CLAIRE
"That's up to you," Julian said carefully. "Legally you're Claire Cross, but you can use whatever name you want professionally."
I thought about it, about what each name represented. Whitmore was my father's name, the man who'd disowned me. Cross was Julian's name, given to me through a contract marriage built on revenge, neither felt entirely like mine.
"Maybe just Claire," I said finally. "No last name. Just Claire."
Julian's eyebrows raised slightly.
"Just Claire?" he repeated.
"Why not?" I said, warming to the idea. "It's simple, memorable, personal. The clothes aren't about my family or my history. They're about moving forward."
"I like it," Julian said with a nod. "Just Claire. Clean, strong, unapologetic."
I grabbed a fresh page in my sketchpad and wrote it across the
