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“We can’t go barging in. I’ll call Chase and he’ll take care of it.”
“But she’s been alone there for days!”
Mark put his hand on her arm. “It’ll be taken care of within the hour. Chase has the connections. Go on up. What number are you?”
Emily gave him her condo number and he kissed her cheek. “I’ll only be a few minutes behind you.”
Part of Emily was glad she’d have some time in the condo alone before Mark came. Time to compose herself before he came face to face with another aspect of her real life.
Past life,she reminded herself.It’s in the past.
She nodded to Roger, the doorman, briefly wondering what he would think when he found out Geoffrey was dead, then hurried to the elevators.
Up on the tenth floor, Emily unlocked her condo and stopped just inside the doorway. The place looked the same, smelled the same, but it didn’t feel the same. Her fear was gone. All those men who had hurt her were gone. They couldn’t hurt her anymore.
She left the door open and walked into the kitchen, remembering her first night with David. Moving to this place had changed her life. Geoffrey had expected a certain kind of change, but it definitely didn’t turn out the way he had planned. He certainly hadn’t expected her obedience to him—packing up her crappy apartment—to lead to her meeting the man who would open her heart again with music and love. The man who would save her from her past and from Geoffrey.
When Geoffrey had told her to take David home that first night in Section One... Geoffrey hadn’t foreseen it as the beginning of his downfall.
Emily smiled as she ran her hand over the quartz island in the kitchen. Two men to whom she would be forever grateful, Mark Pierce and David Powell. Two men who had changed her life, forever, and for the good.
So good.
David had been in contact with the FBI, and they were coming to some sort of arrangement. In exchange for his testimony about Geoffrey, Rafael, and her father, his charges of engaging in prostitution would be minimal, if anything at all. Emily smiled, grateful he wouldn’t be punished. He’d always been kind to all the girls at the Café, never treating them with disrespect or cruelty. One of the few regulars who were like that. And when he realized what was going on, he’d fought to rescue Emily and close the place down.
She walked into her bedroom and began packing her things up. Inside the nightstand, she found the small wooden box and opened it. This time, though, there was no pang of grief or regret. She ran her fingers over the wooden dowel and A-string and smiled.
“What’s that?”
Emily turned at the sound of Mark’s voice. “Mementos.” She held out the box and Mark walked over and peered inside.
He laughed. “You took the soundpost?”
She shrugged. “What better way to silence a violin?”
“People didn’t believe me when I told them you’d done it on purpose.”
“I’m surprised you understood that.” She paused and shook her head. “Well, no. Now that I know you better... I’m not really surprised you understood.”
Mark’s cheeks darkened. “I’d asked about you a few months after the audition. They told me what they’d found in your room.”
Emily smiled. “You asked about me?”
Mark shrugged. “I told you, you’d captivated me even back then.” He pursed his lips. “Sam called it obsessed.”
Emily giggled. “Really?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, Sam really called me obsessed.”
“Were you?”
“Maybe.” He slid his hands around her waist and pulled her close. “It was worth the wait.” He leaned down and kissed her.
“I’m a different person than that sixteen-year-old girl.” Emily gazed up into his impossibly dark eyes, still wondering if all this was a dream.
“Stronger. Wiser.” He brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “More beautiful to me than anything in the world.”
“Mark...” She tried to turn away.
