fallen Star.
Maya ran her fingers over the page.
She had never seen that design before.
A tiny note had been written along the bottom margin.
Original concept. Do not release without Maya.
Her throat tightened.
Why would her father write her name beside a design he had never shown her?
And why had someone waited until the night of the competition to tell her about it?
“Maya?””
She snapped the notebook shut.
A tall woman in a fitted navy suit stood beside her. Her silver hair was pinned neatly at the back of her head, and a gold identification badge rested against her jacket.
“I'm Evelyn Brooks, the event's head of security.””
Maya glanced toward the hallway.
“Is something wrong?””
“Perhaps.”” Evelyn looked at the notebook in Maya's hands.
“I need to ask you a question about your stepmother.””
Maya's pulse quickened.
“What about her?””
“Did you speak with her near the west corridor a few minutes ago?””
“No. I heard her talking to Chloe.””
Evelyn's expression remained neutral.
“What did you hear?””
Maya hesitated.
If she told the truth, Vanessa would deny everything. She would accuse Maya of inventing the story to damage Chloe's chances.
That was what always happened.
“I heard them discussing the competition,” Maya replied carefully.
Evelyn studied her face.
“Miss Sterling, the corridor is monitored by security cameras. If something happened there, we may already have footage.””
Maya's eyes lifted.
“The camera above the curtain?””
“Yes.””
“Can you review it?””
“I can. But before I do, I need to know whether you're concerned about your safety.””
Maya looked toward the backstage entrance.
Beyond it, the ballroom roared with applause as the first contestant stepped onto the runway.
“Yes,” she said quietly.
“I am.””
Evelyn nodded.
“Then stay close to the staff entrance. Don't walk alone through the west corridor, and don't let anyone touch your costume.””
Maya swallowed.
“Do you think they'll actually try something?””
“I think people reveal themselves when they believe nobody is watching.””
Evelyn handed her a small card.
“If you need assistance, call the number on this card. Someone will answer immediately.””
“Thank you.””
The security chief moved away, speaking into a radio.
Maya watched her disappear around the corner.
For the first time that evening, she felt she wasn't completely alone.
Then Chloe appeared.
Her white angel wings filled the narrow backstage passage, brushing against clothing racks as she walked.
“Maya,” she said, stopping a few feet away.
Maya closed her notebook.
“What do you want?””
Chloe looked around to make sure nobody was listening.
“Mom wants you to come to the dressing room.””
“Why?””
“She wants to apologize.””
Maya almost laughed.
“Your mother doesn't apologize.””
Chloe's jaw tightened.
“You don't know everything about her.””
“No. I only know what she says when she thinks nobody can hear her.””
Chloe's face lost color.
For a moment, Maya thought her stepsister might admit what had happened behind the curtain.
Instead, Chloe lifted her chin.
“Fine. Stay here and act like the victim. That's what you're good at.””
She turned away.
“Chloe.””
The younger woman stopped.
“Did you know someone damaged my wings three nights ago?””
Chloe's shoulders stiffened.
“No.””
“Did you know Mom told you to trip me?””
Chloe spun around.
“Keep your voice down!””
Several contestants looked over.
Maya stared at her.
“Why? Are you afraid someone will hear the truth?””
Chloe stepped closer, lowering her voice.
“You have no idea what Mom has done to protect us.””
“Protect you from what?””
“From losing everything!””
The words burst out of Chloe before she could stop them.
She glanced toward the corridor, then back at Maya.
“You think you're the only person who lost Dad? You think you're the only one who had to live in this house afterward?””
Maya felt anger rising in her chest.
“You had a mother. I had nobody.””
“You had his money.””
The sentence landed between them like a slap.
Maya went still.
“What did you just say?””
Chloe's lips trembled, but she forced herself to continue.
“Dad left you things. The workshop. His notebooks.
His designs. Mom says you've been using his death to take what belongs to us.””
Maya stared at her stepsister.
“Your mother took the workshop away from me.””
“Because you couldn't pay for it.””
“I was never asked to pay for it. Dad built it for me.””
“And now Mom runs the company. She decides what happens.””
Maya's voice dropped.
“Is that what you believe? That because she controls the money, she owns everything?””
Chloe looked away.
For one brief moment, she seemed younger than her twenty-two years.
Then a stage assistant called her name.
“Contestant number three, you're up in two minutes!””
Chloe straightened her shoulders.
Before walking away, she leaned toward Maya.
“Just stay out of Mom's way tonight. Please.””
Maya watched her leave.
The request sounded less like a warning than a plea.
But it didn't erase what Chloe had agreed to do.
A few minutes later, Maya's phone vibrated again.
This time, the message contained a photograph.
It showed her father standing inside his workshop, smiling beside a half-finished pair of enormous black wings.
The photograph was dated six months before his death.
Maya recognized the design immediately.
The Fallen Star.
A second message appeared.
Your father didn't destroy the design. Vanessa sold it.
Maya's fingers went cold.
Another notification followed.
And the person who bought it is one of tonight's judges.
Across the backstage area, Adrian Cole stepped through the curtain, holding a black leather portfolio.
His gaze settled on Maya.
Then he looked at the notebook in her hands.
His expression changed.
“Miss Sterling,” he said, approaching her.
“I was hoping we could speak before your presentation.””
Maya closed the notebook slowly.
“About my costume?””
“About your father.””
The backstage noise seemed to disappear.
Adrian opened his portfolio and removed a sheet of paper.
At the top was a familiar drawing.
The Fallen Star.
And beneath the sketch, written in her father's unmistakable handwriting, were two words that made Maya's knees weaken.
For Maya.
Adrian looked directly into her eyes.
May you like
“Your father entrusted this design to me,” he said.
“And I believe your stepmother has spent the last two years trying to make sure you never discover why.””
