My father stalked toward him and seized Levi by the collar with a violent grip. In a sudden motion, he punched him in the face. His rings added weight and force to the blow, causing Levi’s skin to split open under his left eye.
I covered my mouth with my hand, blood trickling down Levi’s cheek. “Dad, stop!”
But Dad clutched my arm so hard it felt like he was on the verge of crushing my bones. He’d changed so much since Mom had died. “I let you out of my sight for one minute, and you let thisfreakkiss you!”
Levi spit the blood from his mouth. “I’m right here.”
“Did you initiate this?” Dad screamed, and my ears throbbed, assaulted by the sheer force of his anger. I hated it when he yelled. “Dalia, did you kiss him, or did he force you?”
Paralyzed, I couldn’t speak. What would he think of me? He wouldn’t trust me anymore. He would be so disappointed in me. He’d take music away from me and never let me leave the house again.He’ll stop loving me, and maybe he’ll abandon me too, just like Mom and Lucie.
“Dalia!” Dad roared again.
I shut my eyes.Stop crying. Speak, Dalia, say something—
Levi surged to his feet and grabbed the Cigno Nero. The gray of his eyes ebbed away, replaced by a deep, consuming blackness.
“I did,” he lied for me. “I’m the one who forced her to kiss me. Isn’t that right, little thief?”
He turned away, and my heart threatened to come out of the confines of my chest.
“Don’t turn your fucking back on me!” Dad, in an outburst of rage, snatched the violin from Levi’s grip.
“Dad, please, no!”
It was too late.
Dad slammed the Cigno Nero on the wall.
I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound escaped. I’d lost my voice. In one fall, the Cigno Nero sustained a crack running from the bridge to the edge. The swan’s neck was broken. The strings snapped with a mournful twang. The bow shattered.Salty gray tear marks streaked over the soundpost. The bass bar suffered a break.
My silly kiss had disfigured Lucie’s most prized possession; an heirloom worth millions.
The violin healing broken hearts.
It’s all my fault.
Levi sank to his knees, drops of his blood mixing with the frayed strings and splintered wood of the violin.
Dad pressed down harder on the Cigno Nero, which screamed under his boot in one last agonizing, shrieking cry for help. He didn’t realize what he had done.
“You think you’re good enough for my daughter?!” I thought the whole manor would collapse against Dad’s roars. “I should have known that with a mother like that, her son would be deranged too. I’ll always protect my Dalia. So if you think of going near her again, I’ll destroy you. Am I clear, boy?”
Levi’s head bowed, his dark locks cascading over his eyes like a veil. “We’ll see.” The words emerged from the depths of his throat.
Dad scoffed, casting a glance downward at him as if he were nothing to him. “Who do you think you are to threaten me?”
I didn’t resist when my father grabbed me by the arm to pull me out of the room. I glanced at Levi one last time. With just one look, I could tell I had broken something inside him.
I destroy everything I touch.
I’d given him my first kiss, but I’d taken something even more precious from him.
I’d destroyed him.
Dear Dalia Mercier,
It is with immense pleasure that we extend our sincerest congratulations on your acceptance to Pantheon University!
