Chapter 6 - The Concert That Became a Trap
Three months changed Elena Marlow’s life so completely that sometimes she woke expecting to discover the ballroom had been a dream.
It had not.
She no longer worked as a maid.
Not because Cassian bought her freedom.
She would have hated that.
She left because Adrian Falk arranged a scholarship through the Bellgrave Conservatory after Elena passed an entrance audition that became legendary among the faculty.
Adrian refused to let anyone accept her because of the viral video.
“She will audition like every other student,” he insisted.
Then Elena walked into the recital room and played.
Forty minutes later, the committee offered her a full scholarship.
At twenty-eight, Elena became the oldest first-year student in the performance program.
She also became the most famous.
The second part she disliked.
People recognized her at grocery stores.
Taxi drivers asked about Cassian.
Students secretly filmed her practicing.
A magazine offered fifty thousand dollars for photographs of her “new luxurious life.”
There was no luxurious life.
Elena still lived in her old apartment.
Still bought discounted coffee.
Still wore the same brown winter coat.
Cassian complained about the coat.
Frequently.
“It has holes.”
“It has character.”
“It is losing a war against weather.”
“It was twelve dollars.”
“I can tell.”
She threw a bread roll at him.
That was their fourth dinner.
By the seventh, Elena stopped pretending they were merely discussing music.
Cassian never pushed.
That surprised her most.
He sent no jewelry.
No enormous flowers.
No expensive dresses.
After learning that extravagant gifts made her uncomfortable, he adjusted.
He brought coffee.
Books.
Once, a bag of oranges because Elena had mentioned her father used to buy them every winter.
That gift made her cry.
Cassian panicked.
“I can return them.”
She laughed through tears.
“Please don’t.”
Their relationship grew in small spaces.
Walking after lessons.
Quiet dinners.
Conversations inside the empty conservatory.
Cassian told her about his brother, Matteo.
Elena told him about Arthur.
He admitted that after taking over his family organization, he had done things he regretted.
She did not ask for details he could not give.
But she made one thing clear.
“If there is a future between us, I won’t live around violence.”
Cassian did not answer immediately.
Then he said, “I know.”
That frightened her more than a promise.
Because it meant he understood what she was asking.
Not affection.
Change.
Meanwhile, Julian disappeared from Bellgrave society.
Vivian ended their engagement publicly.
His business partners abandoned him after details of his gambling and forged loan emerged during the Vale investigation.
For weeks Elena heard nothing.
Then one afternoon Julian waited outside the conservatory.
His left hand remained stiff from the beating.
Elena stopped.
“You shouldn’t surprise people who know Cassian Voss.”
Julian smiled weakly.
“I considered that.”
“What do you want?”
“To give you something.”
He held out an envelope.
Elena did not take it.
“What?”
“Money.”
Her expression hardened.
“Julian.”
“Not forgiveness.”
He lowered his hand.
“I know I can’t buy that.”
“Then why?”
“I sold my apartment. The investments. Everything.”
“How much?”
“Sixty-two thousand.”
“The amount you stole was forty-eight.”
“Interest.”
She stared at him.
“You don’t get to make a joke.”
“I know.”
He offered the envelope again.
“There’s a cashier’s check. Take it.”
Elena finally accepted it.
“What are you going to do?”
“Start over.”
“Where?”
“Chicago, maybe.”
She nodded.
Julian looked toward the conservatory doors.
“I watched your recital online.”
Elena said nothing.
“You were good.”
“I know.”
He laughed softly.
“That’s new.”
“What?”
“You used to need someone else to tell you.”
She looked at him.
He was right.
Julian swallowed.
“I’m sorry about your father.”
Elena’s eyes cooled.
“I know.”
“I wish—”
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
“You don’t get to rewrite what happened because you regret it.”
“I know.”
“But you can decide what happens next.”
Julian nodded.
“That’s what I’m trying to do.”
They stood in silence.
Then Elena said the words she had once believed impossible.
“I forgive you.”
Julian looked up.
She continued.
“That doesn’t mean I trust you. It doesn’t mean what you did was acceptable. It doesn’t mean I want you back in my life.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“I understand.”
“I forgive you because I don’t want to carry you anymore.”
Julian lowered his head.
“Thank you.”
He walked away.
Elena watched until he disappeared.
Then she went inside and practiced for four hours.
That evening, she met Cassian at a small Italian restaurant.
He immediately noticed something was different.
“What happened?”
“Julian came by.”
Cassian put down his fork.
“What did he want?”
“To repay me.”
Cassian’s expression remained suspicious.
“Elena.”
“He apologized.”
“And?”
“I forgave him.”
Cassian stared at her.
“You disagree?”
“No.”
“You look like you disagree.”
“I look like I am trying to understand.”
“What?”
“How you do that.”
“Do what?”
“Let go.”
Elena studied him.
Cassian looked away.
She understood.
“Vale.”
His jaw tightened.
“He killed your brother indirectly.”
“Yes.”
“You still think about revenge.”
“Every day.”
“And?”
Cassian’s fingers tightened around his glass.
“And every day I decide not to become the man my father expected.”
Elena reached across the table.
His hand opened beneath hers.
“You’re already making the decision.”
“For how long?”
“As long as it takes.”
Cassian looked at her hand.
“Does this mean you trust me?”
“A little.”
“Only a little?”
“A dangerous amount.”
He smiled.
Then his phone rang.
He ignored it.
It rang again.
Cassian frowned and answered.
“Luca.”
His expression changed.
“When?”
Elena watched.
Cassian became very still.
“I’m coming.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?”
He stood.
“My uncle is dead.”
Elena rose too.
“Cassian—”
He looked at her.
“Someone shot him outside his house.”
Fear entered her chest.
“I thought Vale’s network was gone.”
“So did I.”
The following morning, Bellgrave awoke to a different kind of story.
Three men connected to the old Voss organization had been attacked overnight.
One died.
Two survived.
A symbol was painted on a warehouse wall.
A black crown.
Cassian recognized it.
So did Luca.
It belonged to Matteo Rusk, once his father’s enforcer.
Rusk had disappeared six years earlier after Cassian began dismantling parts of the family’s criminal network.
Now he had returned.
And unlike Vale, Rusk did not care about money.
He wanted Cassian’s empire.
The old one.
The violent one.
“Elena stays out of this,” Cassian told Luca.
They stood in a private office overlooking Bellgrave.
Luca folded his arms.
“She may not cooperate.”
“She doesn’t have a choice.”
A voice behind them said, “That sentence has never worked well with me.”
Cassian turned.
Elena stood in the doorway.
“How did you get in?”
“Your receptionist likes me.”
Cassian closed his eyes.
“Elena.”
“What’s happening?”
“Nothing you need to be involved in.”
“So someone murders your uncle and that counts as nothing?”
Cassian moved toward her.
“This is exactly what I told you I didn’t want near you.”
She stared at him.
“What?”
“My world.”
“You are your world.”
“Not all of it.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“But you don’t get to protect me by disappearing.”
“I may have to.”
Her face changed.
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s convenient.”
“It’s necessary.”
Elena’s eyes filled with anger.
“I didn’t ask you to make decisions for me.”
“I am not risking your life.”
“And I’m not asking you to.”
“You’re standing in the middle of my office while somebody is murdering people connected to my family.”
“That isn’t my fault.”
“No.”
His voice became quieter.
“It’s mine.”
Elena froze.
Cassian looked away.
For the first time since she met him, he seemed tired rather than powerful.
“Rusk wants me to return to the old business,” he said. “He thinks if he creates enough blood, I’ll answer with blood.”
“Will you?”
Cassian did not answer.
That terrified her.
Elena stepped closer.
“Look at me.”
He did.
“Will you?”
“I don’t know.”
She swallowed.
“Then decide before someone else decides for you.”
Cassian’s jaw tightened.
“You make everything sound simple.”
“It isn’t simple.”
“Then what are you asking?”
“To choose what kind of man you want to be.”
“And if choosing gets people killed?”
“If you become Rusk to defeat Rusk, he already won.”
Cassian stared at her.
Luca quietly left the office.
Elena continued.
“My father spent years gathering evidence instead of becoming like Vale.”
“He died.”
“But he won.”
Cassian flinched.
“Years later.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not enough.”
“It was for me.”
Silence.
Then Cassian touched her face.
“Elena.”
She leaned into his hand.
“I’m scared too.”
“You should be.”
“But I’m still here.”
Cassian kissed her.
Not like the kiss of a man making a promise.
Like a man afraid he might lose the chance.
Elena held his coat.
When they separated, Cassian rested his forehead against hers.
“I love you.”
The words came unexpectedly.
Even to him.
Elena stopped breathing.
Cassian’s expression suggested he wished he could pull them back.
She whispered, “You picked a terrible moment.”
“Yes.”
“A really terrible one.”
“Yes.”
She smiled through tears.
“I love you too.”
Cassian closed his eyes.
Then Luca burst through the door.
“Boss.”
Cassian turned.
“What?”
Luca held out a phone.
A live video was playing.
The Bellgrave Conservatory.
Smoke filled one of the upper windows.
Fire alarms screamed.
Elena’s face drained of color.
“My school.”
Cassian grabbed the phone.
Across the screen someone had painted a black crown on the conservatory’s front doors.
Then a message appeared.
PLAY FOR ME, ELENA MARLOW.
OR NEXT TIME PEOPLE DIE.
Cassian’s eyes became colder than she had ever seen them.
Elena stared at the burning building.
Rusk had made his mistake.
He thought threatening her music would frighten her into silence.
May you like
Instead, Elena Marlow looked at Cassian and said:
“Then we’re going to make him listen.”
