Small Hands Novel Chapter 05

Small Hands Novel Chapter 05

The aftermath was a wildfire.

Every entertainment outlet led with it. GHOSTWRITER WIFE REVEALED AS BILLIONAIRE MUSIC MOGUL GRAMMY WINNER’S CAREER EXPOSED

AS STOLEN. THE MOST DEVASTATING REVEAL IN MUSIC HISTORY.

The raw “Small Hands” recording hit fifty million plays by midnight. The internet split between people weeping and people raging. Fan accounts

appeared overnight. The memes were merciless.

I watched none of it.

Jax was arrested at the venue. Sienna in an Uber three blocks away, racing toward LAX. Both charged with intellectual property theft, fraud, and

conspiracy.

“He’s asking to see you.” Frank showed me Jax in a holding cell on the tablet. “Says he won’t cooperate unless you come.”

“No.”

“He claims he has information about Kyros Entertainment-the overseas buyers.”

I looked at the screen. Jax hunched at a metal table, all the golden confidence dissolved. A man who’d built his castle on someone else’s

foundation, watching it collapse.

“Let the FBI handle it.”

My phone buzzed. Rhys.

You owe me dinner. Tonight. 9 PM. My place. I’m cooking.

Frank noticed my expression. “The Calder boy?”

“He’s thirty-nine.”

“He’s complicated.”

“I know.” I typed: I’ll be there.

Rhys’s house was glass and stone cantilevered over the Hollywood Hills. He opened the door himself-barefoot, white shirt, sleeves rolled. The

kitchen smelled incredible.

He’d cooked-actually cooked. Scottish salmon, roasted vegetables, something with whisky and honey. We ate at the kitchen island. Intimate

Deliberate.

“Tell me something real,” he said. “Something you’ve never said out loud.”

“I’m not angry at Jax. Not anymore.” I set down my fork. “I’m angry at myself. For shrinking. For hiding Vesper, hiding my voice, hiding everything I

was-because I thought that’s what love required.”

“Disappearing.”

Yes I made myself less so he could feel like more. And it still wasn’t enough.

“Because small men consume sacrifice without tasting it.” His jaw tightened. “My mother was like you. Extraordinary pianist. Could have played anywhere in the world. Spent twenty years making my father feel like the talented one.” He stopped. “She deserved so much more.

“I’m sorry.”

“She rebuilt. Eventually.” He paused. “She would have loved you.”

Something warm moved through my chest.

“Rhys. I should be honest. I’m not ready for whatever this is.

“I’m not asking you to be.” His hand covered mine. “I’m asking you to know that when you are-I’ll be here.”

“Why?”

“Because you made Unbroken and wanted nothing in return. Because you stood on that stage today and chose truth over safety. His thumb traced my knuckles. “Because you are the most extraordinary person I’ve ever met.”

My throat ached.

He walked me to my car at midnight and kissed my cheek. Just my cheek.

“Goodnight, V.

“Goodnight, Rhys.”

I drove home with the windows down, the night warm and electric on my face, feeling like myself for the first time in eight years.

Then my regular phone buzzed.

Sienna. Out on bail-old Bel Air family money.

You think you’ve won? Jax told me everything. About Vesper. About V. And I have recordings you don’t want the world to hear. Things that would

end you. Call me. -S

The warmth in my chest turned to ice.

What recordings? What could she possibly have?