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Tristan slumped a little further into himself. Unfortunately, Andrej was right about this.

“He’s fine!” José said. “He played an absolutely flawless concert!”

“Are you crazy? He freaked out and punched a guy in the face. Our guitarist is in jail! Do you really think he’ll find his way back on his own?”

“That was Diego Garcia!”

“God! I’m so fed up with this shit! He needs to finally realize that Milo was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!”

“Should I close the door?” Nathan asked.

Tristan shook his head and sighed as he reached for his glass.

“How do you know that?” José yelled. “You weren’t even there!”

“Oh, come on! You know what Milo was like. He probably asked for it and lost it.”

“He’s dead!”

“I didn’t pull the trigger!” Andrej countered self-righteously.

“That’s enough,” Nathan said, getting up to close the door.

At that moment, José entered the room. But before he noticed Nathan and Tristan, he turned back to Andrej and threw his hands up in the air. “No! You didn’t do anything! But you’re about to ruin everything!”

Andrej abruptly stopped in the doorway and stared at Tristan. José turned around and gasped for breath. Tristan felt as if his body had gone rigid. The glass in his hand trembled slightly, so he set it back on the table.

For a moment, time stood still. It was a welcome pause, allowing everyone present to catch their breath.

José muttered a “Mierda” as he rubbed his temples with both hands, while Nathan sat back down on the couch. Tristan was surprised that Andrej, of all people, spoke up first.

“I’m not destroying anything,” he replied calmly. “You two are out of control, and Leaf won’t listen to reason. I get why he snapped at Diego, but he totally lost it and went off the deep end.” Andrej paused for a moment, as if carefully contemplating his next words. “I don’t want to destroy anything. I’ve seen you. You were good. No, you are good. You just got lost somewhere along the way. On stage, you just showed where you belong. Hard to believe even your setlist worked. But with things the way they are now, there’s no future for Nightstalker.”

Tristan had heard Andrej’s words. All of them. But he couldn’t shake off Milo’s mention. “In the wrong place at the wrong time?” he repeated incredulously.

A second passed, and then Andrej tilted his head slightly to the side, eyebrows furrowing. Before he could say anything, Tristan walked around the table.

“And … He asked for it?” Tristan felt overwhelmed with emotion.

“I’m sorry …”

“How dare you?” Like an avalanche, everything crashed down on Tristan, leaving only the image of Milo in his arms. “That was …” A fog lifted from Tristan’s eyes, and he saw what he hadn’t seen before. “Milo was working to pay off his debts, and Diego set him up! That was a damn execution!” Tristan’s voice cracked and failed. His shoulders shook. The stress, the anger, the grief, the pressure, the alcohol—it all overflowed within him, and he staggered. Overcome with weakness, he sat down on a chair and rubbed his face in disbelief.

“Did you want to kill yourself because of that?” Andrej asked after a minute of silence.

“I didn’t kill myself,” Tristan muttered. His gaze drifted to his glass, which was too far away.

“You act like life’s some kind of punishment, like you’re just going through the motions. Letting all this crap control you, drowning everything else in alcohol!”

“Stop it!”

But not even José’s admonishing words could distract from the fact that Andrej was right again.

Tristan buried his face in his hands. It wasn’t even midnight yet, but the night had reached its peak; it couldn’t get any darker.

If Leaf went to jail, all their efforts, Carol’s and his, would be in vain. The only advantage they could gain was that with the postponed concerts, they’d have more time to find a replacement if Iggy decides not to step in.

“Okay … yeah …” Carol entered the dressing room, pressing her phone to her ear and speaking in a hurried tone to the person on the other end of the line. “Yes, right there … They took this Diego to the same police station. No idea … I … Just a moment.” With a nervous gesture, Carol got Tristan’s attention. “What’s the status?” she asked him. “Did he agree?”