\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 8\u00a0<\/p>\n
I expected Julian to come after me immediately. The Graysons had influence, but their world was music and\u00a0<\/p>\n
art. The Sterlings had their hands in everything. They had the kind of reach that could erase a person\u00a0<\/p>\n
overnight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But weeks passed, and nothing happened. Julian didn\u2019t appear again. Vivian disappeared.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The only thing I noticed was a brief headline about Sterling Group stock taking a dive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adrian found me the best hand specialist in the country. Recovery was brutal. Every session felt like my\u00a0<\/p>\n
fingers were breaking all over again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d be drenched in sweat, biting down hard to keep from making a sound.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adrian was there through all of it. When my hands started shaking from the pain, he\u2019d bring me water. After\u00a0<\/p>\n
each session, he\u2019d sit at the piano and play something soft, until my breathing slowed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He told me my hands would heal, but the spirit needs its own time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His studio became a place where the rest of the world didn\u2019t matter. Just music, and the light moving outside\u00a0<\/p>\n
as the days passed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I started arranging again. At first, my fingers were so stiff I could barely move them. I couldn\u2019t even hit the\u00a0<\/p>\n
simplest chords. It made me want to quit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adrian would pick up the sheets I\u2019d crumpled and thrown away, smoothing them flat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMusic wasn\u2019t a sport, Lily. It wasn\u2019t about perfect technique. It\u2019s about vulnerability. One honest note bleeds\u00a0<\/p>\n
more than a thousand perfect scales.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He changed how I thought about playing. I stopped chasing hard pieces just to prove I could. Instead, I poured everything into the music. The pain, the despair, the slow climb back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My playing had weight now, something it had never had before.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That day, I was working on a new melody. The assistants were huddled together, talking in hushed voices. I\u00a0<\/p>\n
caught Julian\u2019s name. Then Vivian\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I pulled out my phone and opened social media for the first time in months.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The top headline screamed: [Sterling-Summers Merger Dead: Engagement Called Off.]What came next hit even harder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The truth about Vivian shattered her carefully curated image.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Academic fraud. A fake r\u00e9sum\u00e9. All those international awards she bragged about? Her father had paid for every one of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The piece that launched her career turned out to be stolen. Stolen from me. A practice piece I\u2019d written in\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 8\u00a0<\/p>\n
80.00%\u00a0<\/p>\n
college and never released.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One photo was everywhere online. Vivian, being dragged out of the Sterling HQ by security, screaming at\u00a0<\/p>\n
Julian\u2019s tinted car window.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Julian wasn\u2019t in the shot. But I knew exactly what his face would look like. Hard. Final.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lower down, someone had leaked an audio clip. Vivian talking to a man I didn\u2019t recognize.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you take care of everything?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRelax. The guys I hired know what they\u2019re doing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Julian believe it?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe bought it. He thinks Lily\u2019s mom faked the whole thing for cash.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that Lily was only ever after his money.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPerfect. I want him to hate her so much it destroys her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u043c\u00a0<\/p>\n
The clip was barely a minute, but it said everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t breathe. None of it had been an accident. Vivian had been planning it for years, ever since I\u2019d turned down her offer to work together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She\u2019d studied Julian, his pride, his paranoia. Then she turned what he felt for me into something sharp enough to cut me open. Mom\u2019s death was a prop in her sick game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I shut my phone off. My whole body went numb.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I looked up, Adrian was there. \u201cIt\u2019s behind you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I met his eyes. My eyes stung. \u201cAdrian, I want to go see my mom.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t ask why. \u201cI\u2019ll go with you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The cemetery was quiet but for the wind in the trees. Sunlight lay across Mom\u2019s photo. She looked so peaceful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I set down white lilies and knelt. I talked to her for a long time, told her I was okay now, that I had work I loved and people who cared about me. She didn\u2019t need to worry anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We stayed until the sun began to sink and our shadows stretched long across the grass. Adrian stayed close the whole time, not saying a word.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He brushed the tears from my cheeks. \u201cLily, It\u2019s getting dark.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s go home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I nodded and started to get up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 8\u00a0<\/p>\n
80.00%\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when I saw him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Julian, standing twenty feet away in a black coat. He looked leaner. The arrogance I remembered was gone. He just looked tired. Broken.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t move, just watched. Something raw showed in his eyes. He saw me. Saw Adrian beside me. Saw\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adrian touch my face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He looked like he wanted to come closer but couldn\u2019t make himself move. He stayed where he was.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adrian and I turned to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Julian dropped to his knees at Mom\u2019s grave. He slumped forward, burying his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking violently. A guttural, broken sob tore out of him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sound hit me like a punch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u30c9\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 8\u00a0<\/p>\n
80.00%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cedella is a passionate storyteller known for her bold romantic and spicy novels that keep readers hooked from the very first chapter. With a flair for crafting emotionally intense plots and unforgettable characters, she blends love, desire, and drama into every story she writes. Cedella\u2019s storytelling style is immersive and addictive\u2014perfect for fans of heated romances and heart-pounding twists.<\/p>\n
The Blackened Odds by Mark Twain 8 \u00a0 Chapter 8\u00a0 I expected Julian to come after me immediately. The Graysons […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broken-heart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}