The Crescendo (The Musical Interlude) (14 page)

“What?”

“Do I look like something for guys who make crappy ass decisions to toss things at when their actions come back to bite them in the ass? Oh, well, no worries, it was old Erin’s fault all along,” I say, mocking a male’s deep voice.

“You’re much too pretty to be used for target practice, Erin.”

Inhaling deeply, I say, “And this would be the point where I’m supposed to ask what this visit is all about?”

“First, I’ve not had the chance to talk privately with you since the spider incident, seeing that your overzealous fiancé makes it impossible to get near you. How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thanks. But that’s not what’s really on your mind.”

He looks down and kicks at the ground a couple of times. “You once asked me why I took this job.”

“I’ve asked you many things you’ve yet to answer,” I respond, thinking of the gun I’ve seen him carrying on a couple of different occasions.

“I’ll have you know, seeing you again has been something I’ve wanted to do ever since we parted ways six years ago,” Sam’s green eyes fill with sadness, or maybe remorse.

He takes a couple of steps up toward me and touches my cheek. I close my eyes a short moment and allow myself to wonder for a brief second what things might’ve been like for the two of us had we reconciled under different circumstances.

I open my eyes and step down to the step he’s standing on so now we’re face to face. “Long ago, I dreamt of this moment. Of seeing you again. Wondering what you would do or say. How you might be wearing your hair. What it would be like if I were still your girl.” Sighing, I look away. “But then I woke up and the pain in my heart hurt like hell.” And Alek found me and took it all away.

“What could possibly be hurtful about waking up to this?” he asks, taking my chin in his hand and moving his face toward me.

The car horns and laughter from the people going on about their lives on the other side of this building chime together, a mixture of sounds making it seem as though they’ve chosen this exact moment to remind me that what I’m doing probably isn’t a good idea. I move my mouth away before he has the chance to finish his mission, and before my fiancé catches us out here and decides to bury Sam in one of Milan’s underground tombs.

“I shouldn’t be out here with you, Sam. I belong to someone else now.”

His face droops at first and then hardens. “Then he should be here, alongside you, instead of acting like a Neanderthal.”

I get heated. “Interesting how the cub that’s in training with the mama cougar shamelessly calls out the brute who gets to manhandle the girl that cub really wants. What a greedy little thing, he is.”

“Ouch,” he says, lowering his head. “You know about Katerina, I see.”

“You did an excellent job of making sure I’d find out.”

“It wasn’t done on purpose, Erin.”

Like hell it wasn’t.
“Sam, you need to know that it’s all about Alek for me,” I say firmly.

He takes a step closer to me, his eyes blazing with anger in them for the first time since he’s arrived. “I do know. I’ve seen it. Watched you. Rescued you. Do you remember? I hate this power he has over you. He won’t be able to satisfy your needs, Erin. I’m afraid he’s not ready, given his past indiscretions in the underground circles. Will you keep sacrificing your desires only to discover the cold, hard truth—that he’s not the man you thought he’d be?”

“That’s not true. Alek is a good man,” I say quietly, crossing my arms and wanting to kick myself for sounding so ambivalent and weak. Sam has always had this truly unnerving way of getting under my skin as though he can read my thoughts; and of course, he catches on to my hesitation right away.

“Keep telling yourself that, love. I think you should go to Lafayette. Rediscover you, Erin. You can’t be useful to yourself, let alone anyone else, until you truly know what lies in here.” He reaches two fingers toward the exposed skin over my heart, frowning and then balling a fist as though he’s debating whether he should touch me or not. “I made a mistake when I left you standing on that porch all those years ago. Don’t be so eager to
follow in my footsteps.”
Wait! Did he just give me some advice that supports a reconciliation with Alek?

"The great King Swansea's actually allowing me to leave in the midst of the season?" I say with sarcasm, the best defense for me when I'm feeling vulnerable.

"You need this, Erin. Both of you. Before word of your issues reaches the tabloids."

I scoff a laugh. "Of course. It's always about what best fits Sam's needs, isn't it?"

"I'm only saying Alek can handle the next few shows on his own. I'm almost certain of his ability to do so. He's rather good at flying solo, I hear." He holds my gaze and I don't fail to catch the meaning behind his words. "Just think on all I've said."

I open my mouth to speak without really knowing what I can say against Sam's statement. Whether I want to admit it or not, Alek handles himself much better alone than he seems to do since we've been living together. Sam leans over, firmly holding me in place so I can’t move away again, kisses my cheek and then walks away, leaving me wondering what the hell planet I just landed on, and ultimately, where I can find some tickets so I can get my ass back home.

Erin

At both Sam’s and Alek’s insistence, I return to Lafayette and prepare for my two week vacation since I’m overdue for Mom’s quarterly visit. My first stop is the Tyler Mental Health Facility. Walking into the psychiatric ward of the institution always fills my body with anxiety. Everything’s so clean and perfect, even though I know the purpose of this place has nothing to do with being neat and tidy. At first, these visits were so bad that I would feel faint as soon as I stepped through the doors. That was up until the point when Alek started coming along with me last year. He even put my aunt Evangeline in her place.

For years, she wouldn’t let me visit Mom unsupervised, claiming I was the one to blame because of what I tried to do to myself in our garage six years ago, and saying I was still a danger to Mom. That was the day when I had rigged up a hose to push carbon dioxide into Dad's Mercedes. Consumed by guilt, I had no longer believed I deserved to live while Jada was the one who'd suffered in my place. I thought I should've been the one in that car the day my father and sister were killed, and not my vibrant life-loving sister, a prom queen that had her choice of several Ivy League schools to choose from, a girl who'd never once been afraid of anything, let alone following her dreams. Mom had found me in the car and panicked when she couldn't unlock the door or get the window down, her screams attracting the attention of our neighbors. But when she lifted the tire wrench and was about to use it to break through my window she tripped over the hose, fell back and slammed the back of her head against the concrete, the impact of the concussion triggering a stroke and damaging massive areas of tissue in her brain, turning my beautiful mother into nothing more than a vegetable.

When I woke up and heard what happened I screamed. The guilt of it all was too much. I was forbidden to see Mom unsupervised and my visits were limited by my aunt. For the first few years my presence would cause an elevation in her blood pressure and she'd begin twitching among other signs of visible stress. Seeing her that way hurt like hell. How many more lives could I ruin in a single lifetime? I thought my family was right to minimize my visits. But then the Maestro swept into my life last year, and he helped me understand things weren't all my fault as I'd always believed,
even though finding out his Father had been the one who caused all this and that he was the last person who saw Jada alive made me temporarily shift the blame to him which in turn, caused our break up. Thankfully, Alek's level of persistence is legendary among the celestials and he wouldn't allow me to head back into that shell of mine and give up on us. For the first time in years, I had someone who believed in me without seeing me as a time bomb waiting to blow someone else's life to pieces.

Alek stepped right up to my aunt that day we first came here together last year—the bull against the lion—and told her the way things were going to be from that point on. Nevertheless, even my hard core aunt didn’t stand a chance against the Maestro’s charms and that iron will of his that makes people cringe when facing the full blast of the energy surrounding him.

I ease my mind back into the present. The doctors have moved Mom into a new room, one that has gorgeously decorated walls filled with peonies and murals of flower gardens. The plaster they’re made of is thick enough to block all the noise from the other patients around her. Being the fiancée of a billionaire has its perks, especially inside a place like this one where a seven-figure donation from Katerina Dostovsky makes all the difference in the patient’s comfort level. Each time I give up on believing Katerina might actually have a heart buried somewhere underneath those Chanel suits she loves so much, she goes and does something like this.

I inhale deeply and prepare to go through the motions after the doctors leave the room. I comb her hair, secure the long, dark locks in a braid and turn her wheelchair towards the mirror so she can see herself. Mom has gotten so thin that I’m afraid she’ll eventually waste away. Lifeless, black eyes
stare back at our reflections. Something thrums inside my chest each time I find my mother staring off into space this way. Basically, she eats and sleeps and wakes up the next day and then does the same things all over again. She’s a robot that doesn’t even recognize her own family.

“Guess what? I get to stay here with you a little longer for this visit.” I turn her chair towards the garden in the back of her ward. Facing the window, the sun illuminates her skin, emphasizing the shadows underneath her eyes.

As usual, I fill her in on all the positive aspects of my life, following the doctor’s advice of minimizing negativity. For some reason, however, I feel the need to be honest; to let her know how what I’ve been going through has been bothering me.

“Mama, I’m so scared. I don’t want to lose Alek, but he’s slipping away more and more every day. I can feel it. What should I do?” Mom doesn’t answer. She never does, and it tears me apart; but as her daughter, I still find some comfort in telling her about my fears.

Closing my eyes, I take a seat on the floor beside Mom’s chair and lay my head down on her lap. I refuse to let any tears fall. Crying shows weakness. That much I agree with Katerina on. Still, I keep thinking of the way Nikolai has fallen into the clutches of a man, this Burkenstein person, who according to Alek is even more dangerously twisted than his father. The past keeps reaching out toward Alek and me in some way, threatening to steal our one chance at happiness. Why can’t the little shit just let us have a moment of peace? I do know one thing—I won’t let him go through this torture and heartache all alone unless he decides that’s what he wants to do.

After Mom’s visit, Jacob drives me to Lafayette Memorial Park. I’m long overdue for this trip to my sister’s resting spot, a tomb topped off by a cupid that has a wide set of angel wings standing guard over Jada’s remains. A large heart-shaped stone that has all four of our names inscribed on the face sits in the cupid’s arms.

I plop down in the grass beside the grave, struggling to control my short, white dress as it blows in the wind. The Louisiana sun doesn’t disappoint, its rays beaming down on my head, making me thankful I wore a wide-brimmed hat. It’s also a good thing Alek’s suggestion for me to wear lighter colors has finally sunk in, or else I would probably have fainted from being exposed to all this heat that I’m no longer used to.

“Hi, Jada. I came by to say hi and to tell you that I suck at being a sister. I know. It’s been almost a year since I last stopped by your grave. I suck at my singing career, too. Plus, I suck at being a fiancée, just like I knew I would.

“I wanted to say I’ll never wait this long to come by and see you again. Most of all, I wanted to say thank you for bringing Alek and me together. I love you.” I place the yellow roses at the cupid’s feet and lie down on the grass beside the grave, listening to nature’s music.

“I miss you so much. You’d definitely know what to do, wouldn’t you?” I lie that way for so long that I almost start to believe I’m hearing a heartbeat coming from inside the ground, and then I do release a shit load of tears. It feels like I’ll probably just float away because there are so many.

“We should probably be heading back, Ms. Angelo,” Jacob says softly, holding out a big hand for me to take, pulling me to my feet. “It’s getting dark. Cemeteries creep me out at night.” He’s scanning the area around us, always on guard and ready to protect his boss’s woman.

I lock gazes with him, smiling as I wipe my eyes with the tissue he’s given me. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

“I have no doubt whatsoever that you could,” he confirms.

“Good. I’m ready now,” I glance at the cupid one last time just before I turn and walk toward our car.

♡♥♡♥♥♥

Later that evening, Jacob and I pull up to my parents’ old house situated in a neighborhood where the lots are spread out in such a way that the trees create the barriers between each family’s plot. We can sometimes see the lights from our neighbors’ cars, hear the sounds of parties and smell the hamburgers being grilled, but we can’t see them.

This makes my first time coming back to the house in two years. Aunt Evangeline wants to sell it because she considers it to be high maintenance, however I’ve all but threatened to lynch her if she even thinks about doing such a thing. I still have hopes that Mom will someday come back to us. I can’t let go of that dream.

Over the next few days, Jacob sticks by my side, respectfully taking his place on the couch and not once making a move that makes me feel uncomfortable. We play chess and I get my ass kicked because I can’t take my eyes off my phone’s screen for any longer than a couple of minutes. When I’m not preoccupied by Jacob’s ability to be a superb bodyguard, then I’m spending chunks of time gabbing on the phone with Selene.

“Don’t worry; he’ll call you today, too,” Jacob says, surprising me.

“I don’t know. He’s really angry.” And I’m a coward. “I should’ve supported him instead of suggesting this—this break or vacation or whatever this time apart is supposed to be.”

Jacob smiles wide, something he and Tanner rarely do. It’s the kind of grin that lights up a room. “He’s crazy about you, Ms. Angelo. None of
us have ever seen him act this way.” He sighs deeply, his smile fading, and he starts adjusting his neck as though his tee shirt is on too tight. Clearing his throat, he says, “I appreciate you keeping silent the way you did. I hope that’s not what caused all this.”

“No problem. And no, you’re not the reason this is happening. With that being said, I do hope you intend to tell him about the girl. Keeping secrets might not be the best idea at this point.” Even though Jacob has been nothing but kind, the meeting I witnessed between him and the girl that night was pretty intense, enough so for him to temporarily abandon his post.

“I understand, Ms. Angelo. I got your back. The girl was a friend. She needed some help. That’s all I can really say. I’m sorry,” he explains.

“Erin. No more Ms. Angelos, okay?”

“You got it.” I get the big grin again.

The next morning I awaken to the sound of soft music playing downstairs. Jacob’s once again listening to beach sounds playing against a soft symphony, which I admit has helped me sleep as well. Lying in my bed in my old room fools me into thinking I’m back to being a kid again, that everything will be okay. That both Jada and Mom will storm into my room at any second to awaken me. Then, I realize this is the present, and I’m lying alone inside a bed for the first time in months.

Eventually, I pry myself out of the bed, get dressed, eat some fancy French toast sticks that Jacob conjured up while I was oversleeping, and then head out to the pond in the woods behind the house. My mind blissfully drifts inside the void I’ve created, that place I use to protect me from any heartache I’m sensing that might be coming my way.

I roll out my blanket and lie back with my arms folded underneath my head, the warmth of the sun soothing my skin. I do have to admit this little break has been both relaxing and disturbing. Feeling confident that Jacob is somewhere nearby standing in the trees and watching the way he usually does, I drift off to sleep and dream of Jada and my phantom lover, aka Alek, dancing together in a field of blue flowers.

Alek

The woman stutters each time I ask her a question, and the guy Tanner has pressed against the wall keeps on trying to escape his choke hold. Tanner and I have the pair cornered in an alley outside the Extasia, a strip club in one of the seediest parts of Milan.

After spending too many nights scouring the city looking for this woman—the person who led Erin into the pet shop—we’ve finally narrowed down her whereabouts thanks to an anonymous tip that told us where to find her place of employment. However, my men have had to find a way around the guy hanging on her arm in order to do so.

“Get your hands off me, man,” the guy orders Tanner in an American accent. He’s scrawny with short, dark hair, an acne riddled face on one side, and makes Tanner look like a Swarzenegger clone.

My secretive escapades have done nothing but create distance between Erin and me, so of course, I’m hoping this part of our mission ends tonight. I’m eager to find out how this woman and her accomplice were able to tap into my phone line without me being any wiser to her doing so. That’s the only way this anyone would’ve been able to discover Erin’s new Bengal obsession. We’d just texted each other about it a couple weeks before the spider incident.

After interrogating her, we learn she used to be a handwriting analyst named Lola, which explains how she was able to forge my note. The guy, Fred, has traveled to Italy with the intention of taking her back to America where I’m sure they were planning to settle down in new lives with fresh identities.

“Please don’t hurt him,” Lola pleads in broken English, her wide, brown eyes filled with terror as she glances at the way Tanner has her boyfriend plastered back up against the wall. “I already promised the masked man I wouldn’t do anything else to hurt your fiancee.”

“Masked man?” I ask. Tanner slides his gaze toward me. I suspect we’re both thinking the same thing, or rather, we’re visualizing the same person. I need a little more validation first. “Describe the mask.”

Someone might think I’ve just told her to strip naked and jump on a sword by the way her face has taken on an expression of pure terror, her body trembling.