Artworks

A police chief's daughter, a sales agent for a home-security firm, meets an art gallery owner. Love and envy lead them to hatch a plot to steal overlooked but valuable paintings from her wealthy clients. Emma's a successful sale agent for a home security company, due in part to being the police chief's daughter. But her marriage is loveless and she suffers from the loss of her baby in childbirth. She's an artist, but hasn't picked up a brush in a year. Bret owns a small but successful art gallery, balancing aesthetics and business deftly. He's alone, but not lonely. Fate brings Emma and Bret together and they discover shared disdain for clients who collect art to impress others, follow the current trend or think only in terms of investment value. Bret has an idea that will push them both across lines they'd never seriously considered crossing. He proposes stealing artworks from her clients and convinces her that they could be quickly fenced. She resists at first. Her strong relationship with her father, Howard, is evident as she shares the hopelessness of her marriage. He supports her completely, particularly as she begins to paint again. Emma agrees to Bret's plan and the thefts are go smoothly, resulting in enough money for the lovers to go away, but Emma wants more. —Anonymous