I turn for the door. Behind me, Erik is already on his phone, either pricing piano transport or researching security.
I don’t ask which.
Chapter sixty
Christianna
I am still huddled on the couch when the doorbell rings.
The sound is harsh, wrong for this house. Bass and Treble press closer, solid against my legs.
Low voices drift in from the entryway. I sink farther into the leather, not ready to be seen.
Loafers come into view. Pressed jeans. Erik.
He does not look at my face buried against Treble’s neck.
“I’m having a piano delivered so this doesn’t disrupt my work,” he says evenly. “Do you want to see where I’m thinking of putting it?”
I blink. Slowly, I ease the dog off my lap.
“What did you just say?” My voice is low. Controlled. Too controlled.
“Erik, this isn’t the time,” Remy says behind me.
I stand, drawing myself up to my full five feet. Every one of my sixty inches bristling.
“How dare you,” I say. “How dare you make me sound like an inconvenience.” My hands curl at my sides. “This is my house. You are a guest. And right now, you are not a welcome one.”
He has already turned away.
“I was thinking the sunroom,” he says, tone unchanged. “You could play the violin with me. Since it’s your music I’m playing, you should have a say.”
Something in me snaps.
My body can't contain my rage. Too many emotions crash through me at once. Anger. Fear. Shame. The deep, animal need to protect what is mine.
I brush past him and cross the room to where my violin waits. As always.
The moment my fingers close around it, something in me steadies. I do not have words yet. I do not know how to explain what is wrong.
But I can play it.
I lift the instrument, settle my chin, and draw in a breath.
Then my emotions pour forth.
Chapter sixty-one
Erik
I nod, satisfied. This is how she creates. Raw emotion, funneled through her violin.
My phone rests in my hand, fingers tapping without purpose.
Raindrop presses under my arm, steady and warm. Dewdrop has settled on the step beneath me, quiet and watchful.
I take in the room again. The angles. The light. The acoustics.
