Chapter 350: I Want To Visit Sinners

POV: EVE

The Phoenix Talent Agency building looked exactly the same as it had the day she’d been taken from it.

That was the strangest part. Eve had half-expected something to have changed....some visible mark of the violence that had happened in her office, some physical reminder of the moment her world had shifted. But the glass doors were clean. The lobby was pristine. The security desk had a new guard who didn’t recognize her, which somehow made it worse.

She was a ghost walking through a place that had moved on without her.

"Eve." Her assistant, Mia, rushed toward her the moment Eve stepped out of the elevator on the executive floor. Her eyes were red-rimmed, like she’d been crying. "Oh my God, you’re back. Are you...how are you...I’ve been so worried..."

"I’m fine, Mia," Eve said gently, though she could see the genuine concern written all over her assistant’s face. "I’m back. We have a lot to catch up on."

Mia pulled her into a quick hug before releasing her, studying her like she was checking for cracks or breaks.

The office suite was busy with the normal chaos of a talent agency, agents on calls, assistants moving between offices, the constant hum of deals being made and careers being managed. It should have felt comforting, familiar, like coming home.

Instead, Eve felt her heart rate spike as she walked past the spot where the fake delivery men had come through. Where she’d fought them. Where she’d been dragged toward the stairs that led to the basement.

She took a breath and kept walking.

Eve had arranged for Dimitri to position his security discreetly...two men in the building, two more in the lobby, one in a car outside. She’d negotiated hard for that level of subtlety. She didn’t need her staff thinking she couldn’t function without a security detail following her every move. But she also understood, after everything, why Dimitri wouldn’t accept her being unprotected.

It was a compromise. She was learning those.

Her office was exactly as she’d left it. Her assistant had maintained it..dusting, keeping the plants watered, organizing the papers on her desk...but it was still hers. The desk with her computer, the wall of photos showing her with her biggest clients, the view of Manhattan stretched out below.

Eve sat down in her chair and pulled up her email.

There were 287 unread messages.

She took a breath and started going through them, methodically organizing what needed immediate attention versus what could wait. Three major clients had been managed by her other senior agents while she was gone....a rising pop star, a Broadway actor in negotiations for a film role, and an influencer with massive social media presence. The handoff needed to be smooth and professional.

By 10:30 AM, her first meeting was with James, her senior agent who’d been holding down the office in her absence. He came into her office looking nervous, like he was afraid she’d blame him for something.

"Eve, I’m so glad you’re back," James said, settling into the chair across from her desk. "We’ve managed things as best we could, but some of these clients have been asking for you specifically."

"I appreciate that," Eve said, pulling up her files. "Walk me through the pop star situation. I saw she’s in negotiations with three different labels. Where do we stand?"

James went through the details..contract terms, advance amounts, creative control clauses. Eve listened carefully, asking strategic questions, understanding immediately that her team had done good work but that there were leverage points they’d missed.

"Here," Eve said, turning her monitor so James could see her notes. "We push back on the creative control clause. She’s their asset, but she’s also their risk. If the album underperforms, it’s on them. We make sure the contract reflects that she retains approval over production choices. That’s worth at least another two hundred thousand in her signing bonus."

James nodded, making notes. "That’s smart. I didn’t think of it from that angle."

"That’s why I’m the director and you’re the agent," Eve said without malice. "Different skill sets. You did good work holding things together. Now I’m back to optimize."

The meeting ran for ninety minutes, and by the time James left, Eve had a clear picture of the status of all her major clients and the landscape of the industry in her absence. Some things had shifted...new competitors, new platforms, new opportunities, but the fundamentals remained the same.

She ordered lunch at her desk and spent the afternoon on calls. First with the Broadway actor’s agent discussing film options. Then with her legal team about contract renewals. Then with three potential new clients who’d reached out while she was gone, each meeting requiring her to be sharp, strategic, and completely present.

By 2 PM, her phone buzzed. A text from Dimitri: "How’s your day?"

Eve smiled despite being in the middle of reviewing a contract and typed back: "Productive. Overwhelming. Normal. I’m remembering why I love this job."

His response came quickly: "Good. I’m picking you up at 6. We’ll get dinner."

Eve considered this for a moment, then typed: "Actually, can we go to Sinners instead? I haven’t been there in a very long time."

There was a longer pause. Then: "Sinners? Why do you want to go there now?"

Eve set her phone down and smiled, remembering. Sinners was his club, his territory, his world. It was where everything had changed for them, where she’d gone the night she’d broken up with Simon, where she’d gotten drunk and nearly been roughed up by some of his men, where Dimitri had saved her and brought her to his private lounge and touched her for the first time.

She typed back: "Because I want to see where you operate. Because I want to understand your world better. Because that’s where everything changed for us, and I want to remember it."