The Killer Queen by Noella Briony

Chapter 84

The moment she dropped that bomb, the whole gallery fell weirdly silent.

This painting was the crown jewel of the gallery. Tons of folks came here just to eyeball this masterpiece, turning the place into a hotspot for Instagram selfies and all that jazz. It even got its 15 minutes of fame on a bunch of TV interviews.

No way this piece was a fake!

Harper couldn’t help but smirk sarcastically. “Listen up, Miss, this work of art’s been vetted by TV crews and whatnot it’s the real thing, so don’t play expert if you ain’t one, okay? No wild guessing.”

–

Travis was getting antsy too. “How could this be a fake, Miss? Loads of art buffs have given it the thumbs up – it’s legit!”

Noella just shook her head cool as a cucumber, her eyes fixed on the play of light and shadow in ‘Spring Night‘.

The genuine ‘Spring Night‘ had a few roses added in the top left corner – just a little magic touch she threw in while Master Killian was painting.

Those roses took the whole thing up a notch. Killian loved it so much he hung it in his bedroom. At its first showing, the roses weren’t there, so any copycat wouldn’t even know about them.

This painting in front of her, although a pretty good knockoff, was definitely a dud.

Too many details were dealt with heavy–handed strokes, which didn’t make it the same league work as the original ‘Spring Night‘.

Noella pointed at a corner of ‘Spring Night‘ to everyone and claimed. “The original by Master Killian didn’t start its strokes in this sequence.”

Harper scoffed, “Come on, princess, Killian’s brushwork is one of a kind. Who could possibly fake that?”

Noella turned to Travis, “Bring me some paper and paint.”

“Uh, yeah, sure, right on it,” he said, quickly grabbing the best paints and brushes from the gallery’s stash and setting up an easel for Noella.

Noella grabbed a brush and started mixing colors like a pro, whipping up ‘Spring Night’s palette in no time!

those were the most impossible things to replicate. Most wannabe forgers couldn’t even get

Noella, nailing every shade on the fly and sketching out a

Chapter 84

in a blink!

Night‘ is all wrong with its strokes

said.

Everyone was gobsmacked!

the spot was even more vivid than the one on

was gritting and his knees knocking. “Just because you can paint doesn’t mean this one’s a phony. We dropped a cool

painted this,

sweating bullets!

she figure it out?

must be

got busted, he’d be

you can’t smear my good name like that. How could I have painted this?”

and video–called Killian, turning the camera to the ‘Spring Night‘ in

Killian, Travis didn’t care if the guy was a living legend in the art world. If the gallery’s painting was a

you sure this

Night‘ in his bedroom, “See? It’s got the roses my hopeless student added. You

everyone in the gallery hit the floor like sacks

on Harper, who was plotting his escape, “Travis, you gonna nab him or

snapped to it and immediately rushed up

That’s three hundred million! Enjoy your life in the

panicked and scared out of his wits, “I did it for the gallery! How is my painting any worse than Killian’s? You wouldn’t showcase my stuff, and instead, you made me fix up old paintings. And you still treated my painting as a treasure,

12-23

Chapter 84

huh? You’ve done the

he