She shook her head. “No, you didn’t deserve any of it. I know you weren’t to blame, none of you guys were,” she said, and then added after a pause, “not even your brothers.”
Bilal and Octavius had told them about Adam and the car accident a few months ago. Romeo couldn’t believe how much lower their father could go. He knew that that probably wasn’t even the lowest; he was scared to consider how many people his father had wronged in his long life.
“It was really messed up what my father did the night Adam died, and I don’t blame you for how you reacted. I probably would have done the same for my siblings.” He breathed out, feeling a ball of dread and grief well up inside as it often did. “We are all really sorry, by the way, about Adam. Especially Bilal and Octavius; they are really sorry for everything and their role in what happened to Adam that night.”
Evie nodded. “I know. They wrote to me,” she said in a quiet voice. “Shortly after the last ball and the investigation that followed, they sent me a letter. I could have used that letter if I’d wanted to. They’d practically handed me a written confession, they’d given me the evidence I needed to escalate things further. But I decided not to. Instead I ended up burning the letter. There was no point in any more revenge fantasies. I could tell how much pain they’d been in too. Foryears. Just like I had. I’d gotten so caught up in my own grief I couldn’t see the bigger picture. I loved Adam so much that his loss completely destroyed me. In the end, my love for him was a double-edged sword; I ended up hurting not only myself but hurting everyone else around me too. What I realized after they’d written to me about what really happened to Adam is that they were children, we wereallchildren. Even at eighteen, we still practicallyarechildren, honestly. At the time I just needed it to stop hurting. Trying to hurt you guys wasn’t going to make it stop, but I thought it would.”
“That makes sense,” Romeo replied.
“I still shouldn’t have taken your father’s crimes out on you. It’s just after Adelina… I snapped.”
“Adelina was your friend, right? From your ballet company in Italy?”
Evie nodded, her eyes glazed as she reflected on what was probably yet another painful memory. “We were more than friends, actually. But yeah. Her death shattered my already-broken spirit. Especially what happened after her death, and finding out about your father and—”
“What about my father?” Romeo asked.
“You don’t know? I thought you’d all somehow found out about it,” Evie said.
He shook his head. “No, we only saw that one article. But we didn’t really know how it was all connected.”
“I was in the car with Adelina when she…wecrashed. I had just asked her out, and she’d said yes.” Tears rested heavily on Evie’s lashes. “We were going out together for the first time, to a production ofSwan Lakein the city. It was snowing, the roads were icy, and we were unlucky… or Adelina was unlucky, I should say,” she sniffed. “I barely remember much from that time, I think it was the shock. But I do remember calling the emergency services, I remember trying to call my parents but they didn’t pick up, and so foolishly I called your father, hoping that maybe he could help do something… Adelina was next to me, bleeding out, and I thought… he could get her to the best hospital in the country or something. Your father seemed connected enough, powerful enough… but that’s not what he did. Instead, he sent hiscleanupteam. I was scrubbed from the scene. Adelina died in agony, but Mr. Button didn’t care. He just made sure I got out alive. He called the ballet company some days after and requested that I be made principal ballerina. I didn’t even know, since I was still in the hospital recovering from my injuries. When I found out, I told the director of the company that I didn’t want it, but he was adamant that I had to do it… if not for Adelina, then for Mr. Button.”She took a shaky breath, wisps of cold air escaping as she did. “I realized that this all felttoosimilar. Felt too much like Adam, and I knew that Mr. Button had orchestrated it all, I just didn’t know how. I sabotaged my spot at the company and got removed, and then I spent the months between leaving the ballet and coming to the Prodigy Ball gathering what I could to confront him, to threaten him. In the end, it feels like it was all for nothing—Adam’s dead, Adelina’s dead, Mr. Button’s dead, everyone’sdead.”
Romeo felt sick.
“Christ, I didn’t know any of that, Evie, I’m… so sorry,” he said.
“I know you didn’t. I know none of you knew and were probably victims of your father’s wickedness yourselves, I just… needed someone to blame, and you guys were there.”
“I wouldn’t blame you if you still hated us,” Romeo said.
“I don’t think I ever hated you guys,” Evie replied. “I just needed time, away from everything. Ballet, my parents, people in general. I was angry at everyone and everything… and now I’ve had that time, I’m doing a lot better.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Romeo said, feeling Pulitzer pulling at the leash, probably wanting to chase the pigeons in the park. “Does that mean you’re doing ballet again?” he asked.
Evie smiled a little. “Yeah, I’ve really missed it. Even though ballet was something I was basically forced into doing for Mr. Button’s big experiment, it has truly become something I love. I’ve even got some pretty exciting auditions coming up.”
“That’s great, congratulations! I always thought it was really cool that you danced. I wish I had a gift like that or, to be honest, any gift at all,” he said.
“You do have a gift though,” she said.
“Well, my dad and everyone else on earth would say—or have said—otherwise. They always called me ‘the Button without any threads to fasten him.’ Or, my favorite headline,The Prodigy of Nothing. Or justThe Failure.”
“Well, I disagree. I don’t think you’re a failure. In fact, I think youarethe prodigy of something.”
“And what would that be?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Being kind. I think you’re the prodigy of being too kind for your own good. Besides, they say Rome wasn’t built in a day. Something great is waiting for you—maybe not now, maybe not even in five years. But you don’t have to be brilliant when you’re young. Meeting some of the world’s best dancers has taught me that. So give yourself a chance, Romeo. Promise me you will?”
“I’ll try,” he said.
“Good,” she replied.
The pair walked along the large pond in the center of the park, Romeo throwing seeds all around the outskirts for the ducks and birds to nibble at.
“I’m also sorry to hear about Henry.” Evie’s voice broke through the haze.
“What?” Romeo said, momentarily confused.
