Chapter 6

Before I could even grieve,Maya cornered me in the music academy restroom with two bodyguards.

She raised a hammer and brought it down hard on my Steinway—the one that had been with me for years.

The keys shattered.

My dreams shattered with them.

Maya smirked,looking like a lunatic.

"You think you're something just because you can play a few songs,Elara?Come after my man again,and this is what you get.Carter was sick of you long ago.Get a clue!"

During the struggle with her bodyguards,one of them stomped on my hand.

Two of my fingers broke instantly,twisting at a sickening angle.

My piano career was dead.

The moment I left the hospital,my first thought was revenge.I sent the proof to The New York Post.

Carter siphoning my money to launch Maya's career.Maya's deliberate assault.Every single detail.

Maya was a rising star,so the scandal exploded online.Furious fans flooded Carter's socials demanding answers.But he publicly gaslit me.

"Elara's mental health has been unstable.We broke up long ago.Please stop harassing my friends."

Maya followed up,painting herself as the victim and me as a bitter,obsessed stalker.

Overnight,I became the laughingstock of New York.

I was terrified to leave my apartment,hiding like a sewer rat.

I begged Carter to just tell the truth.I promised I'd walk away forever.

He just looked at me,cold and unmoved."Maya's career is just starting.I can't let her be ruined.Just bear with it,Elara.I'll make it up to you later."

Bear with it?Make it up to me?

Everything I had suffered came from him.

I went to his office to make a scene,and he had me arrested.

At the police station,the man who bailed me out was Julian.

Back in college,he was the one who would sit in the last row of the concert hall,day after day,just listening to me play.

He draped his coat over my trembling shoulders.

"You're a free bird,Elara.You don't belong in a cage.Let me take you home."

He pieced my broken soul back together.

To give me a safe haven,he fought the entire Vanderbilt family,gave up his inheritance,and married me.

"Elara,I won't just say'I love you.'I will share your fate,for better or worse.

We are each other's destiny."