Amit Mehra Chapter 1 — The Vanishing Masterpiece The Galerie du Ciel, nestled along a quieter bend of the Seine where the gaslights flickered like trembling brushstrokes upon the dark water, glowed with opulence on that fateful night. From sleek black sedans to vintage carriages, Paris’s elite arrived in waves, their jewels glinting like captured stars beneath the crystalline chandeliers that adorned the gallery’s vaulted ceiling. Inside, the air was heavy with the mingling scents of aged mahogany, jasmine perfume, and the faint, metallic tang of antique frames polished to perfection. At the very heart of the grand hall, beneath…