Savor (24 page)

“Just one place today?” Eli inquired when we stopped at a light.

I scratched my head. “Yeah. I’m not someone who enjoys shopping.” The relief in the air

from the two bodyguards tickled a smile out of me. “We just might have to pass at a craft

store for some wrapping paper.”

“Roger that.”

Not half an hour later, I walked into Eddy’s while Eli waited in the car with Andrew. An

electronic chime announced my entrance the second the door cut the invisible beam. I loved

Eddy’s for two reasons. One, it had a developing kiosk. And two, they had the most beautiful

readymade frames. Considering the season, I figured they would be swamped with orders for

custom jobs.

“Long time no see,” the owner said from behind the counter. He flipped his long dreads

over a shoulder. Another reason why I loved the store. Eddy had a Bob Marley vibe to him.

Cool, unaffected.

“Hey, Eddy.” I waved then pointed at the developing kiosk.

“What size photo paper do you need?”

“Can I get a dozen glossy eight by fives?”

Eddy counted out the sheets and rounded the counter so he could hand them to me. I

plugged in the USB but didn’t open the folder.

“Thanks,” I said, loading the sheets into the printer portion of the kiosk.

“I assume you need frames for those?”

I nodded, still not moving to open the folder in front of Eddy. Taking the hint, he shrugged

and said, “You’re in luck. We just got a shipment of new frames yesterday. I’ll go into the

back for them.”

Relieved to be left alone, I quickly pressed print on all the pictures I’d brought with me.

Only the recipients of the pictures were allowed to see them. Each picture represented a

personal moment in the life of the subject, and no one else had a right to see them unless the subject allowed it.

Done printing, I shoved the photos in a folder then in my bag. I detached the USB and

returned the four sheets of photo paper I didn’t use to Eddy. He pointed at the box of frames

he set in the corner for me.

“You get first dibs.”

“You’re awesome.” I knelt by the box and flipped through the different frames. I knew

what I wanted for each person I’d be giving a photo to. Eddy’s always had a wide variety of

styles to choose from. I picked out a couple moderns and a few classics. A mix of wood and

metal.

“So, not telling me what the pictures are?” Eddy needled. “You know how much I love

seeing your work.”

“Not this time.” I winked at him over my shoulder. “These are extra special.”

“Now I want to see them more.”

Pretending I didn’t hear the begging in Eddy’s tone, I stacked the frames I’d chosen and

brought them to the counter. Eli burst into the store just as Eddy was ringing up my

purchase. The bodyguard stomped to my side, his face a blank slate.

“We need to go,” he whispered.

“Huh?” I turned to him in the middle of pulling out my wallet. “Why?”

“Do I look like I question orders?”

“Ooo-kay…what crawled up your butt?” I fished out a couple hundred bucks and slid them

toward Eddy, who did his best not to listen in on my conversation with the hulking figure

beside me.

When Eli sighed, his whole body seemed to sag. “Miss Visraya called. She seemed very

agitated over the phone when she asked that I bring you back to the manor immediately.”

A tight band wrapped around my chest. “Did she tell you why?”

“No.” He shook his head as if the word wasn’t enough. “And before you ask me, no, it’s not

in my job description to ask for details.”

I smirked at that.

Eddy placed the frames into two paper bags and handed them to me. Eli’s beefy hands beat

me to them. He pulled the bags from the counter and held them at his side like they weighed

nothing. I thought about my options. Yana wouldn’t have called if something wasn’t up. How

it connected to me, I had no clue. She wouldn’t have let me go if she thought I wouldn’t come

back, so why the urgency? Eli made it sound like someone died or something. Besides

keeping my mouth shut about anything I discovered at the manor, I assumed I was free to

come and go as I pleased. But since I didn’t know when I would get a chance to go into the

city again, I wanted to make the best of my trip.

“Look, I don’t want to get you into trouble or anything, but since whatever is happening

back at the manor is already happening, a few minutes to buy wrapping paper won’t matter.” I

adjusted my bag strap over my shoulder. “I’ll tell Yana we ran into traffic.”

“Your funeral.”

I swallowed. “Make sure to send a nice flower arrangement, will you?”

Nodding solemnly, Eli stepped aside and allowed me to lead the way toward the SUV. As I

climbed in, I refused to speculate about what caused Yana to have me returned ASAP. I still

had a little over two weeks there. Surely whatever it was could wait until I was good and

ready to come back.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Panic

Chaos. The state of utter confusion and disorder. Basically, a total lack of organization. As

in
what the hell’s going on?

Eli deposited me and all my purchases in my room before hurrying away to check on what

had been happening while we were gone. I immediately followed after him and found myself

standing at the top of the stairs afraid to dive into the foray that had become of the main

floor.

Maids ran around like chicken with their heads cut off, carrying broken shards of…was

that a vase? And legs of a chair? I left a calm manor and returned to complete and utter

chaos. It seemed the appropriate word to describe the scene playing out in front of me. When

Deidra passed my line of sight, carrying a golden gilt frame with a slashed painting inside, my jaw dropped. That thing must have cost a fortune.

“What the hell happened here?” I whispered to myself.

“There you are!”

I jumped at Yana’s hiss. Lips inside my mouth, I slowly turned to face her. From the

boiling anger in her eyes, I regretted standing so close to the banister. One little push and

someone would have to be picking up broken pieces of me from the ground floor too.

“What’s up?” I prided myself in being a fairly confident person, especially when faced with

someone several inches lacking in height. But from the way Yana’s eyebrows came together,

you’d think I’d caused the devastation the maids seemed to be clearing away.

A loud crash interrupted whatever was supposed to come out of Yana’s mouth. I flinched.

Something definitely broke. Faster than I expected her to move in platform shoes, Yana

grabbed my arm none too gently and yanked me back up the stairs. I went along, still too

shocked by the explosion of sound that came from somewhere on the first floor.

At first I thought she would bring me back to my room. Instead we stopped at the circular

atrium with the glass roof. The setting sun shot rays of orange light down on us. Eli and I had taken longer than I thought getting back. My excuse of running into traffic turned out to be a prediction. A multi-car collision jammed the road a couple of blocks from the building where

the helicopter waited. Only when I’d decided to hoof it did we get moving again. Poor Eli. He

had to carry all those frames. He’d been sweating by the time we were in the elevator headed

for the top floor.

Yana released my arm and began pacing. I reached up and rubbed where her fingers had

dug in, pretty sure I would sport marks come morning. She was shaking. Like literally

vibrating with pent up frustration. And panic?

“We can’t get to him,” she mumbled, waving her hands in the air. “None of us could. Not

Demitri or Dray. Not even me. Hell, he threw Phoenix out. He never throws Phoenix out.”

I tilted my head. “Who?” Okay, stupid question since I had an idea, but I couldn’t be too

sure.

“Who else?” Yana’s eyes widened at me. “Luka! He’s completely destroyed the music

room.”

“Okay, you’ve lost me. Why would he do that?”

“Luka’s in a very fragile state right now. When he’s writing, he’s extra sensitive. Anything

could set him off.” Yana slapped the sides of her thighs. Her continued pacing was making me

dizzy. The orange and black swirls in her dress didn’t help. She looked like a demented

Halloween doll. “I told him having you here was a bad idea. I begged him to forget you and

just continue composing songs for the new album. But did he listen to me? Of course not.”

“Whoa!” I raised both my hands as if she’d aimed a gun at me. She might as well have

from the rapid fire sentences coming out of her. “How’d this become about me? I thought

you were the one who had to sign off for all this to happen.”

“Oh wake up, Dakota!” She finally stopped, clamping her long-nailed hands on her hips.

“Haven’t you figured it out yet? I may manage the band but Luka runs the show. You

wouldn’t be here if he didn’t want you to.”

Her words shouldn’t have taken me aback as much as they did. All the days I’d been

observing Luka, from the recording studio to the video shot, no one seemed to move without

his consent. Everyone, even the director of the video, deferred to him. At first, I did believe Yana ran the show. Now it merely seemed like she acted as a mouthpiece for Luka’s orders.

The reality of it hit me like a cold gust of wind, lifting goose bumps all over my skin.

“When Phoenix asked me if you could head into the city, I didn’t think anything wrong

with it,” Yana continued.

“You mean all that broken furniture down there is because I went into the city?” I pointed

in the direction of the main floor.

The invulnerable Gothic Lolita looked really tired for the first time since we’d met. She

sighed and her shoulders slumped forward. The grip on her hips tightened. Her frown

brought out deep lines at the sides of her mouth. She seemed to have aged a decade in front

of me.

“When he found out you’d left, he locked himself in the music room.” She shook her head.

“At first we thought he would just sulk, maybe write an emotional song. It’s happened before.

But when the crashes started, Demitri had to break down the door. I think the only thing left

intact in the music room is the grand piano.”

“This is ridiculous.” I felt the words as much as said them. This had got to stop. Suddenly,

all my frustration with Luka building since I’d arrived in Lunar Manor burst out of me. “Is he still in the music room?”

“Are you actually thinking of going in there?” Yana’s eyes went from tired to fearful. I may

have seen her well up, but she blinked too fast for me to be sure.

“Oh, we are so settling this right now.” I pointed at the ground. “Luka is acting like a child, and I intend on telling him that.”

I walked away from a shocked Yana and stomped toward the music room on the first floor.

With each step I took closer to Luka, my anger built. I weaved between frantic maids. If I was going to stay two more weeks in his house, we had to get something straight. I was done with

the teasing. And I definitely wouldn’t stand for childish tantrums just because I decided to

spend a few hours in the city.

When I turned into the hallway that led toward the music room, sad piano notes reached

my ears. I recognized the melody as Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. I was never a classical

music fan, but I knew this particular tune because my mother owned a jewelry box that

played it every time the lid was lifted. My mother told me Beethoven composed the

Moonlight Sonata because of his love for a countess he could never marry. That because he

was deaf, he never saw himself as a fit husband for anyone. So, instead, he put all his feelings into his music. And since they couldn’t be together, the countess entered a convent. I

remembered feeling so sad after hearing that story, but I never tired of having my mom tell it over and over again.

The melancholy notes often played me to sleep at night as a young girl. Now, the notes

came from a rock star that everybody seemed to be afraid of in one form or another. I slowed

my approach, letting a couple more maids pass by me, carrying the remains of a decorative

plate from what I could make out of the shards in their hands.

Shaking my head, I approached the music room and stopped at the broken door. It barely

held on to its hinges; a clear footprint where the lock used to be. I pursed my lips. Demitri

must be one strong dude to kick down a door so thick. His muscles weren’t just for show.

Swallowing down some of my anger, I peeked into the room. Yana hadn’t been kidding

about the mess Luka’s tantrum had created. Only the couch and large pieces of furniture

remained. Broken glass on the floor made me weary of stepping in. The steel-toed boots I

chose to wear today would protect my feet, but it didn’t mean I wouldn’t slip and fall if I

wasn’t careful.

Luka sat behind the piano, eyes closed. I imagined his fingers flying along the white and

black keys, enticing out one of Beethoven’s saddest melodies. His usually lush lips were

drawn into a tight line. A knot had formed where his eyebrows pushed hard against each

other. His hair fell into a mess of blond curls, a few strands tumbling down his wrinkled

forehead. He seemed paler for some reason, and slightly thinner. He’d been eating at dinner

so why he was losing weight baffled me. Could it be he only ate at that particular meal a day?

I knew the euphoria that came with creating something. I often forgot to eat when I was