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“I am here to play, if you don’t mind,” she said. Without even looking at us, she added, “And don’t mind the giant men. They’re with me. I’m experimenting with having my own audience now.”
Craig cocked his head to the side, not sure if she was serious or not, but he laughed. “Pick any piano you like, even though I have a feeling I know which one you’re going for.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I like what I like, Craig.” She walked toward one of the pianos toward the back of the showroom. Misha and Andrei followed while I lagged behind to speak to Craig, who looked slightly terrified that I wanted to speak to him.
“We’d like to arrange for her own piano, but it needs to be delivered to a penthouse. Is that possible?” I asked. “And I’m assuming you know which one she will like best?”
He looked at me, smiling, tears welling up in his eyes. I looked at him, puzzled. “I’ve been waiting for this moment since her mother passed. Her mother was a dear friend of mine. Sephie had to sell her piano to pay for funeral expenses. I’ve kept it safe in the back of the store, without her knowing, in the hopes that this day would come. The piano she always plays in the showroom is the exact model that her mother had. That’s why she always chooses it. She’s trying to get as close to her mom’s piano as possible.”
I felt a pang in my chest as he talked. This is beyond fucking adorable. “Can we get it moved to the penthouse? Money is no object. Whatever needs to happen to get it there, we’ll do it.”
“As long as your elevator is freight-sized, we should be fine. We move pianos to high-rise apartments all the time. If we have to use the stairs, we have to use the stairs.” He thought for a moment, then added, “Once we used a crane. I’ve never been so nervous in my life.”
I nodded my head. I handed him my card, “I’ll be the contact for the arrangements. Please try to keep this between us. We’d like for it to be a surprise.”
Before he took my card, he looked at me like he was gathering every ounce of courage to stand up to me, “I will only agree to this if I’m allowed to be there when she sees the piano. Her mother was incredibly dear to me and I made a promise to her that I intend to keep.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” I said, sliding my card into his shirt pocket as I patted his shoulder. I walked to the back of the showroom to Andrei and Misha.
Andrei raised his eyebrows at me, silently asking if arrangements had been made. I leaned closer to his ear, telling him everything I’d just learned. When I finished and looked at him, he had tears welling up in his eyes too.
“She’s going to be so happy,” he said. I nodded, completely understanding what he was feeling in that moment.
Sephie was happily playing when a few people wandered into the store. There were a few other salesmen other than Craig that spoke to them. The customers couldn’t stop themselves from walking closer to Sephie as she played. They were mesmerized.
Craig eventually walked up beside us, a small crowd had now formed around her. She seemed oblivious to it, as she just kept playing. Craig smiled. “This always happens when she comes in. I offered to pay her for doing this on a regular basis, but she wouldn’t take it. The pianos sell themselves when she’s here.”
Sephie played for a few hours before finally deciding she’d had her fill. They sold three pianos while she played, so they were sorry to see her go. Misha got plenty of video for Adrik for later. He sent a few of the shorter ones to him already. Fucking adorable.
Misha and Andrei pulled the vehicles around to the front of the building. Misha jumping out of the second one, getting in with Andrei. I got into the driver’s seat, Sephie was in the passenger seat with me.
We made our way back toward the penthouse through afternoon traffic. Andrei drove through an intersection and the next thing I knew, I heard metal crunching on my left side and we were going sideways. I looked to Sephie, turning toward her to try and shield her from the impact. Everything was in slow motion. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like there were wings surrounding her as bits of shattered glass flew through the air around her. She looked at me, clearly worried, but all I could see was the feathers. Were they…changing?
Chapter Fifty-Three
Sephie
We were following Andrei and Misha back to the penthouse when suddenly we were hit from the side. The truck that hit us was large, like a delivery truck, so it forced us sideways into parked cars on the side of the street. I looked to Ivan. He was bleeding from his head and was unconscious. Shit.
The truck that hit us backed up and moved, so that it was blocking most of the street. That’s not normal. This was no accident. I reached over, trying to shake Ivan awake. I remembered Misha and Andrei making it through the intersection before us. Surely, they saw us get hit. They’d be here any second.
Gunfire. Double shit.
“Ivan! Ivan, I really need you to wake up right about now.” I tried shaking him, but he was non-responsive. How hard do you need to get hit to knock you out if you don’t feel pain?
I tried to unbuckle my seat belt, but it was stuck. I couldn’t get it to release. I stretched over to Ivan, who always had a knife on him, usually more than one, and grabbed it from the holster on his leg. I made a mental note that I could also reach his gun.
I cut myself out of the seat belt, moving closer to Ivan so I could assess the damage. He had hit his head hard. He also had a pretty nasty wound on his shoulder and his upper left arm, probably from the glass breaking. The gunfire was continuous at this point and now I could hear shouting coming closer to the vehicle.
I watched as one man provided cover for a second to run toward us. It was definitely not Andrei and it was definitely not Misha. I heard the first guy yell in Italian, “Make sure you get the girl alive.”
News flash, boys. You’re going to have to work much harder than you thought to get this girl alive.
I waited until the second man got closer to the vehicle. I had taken Ivan’s gun out of the holster, safety off, waiting. He ran up to the driver’s side window, trying to see if the door was open. Our vehicle was smashed against a parked car, so there was no getting out that way. He got frustrated when the door wouldn’t open. He moved so that he was clear of Ivan, and I took the shot. He fell to the ground without realizing what hit him.
As it turns out, having a gun fired right next to your head will, in fact, bring you back to reality. Ivan jolted awake, looking at me wide-eyed.
“Ivan, they’re coming for us. We have to get out of here. I haven’t seen Misha or Andrei, but there’s been gunfire for a few minutes now. Hold this,” I said, handing him the gun. I cut him out of his seat belt. “Can you feel your legs? How badly are you hurt? Please tell me you’ll be able to walk because there’s no chance I’m gonna be able to carry you.”
