Chapter 2
Half-conscious, I drifted into a memory from years ago.
Erik and I were side by side at the piano, our hands moving together over the black and white keys.
When the song ended, he took my hand gently, his gaze warm and full of affection.
“Kara, your hands are so beautiful. Will you play for me forever?”
The melody stopped, and before I could answer, his face twisted into something cold and frightening. Ignoring my cries, he raised a knife and then brought it down, severing my ring finger.
I jolted awake, eyes wide, and breath uneven. A faint, familiar scent lingered in the air.
It was my room. On the nightstand sat a framed photo of Erik and me, smiling.
I quickly looked down at my right hand.
Where my ring finger should have been, there was nothing but thick white gauze.
My chest tightened, the last shred of hope collapsing.
“Kara, you’re awake?”
Erik’s voice came from the side. He sat on the edge of the bed, peeling an apple with practiced ease until the skin fell away in one long strip.
His eyes were gentle.
“I had the doctor patch you up. It’s nothing serious.”
He held the apple out to me as though nothing had happened.
I stared at him, my vision blurring with my tears.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you love apples?”
My gaze dropped to the fruit, and the pressure inside me broke. I swatted it from his hand, sending it rolling across the floor.
Erik froze for a moment before standing abruptly, his voice sharp.
“Kara, what’s wrong with you?”
Pain twisted inside me. I lifted my injured hand, my voice breaking. “You call this nothing? You know I still have to play the piano!”
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He pinched the bridge of his nose, his tone turning cold.
“Now, you remember the piano? Did you think about how Tania wanted to play, too, when you hurt her?
“She gave up everything overseas to help me find a good match. You knew how much this competition meant to her, yet you still…”
His lips kept moving, but his words faded into nothing. I could no longer hear him at all.
The heart beating inside him was my mother’s gift-what did Tania have to do with it?
“I didn’t hurt her hand. The heart inside you is from my…’
11
“That’s enough!” Erik cut me off, irritation flashing across his face. “Things are already this bad, and you still won’t admit it?
“I told you, Tania and I broke up ages ago. I’m marrying you next month anyway. Why do you keep making things hard for her?”
Whatever I was about to say crumbled under the weight of his anger.
My hands curled into trembling fists, my vision blurring as tears slipped free no matter how hard I tried to hold them back.
Erik’s gaze softened briefly, a flicker of guilt in his eyes.
He reached out to wipe my tears, but I turned my face away.
“Where’s my finger?”
His hand froze. “The doctor said we were away from it too long, so…”
He tried to pull me into his arms, his voice low and coaxing. “Once we’re married, just stay home and enjoy life. You won’t need to play the piano anymore.”
“Get out.” My voice was steady, almost flat. He did not seem to hear.
So I gathered what little strength I had left.
“Get out!”
His expression darkened. “You’re unbelievable. If it were Tania, she’d never treat me like this.” Then, he flung the strip of apple peel at me, the wet skin slapping against my cheek. “You’re just like your mother-always making a fuss over nothing.”
Before I could reply, he turned and stormed out.
The door slammed so hard that the photo of us on the wall fell, the glass shattering into a spiderweb of cracks.
