My sarcasm was lost on Sterling, who sighed with relief. “Thank you. Now, if there’s nothing else?”
“May we speak with our son privately?” Rockwell said stonily.
“Yes, of course,” Dr. Sterling said. “You may have the room.”
Ezra and I stood, and I met Orion’s gaze. For the first time since Dean’s death, there was life in his eyes. A spark. And in that spark, love for me. I held it carefully, like something precious that had survived a storm, and went out.
In the hallways of the Academy, safely away from that horrible office, I turned to Ezra. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me for a thing,” he said. “I admit, I’m surprised that you took Sterling up on his offer, but I have a feeling you have your reasons.”
“I do. I—” I began and then felt a light touch on my arm.
“Harper?” came a watery voice.
“Sierra?”
Sierra Hart’s face was tear-streaked, her eyes red and swollen. “Can we talk?”
Chapter 37Orion
Sterling and his lawyer cleared out, and a short silence fell, heavy andfull. The kind of silence that would have crushed me before.
“Orion,” my father began. “That outburst was completely uncalled for. Cheating? Why would you say that? You’ve brought embarrassment—”
“Good,” I said. “I didn’t win. I cheated.Wecheated.”
My father blustered. “It wasn’t cheating; it wasaccommodation. You have…a disability.”
I stared at him, and the last piece of numbness blew away. The last anchor holding it all down lifted, and the words came pouring out.
“Dyslexia,” I said. “I have dyslexia. You can’t even say the word. And I wasn’t diagnosed with dyslexia when you gave me that envelope, remember? I was still struggling under amisdiagnosis that was ten years old.”
“Well, that has been rectified—”
“Nothing has been rectified. I need to say something, and you both need to listen.”
I stood up to pace, to feed off the energy surging through me.
“Ten years,” I said. “I spent ten years thinking I was broken. Thinking I was defective. That asking for help was shameful. But I am not broken. Music is how I exist in this world. I speak it fluently, and all this time, I’ve been fighting it and burying it and pushing it down becausewe don’t talk about anything!”
My mother flinched. My father only stared at me, his eyes hard.
“But I’m done,” I said. “I lost my friend. I may have lost Harper too. She was put through a nightmare—and for what? I shouldn’t have thrown that party. I shouldn’t have rowed in that bloody race. I should’ve been at the piano, auditioning for Juilliard. Fighting for a visa. Fighting to stay here. With her.”
“So it’s about this girl,” my father said, frowning. “She’s quite poor, isn’t she?”
“In some ways,” I said. “But rich in all the ways that count. And she doesn’t want my money.”
Shame bit me, thinking of all the times I’d offered Harper money in lieu of something she really wanted—for me to stick around. To be there for her. To be honest with myself. To be honest about my music. Everything Ezra had been telling me since the beginning.
“I love her. That’s what it’s about. I love her and I love to play.”
My parents exchanged uncomfortable glances. I wanted to scream. To force words out of them. Anything.
“If you want to cut me off, then do it,” I said. “I hope you don’t, because I love you. But I can’t be in the family business, Father. You built something from the ground up. From nothing. Now I have to start from nothing. It’s going to be terrifying. I might embarrass myself. But at least it’ll be honest. And I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you. I’ve disappointed myself, and I let down the one person who didn’t deserve it. I may have lost her. But I’m going to try to fix everything that I broke and hope it’s not too late.”
They exchanged a glance. A nod. A silent understanding.
