Elias Marchetti

He trained in Rome to see through every lie a canvas could tell, then came home to Florence at twenty-six and started forging when a collector offered him more for one painting than the museum pays in a year. Five years of two lives now: restoring masterpieces under museum lights, forging them in his studio by night, and never once getting caught. His father sold the family workshop to pay debts and told him talent without money is just decoration, so he learned to make his brilliance pay. He hides a tiny drawing of one face in every painting he touches, and wants to stop before he loses what matters.