Page 86 of Of Heartbreak and Harmony
I blink at the phone screen. I can’t believe she just said that. I can’t believe she just hung up.
“Wow,” Torren says with a laugh. “She’s something else.”
I huff and nod. “Yeah, she really is.”
A text from Glory buzzes through before I even finish my sentence.
Glory Bell
Sorry. Had to hang up for the plot. I’ll call after work.
Stay out of the red room.
I smile to myself as I type out a quickokay, talk soon, then put my phone back in my bag.
My sister really is something else.I know people? Who the hell does she think she knows? I have to swallow back a laugh at the whole thing. My sister just threatened Torren.Torren, whom she loved so much that she named her dog after him. She threatened himfor me.
Proof that my sister loves me. I knew it.
I’m still riding the high of the humorous exchange when the SUV pulls into the parking garage of a large music hall. I sit up straight and look back at Torren.
“Where are we?”
He smiles. “Oh,nowyou want to know?”
I arch a brow, and he laughs before answering me. “We’re at the Texas Grand Performance Center.”
The SUV pulls up to an elevator and a man in a black suit opens Torren’s door. Torren climbs out, then rounds the car and opens my door, offering me his hand. I take it and let him help me out of the vehicle, then he puts his hand on the small of my back and leads me into an elevator.
“Are you going to ask me what we’re doing here?”
I purse my lips. My curiosity is overtaking my desire to remain aloof. Of all the places he could have brought me, this is the best one to spark my interest.
“Okay, fine,” I relent. “What are we doing here?”
He chuckles. “Do you know who Constance Chen is?”
My feet stop in their tracks. My eyes widen to twice their size. When he looks at me, his smile grows.
“Does that mean you do know her, or you don’t?”
I stare at him and force words out of my mouth. “Is she here?”
He nods, and my heart thrums with excitement.
Constance Chen was one of my idols. I used to want to be her. A child pianist prodigy, she was accepted to Julliard at just six years old, and she’s grown up to become a world-renowned classical pianist. She’s arguably the best classical pianist alive.A once-in-a-generation kind of talentis what music critics have called her. It’s said she could read music before she could speak. She’s been winning international piano competitions for literal decades, and her last solo performance sold out in two minutes. I’d long since given up ever seeing her play live, but when she announced her retirement last year, I was still devastated.
The thought that I’m in the same building as her...
“Are we going to see her play?”
My question is posed quietly, tentatively, as if I don’t want to get my own hopes up. Torren just winks at me and leads me through the double doors of the concert hall, then up a set of stairs. My pulse speeds up.
We are.
We are going to see Constance Chen perform. I’m drowning in my own excitement as my eyes scan the empty venue. The rows and rows of red velvet seats are vacant. I glance down at the main floor of the concert hall and find that it is vacant as well. In fact, it’s all been strangely empty. I didn’t register it until just now. Aside from one usher and a few security guards, I’ve seen no one. The parking garage. The lobby. All of it’s been empty.
“Where is everyone?”
