Page 16 of One Breath After Another

Right?

Fuck.

She hated how morbid her thoughts could be sometimes. Another hell she couldn’t escape.

Penny didn’t bother to reply to Roz’s last message. Instead, she clamored out of bed, wishing she could just say where she was, and gathered the file from the desk.

Soon, she found herself in the music room downstairs. The one space that Roz designated as hers and Penny’s—even though Penny barely used it. The piano bench in front of the shiny, black Baby Grand seemed like a good spot to get comfortable while she flipped open the file on her lap. Before long, she had music filtering through the speaker on her phone. A song she had composed when she was only thirteen, but one of her favorites.

If hating something could be called a favorite.

Every key—each rising note—resurrected her pain because she could remember in perfect detail just how much agony had filled her heart when she created the piece years ago. All of her music was like that. A lot like her past, too.

The music helped, though.

In some ways.

She was able to lose herself in the sound of the music, and the notes coloring up her mind, as she flipped page after page in the file. The information about the trust fund and restitution payment from her father was as overwhelming as confusing as she thought it would be.

Then again, it was also clear.

One hundred million dollars. Delivered after her eighteenth birthday. Nine and a half more months. If only money could solve the rest of her problems, then Penny wouldn’t have any to bother her, right?

Bullshit.

Lost in the file, Penny didn’t hear the footsteps outside the music room until a throat cleared. Her head snapped up, eyes wide, as her gaze landed on the man standing in the doorway. For a brief second, panic welled in her throat in the form of a lump that kept her air stuck in her windpipe.

It took a second ...

And then another for her to calm. Breathe.

Luca Puzza raised a hand to wave; a silent hello before he said, “Hey, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

Roz’s brother, and Naz’s best friend, waited for her to reply. She didn’t. It was kind of hard when her heart raced so fast beneath her ribcage that it felt like the organ was about to explode. Except it wasn’t from fear, now.

She saw the man around every now and then. Of course, he came to visit his sister, and she was sure he worked with Naz, too. The guy was just ... there. The thing was, Penny didn’t know how to deal with Luca. He was always kind, gave her space, and never looked at her without a smile on his face.

A handsome smile, she’d noticed.

The same way she noticed that he had the most striking green-blue eyes, and a face carved by God. High, sharp cheekbones and a jawline to die for. The intensity in his expressions couldn’t be matched, she thought. He was tall, but not lanky. With hands that looked like he knew how to work.

He was also twenty-four.

Or twenty-five?

What did it matter?

He was too old for her.

And she didn’t understand why she noticed any of those things about him at all. It wasn’t like the guy indulged her in conversation because she certainly didn’t go out of her way to talk to him. She barely knew him at all.

She just ... liked the way he looked.

It was a stupid crush she couldn’t explain. One he didn’t know existed, and she was fine with that. It needed to stay that way.

“You okay?” Luca asked, his grin warm and beautiful.

Penny swallowed hard, thinking, no. She suddenly didn’t know how to talk when he was around and she hated that, too. “Fine—I’m fine.”