Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82698 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Everything had been different for Saskia. She came from a privileged background, just as Adrian had. Until she was sixteen, when all that privilege had been torn from her. When Adrian found her, Saskia had been as thin as a rail, staying with a bunch of artists in a barely livable garret. She’d loved Saskia’s artwork from the moment she’d bought that caricature. But she couldn’t walk away, afraid the waiflike Saskia was starving. She’d taken her to lunch that first day—and often after that—and extracted the whole sordid story. Her friend had been arrested for tagging, an American term that fit appropriately. It was in all the papers that her world-famous parents—both classical artists—had an unruly daughter, a street artist, no less. They couldn’t bear the stain on their good name. Not only that, at a very young age, those horrible people had told Saskia she was an accident, that they’d never wanted children. They’d expected her to be grateful that they’d let her be born. Like they owned her talent because they hadn’t aborted her.
They told her to mend her ways, give up her street art. Or get out.
Saskia had taken to the streets rather than turn her talent over to them and lose herself to satisfy their demands. Adrian had done what she could for her friend, with lunches and dinners Saskia couldn’t afford. She found Saskia a few patrons. It had never been enough to get her friend out of that dingy garret. She’d even offered to bring Saskia home, with her own room, but Saskia was proud. She wanted to make it on her own.
All these years later, she had. In such an incredible way.
Even before San Holo had come into existence, she’d made it. Her art was already becoming huge in England. But then Saskia met Hugo Lewis. Things might have been different if Adrian hadn’t taken her eye off the ball while she attended uni for her law degree. She could have warned Saskia, maybe even saved her. Hugo had not only stolen Saskia’s heart and innocence, he’d stolen her name, too, claiming her work as his own. That had finally broken Saskia. Just when she’d begun to regain her self-confidence after what her parents had taken from her, Hugo had stolen her belief in people all over again.
Back then, just as she did now with San Holo, Saskia had used a pseudonym. Lynx. No one had actually known who she was. Maybe part of that was fear of her parents finding out. She’d let Hugo act as her so-called manager, having him negotiate contracts, handling the money, the sales of her work. Hugo claimed it was so that Saskia could concentrate on her art. Adrian was sure he’d embezzled funds. Then bam, five years ago, without a single warning, he’d come out to the art world, saying that he was Lynx. At the time, Hugo’s name had been bigger than hers, but he was savvy enough to know she would soon surpass him.
Saskia had no proof that he was lying. She’d let him handle everything. She’d believed in him. Maybe that was even worse than loving him.
What Saskia had gone through still made Adrian cringe. Though by then she was a lawyer, there was nothing to be done. Now Adrian was scrupulous about documenting everything, copyrighting each work, trademarking the pseudonym, so that no one could ever steal anything from San Holo. It was because of what happened to Saskia that Adrian had become an agent. With her law degree, she could negotiate and write contracts that were in her clients’ best interests. So that no one, not even Adrian, could claim their work. She dealt with a lot of street artists, and most never used their own name.
After Hugo, Adrian thought a change would be good for Saskia. And for herself as well. Adrian’s mother was American, hailing from San Francisco. Why not visit her aunt in the States? Adrian and Saskia had never left. It had been a great decision—a clean break for Saskia, a new beginning for them both. Adrian had fulfilled all the requirements and passed the California bar exam. Saskia had let Lynx go and become San Holo, bigger and better than ever.
Adrian had to admit that she’d done very well by Saskia’s and her other clients’ work too. Legally. Without embezzling. Making sure contracts were solid, getting their work out there with gallery showings, commissions, publicity. In fact, Adrian had been able to buy a flat on Nob Hill. Whereas Saskia had never lived large despite her wealth. Though she had a beautiful Victorian in Haight-Ashbury, she still shopped at thrift stores. Mind you, she found some exceptionally cute clothing that suited her perfectly. Saskia also gave a lot of money to nonprofits, especially those related to artists.