I can’t play anything on this.
I’m speechless. Absolutely, completely speechless.
Agatha’s face falls. “Is it…” She turns it on, the red light shining in the darkness, and starts pressing the keys. The electronic sound makes me want to cover my ears, but I’m literally frozen in place.
For a casual piano player, this would still make them cringe, but it probably wouldn’t shake them to their core.
For me, this is life-shattering.
The piano is my lifeline. The one thing that keeps me sane.
I’ve been playing ever since I can remember. My mother played, not at the same level as me, but well enough that the sound of Chopin nocturnes would fill our living room throughout the afternoons. My brothers would play video games or read books or act out stories with her music in the background, but I would sit next to her or on her lap, mesmerized by the way her fingers floated across the keys. When I was old enough, she tried to teach me herself, but she quickly realized that having your mother teach you the piano can be a…well, a conflict of interest. I was better off with a separate instructor.
From there, the piano became a piece of my soul. The rule was that I had to complete my chores before I could play the piano. If I got in trouble, my punishment was that I couldn’t play the next day—the most effective punishment my parents could have ever dreamed up.
And when my mother passed when I was fourteen, the only thing that helped me cope was playing the piano. Every day, all day.
Adam moved to Hollywood to become an actor. Henry threw himself into the family business with Father, training to take over Stone Technologies. Peter, our other brother, disappeared on one vacation after another, creating some travel app. We rarely see or hear from him now.
And me?
I played the piano.
After high school graduation, I started taking classes at Silver Lake University while continuing my piano studies, hoping to become a professional pianist. But then everything happened with Tristan…and now I’m playing concerts for my brothers and their fiancées.
Not exactly the same thing as Carnegie Hall.
At the very least, it was something to do all day while isolated at home. Now that I’m going to be here in this tower, I’m starting to panic. What am I going to do all day?
Henry clears his throat to cover my awkward silence. “Thank you, Aunt. We appreciate you taking Lily in.”
“Oh, of course. It’ll be so lovely to have some company here at home.” She smiles and pulls me in for a hug. “Once we know Lily is completely safe, we’ll have so much fun visiting the shops and going to festivals together.”
“Yes, how long will that be?” I ask, looking up at Adam andHenry. They tower above me, as do most people, since I’m only five foot three, but they’re both well over six feet tall. I still haven’t figured out how they inherited that height from our smaller-statured parents.
Adam heaves a sigh. “We’re not sure, Lily. It could be a few weeks, it could be months.”
“Months?” I squeak. “It’s already been almost a year!”
“Almost a year since Vegas. It’s only been a few months since you posted the video,” Henry replies softly.
“We’ve hired a consultant who specializes in these types of situations,” Adam says.“We’re meeting with him tomorrow and will discuss it with him. It shouldn’t be that long.”
Agatha pats my shoulder. “Better to be safe than sorry, love,” she says, leading me away from the boys and toward the bed. “I think it would be best for you to get some rest.”
I’m so tired of their paranoia. I don’t know what they’re waiting for. If there were an actual threat to my safety, we’d have an idea of when it was gone, right? But they’re just keeping me hostage, afraid that if the slightest possibility exists, I’ll be in danger.
I can wait a few weeks. Hopefully it will all be over by then.
CHAPTER 2
Lily
GABRIEL FAURÉ — BERCEUSE (FROM THE DOLLY SUITE)
Everything was not over in a few weeks.
In fact, it was not over in a few months, either.
