Chapter 6

I held the phone between my ear and shoulder, listening to Emily while curled up on the sofa.

"Evelyn, what are you thinking? Didn't you already divorce him? Why did you play the piano at the birthday party? Were you doing it on purpose?" Emily asked.

"Emily," I said.

"What?"

"Did you notice how Ethan looked at me tonight?" I asked.

Emily paused, then said, "Like a starving wolf eyeing a helpless bunny."

"Exactly," I replied.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked.

I put my feet down and stretched. "Nothing. I'm going to bed."

After hanging up, I leaned against the headboard and pulled out a copy of the divorce agreement, reading it over again.

Ethan's signature was on the second-to-last line, and mine was on the last. The effective date was the twenty-sixth of last month.

Legally, I was nothing to him anymore. But from another angle, the real show was only beginning.

*****

Three days later, Ethan's assistant showed up, not at my place, but at the Stone family's house. He'd heard I was close with Emily, so he went through the Stone family's housekeeper to pass along a handwritten letter.

The handwriting matched his signature on the divorce agreement perfectly.

The letter was brief: [Ms. Hart, apologies for the intrusion. My grandfather's birthday is approaching, and the elders in my family are fond of piano music. We would be honored if you could attend the party. All terms are yours to decide. —Ethan Blackwood.]

Emily flipped the letter over and over, reading it three times. "He really wrote this? By hand? Ethan's the type who has his assistant handle everything, even business deals. He actually wrote a letter himself?"

"Guess he wanted to show he was serious," I said, folding the letter and putting it in the drawer.

"Are you going?" Emily asked.

"Yes," I replied.

Emily looked like a cat caught off guard. "You're really going to the Blackwood family's place? They all think you're some country bumpkin. They don't even know what you look like. You're going to walk in?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"What if someone recognizes you?" Emily pressed.

I answered, "They won't. Nobody in the Blackwood family has ever seen me. On our wedding day, his grandfather was sick in the hospital, so we signed the papers, no ceremony, nothing.

"The only person I ever spent time with was his grandmother, and she passed away last year. His parents, his assistant, not even Ethan himself, none of them have ever seen my face."

Emily stared at me, her mouth hanging open. "So you're going to walk into the Blackwood family's place pretending to be Reed, and your ex-husband will keep chasing after you without realizing it's actually you?"

I thought about it. "Not exactly. I think it's kind of funny; a guy who rushed to divorce a woman he thought wasn't good enough, then ends up falling for the same woman all over again."

"You think it's funny? You're not mad?" Emily asked.

"Emily, have you ever seen me lose my temper?" I asked.

Emily paused, thinking seriously. "Nope. You never get angry. When something gets to you, you go play the piano, and the more pissed you are, the more intense you play.

"Remember that piece Siege from three years ago? You told me you played it the night before you got married. You were alone in the piano room for four hours, and by the end, your fingers were raw and bleeding."

I didn't say anything.

Emily suddenly went quiet. After a moment, she asked, "Evelyn, did you ever have feelings for him?"

That was a weird question. I thought, 'I married a guy I had never even seen in person. I spent three years out in a distant town taking care of his grandma.

'I sent him greeting cards for every holiday, cards he never bothered to read. Did that count as liking someone?'

Probably not. Maybe I got used to seeing his name around.

"It doesn't matter anymore," I said. "He already tossed me aside."

*****

Alex's birthday party was set for two weeks later.

During those two weeks, Ethan pulled every string he could to dig up any public info about me.

There was almost nothing out there on Reed. There were no photos, no social media, and no public profile. The only trace was a vague resume.

I studied under the piano master Silas Carter, won first place at the national piano competition at seventeen, shook up the piano world with Siege at nineteen, then vanished from the scene.

That was all Ethan could find.

But then he did something that left Emily completely stunned; he bought an original calligraphy work from Silas.

Silas was my mentor, and he passed away five years ago. He rarely wrote calligraphy, and every piece was a personal evaluation of his students.

The one Ethan bought had four words: [Piano Heart, Sword Courage.] That was Silas's personal evaluation of me.

Ethan had the calligraphy framed and hung it on the wall in the main hall of the Blackwood residence.

His assistant told the Stone family's housekeeper about it. The assistant said Ethan had been acting a little off lately.

Ethan had a beginner's piano book on his desk, and every night, the first thing he did after getting home was play a recording of Siege.