The backstage area of the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Juilliard smelled of rosin, floor wax, and the nervous sweat of prodigies.

Mia Vance stood in the wings, her fingers trembling so violently that she had to interlock them and press them against her stomach. She wore a stunning, sapphire-blue sil

The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center was a roaring sea of light, glass, and thousands of industry elites. The Global Fragrance Expo was the single most important event of the year for the cosmetics and perfume world. It was where empires were built, fortunes were traded, and trends were dictated fo

The new corporate headquarters of Aura House occupied the entire top floor of a glass-and-steel high-rise in Midtown Manhattan. It was everything Thorne Empire was not. Where Julian had insisted on heavy black marble, suffocating velvet curtains, and gaudy gold fixtures designed to scream wealth, Cl