Firelight fractured inside the crystal tumbler in Alistair Vance’s hand, casting amber patterns across the walls of the Ritz suite.

Beyond the tall windows, Paris glittered beneath a cold evening sky. The city appeared peaceful from this height, its streets reduced to eleg

The studio Alistair provided occupied a converted nineteenth-century iron foundry near Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

From the street, the building appeared abandoned. Weathered stone walls surrounded a private courtyard, and the old iron gates showed no gallery na

Winter settled over Manhattan in gray slush and hard wind.

From the windows of the Sterling Plaza Penthouse, the city appeared distant and sterile. Traffic crawled between towers, and dirty snow gathered along the edges of rooftops.

Daniel Sterling sat alone before the