“Because generosity usually comes with conditions.”
“Mine does.”
Elena raised an eyebrow.
“You must practice.”
Despite everything, she laughed.
Adrian smiled.
“First lesson at ten.”
“You’re serious.”
“Completely.”
“What about—”
“Cassian’s security concerns?”
“Yes.”
“He can protect the building while you learn scales.”
At ten, Elena played.
Not the concerto.
Adrian would not let her.
He made her play scales for forty minutes.
Then arpeggios.
Then sight-reading exercises.
By noon Elena wanted to throw something at him.
“You made me sound like a beginner.”
“You are a beginner.”
“I played the Impossible Concerto.”
“You memorized one mountain.”
She stared.
Adrian tapped the score.
“I am teaching you geography.”
Elena almost smiled.
Her phone vibrated.
Cassian.
Come downstairs.
She found him in the conservatory lobby.
He looked as though he had been awake all night.
“Did you find Julian?”
“Yes.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
Her shoulders dropped.
“Where?”
“Hospital.”
“What happened?”
“Vale’s men wanted a message delivered.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Cassian continued.
“They broke two ribs and his left hand.”
She looked at him.
“Why his hand?”
“They know about the piano video.”
Elena felt sick.
“They’re using me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Vale hates me.”
“Why?”
Cassian’s jaw tightened.
“We have history.”
“What kind?”
“The expensive kind.”
Elena folded her arms.
“Stop giving me half answers.”
Cassian stared at her for several seconds.
Then nodded.
“Marcus Vale helped my father launder money for twenty years.”
Elena said nothing.
“When my father died, Vale expected me to continue every arrangement.”
“And you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Cassian’s expression became unreadable.
“My younger brother died because of those arrangements.”
Elena’s anger softened.
Cassian continued.
“Vale funded people who believed my family could be pressured through violence. They planted a bomb beneath a car. My brother was twenty-two.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I shut down Vale’s access to our businesses afterward. He lost millions.”
“So this is revenge.”
“Partly.”
“Why involve me?”
“Because the ballroom video gave him something useful.”
Elena understood.
“You.”
Cassian nodded.
“People saw you looking at me.”
“Yes.”
“He thinks I matter to you.”
Cassian held her gaze.
“You do.”
The words landed harder than she expected.
“We barely know each other.”
“That does not make the statement false.”
Elena looked away.
Cassian took a step closer.
“I am not asking you to trust me blindly.”
“Good.”
“I am asking you to let me protect you while Vale is interested.”
“I don’t want bodyguards following me forever.”
“Neither do I.”
“Then what?”
“We end his leverage.”
“How?”
“Julian.”
Elena stiffened.
“He knows where Vale keeps records of the fraudulent loan.”
“Why would Vale leave evidence?”
“Insurance. Criminals trust paperwork more than people.”
The irony made Elena almost laugh.
Cassian added, “Julian claims he can take us to it.”
“Us?”
“You are not coming.”
“No.”
Cassian blinked.
“I wasn’t asking.”
“Neither was I.”
“Elena.”
“If my identity was used, I deserve to know what exists.”
“It could be dangerous.”
“So could sitting here waiting for somebody else to decide my future.”
Cassian looked frustrated.
“Why are you smiling?”
“I’m not.”
“You almost are.”
His mouth flattened.
“You enjoy arguing.”
“With you? A little.”
“This is not funny.”
“I know.”
She stepped closer.
“That’s why I’m coming.”
In the hospital, Julian looked smaller than Elena remembered.
His left hand was wrapped in thick bandages.
Bruises darkened his jaw.
When Elena entered with Cassian, shame crossed Julian’s face before pain did.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Elena stopped beside the bed.
“I’ve heard that from you before.”
Julian closed his eyes.
Cassian remained near the door.
Elena pulled a chair closer.
“Tell me everything.”
Julian looked at Cassian.
“Him too?”
“He already knows more than I do.”
Julian laughed painfully.
“He usually does.”
Elena waited.
Finally Julian began.
“I met Vale through a man at a private card club.”
“You gambled?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since I was twenty.”
Elena stared.
They had been together then.
“You never told me.”
“I was ashamed.”
“But not ashamed enough to stop.”
“No.”
The honesty hurt more than excuses would have.
“I owed twenty thousand. Then forty. Then sixty.”
“And you took my father’s treatment money.”
Julian’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Elena looked down at her hands.
“I told myself I would win it back.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Of course you did.”
“I was twenty-four and stupid.”
“My father was fifty-seven and dying.”
“I know.”
“No, Julian. You don’t get to say that.”
He flinched.
“You took the last chance I thought I had to help him.”
“I know.”
“You took that from me.”
“I know.”
Her eyes burned.
“And then you disappeared.”
“I couldn’t face you.”
“That was a choice too.”
Julian nodded.
“Yes.”
For several seconds no one spoke.
Then Elena asked, “The loan.”
Julian swallowed.
“Vale made me sign documents after I couldn’t pay.”
“With my information.”
“Yes.”
