Chapter 1 6

**A Rare Connection**

I had trouble falling asleep. Like a thick storm cloud, the weight of everything my history, my future, and Jack pressed down on me. Rest eluded me as I tossed and turned. I sighed in frustration as I got out of bed, pulled my silk robe around me, and padded barefoot through the estate's dark hallways.

That's when I heard it.

An odd yet tragically lovely music floated across the long hallways. It was like a whisper on the wind, faint, almost spectral. The chords swirled about me, arousing something deep inside my chest that I couldn't quite put my finger on, something both familiar and far away.

I followed the music down the huge staircase, moving toward the sound with my fingers tracing the elaborate railing. I became increasingly aware of the piece's rawness and soulfulness as I drew nearer. It was more than simply music; it was longing transformed into something concrete and emotion given shape.

Then I caught sight of him.

Jack was seated with his back to me at the music room's grand piano. His muscular shoulders were shadowed by the silvery moonlight that poured through the large windows. Lost in a universe I wasn't sure I was permitted to enter, his fingers moved fluidly over the keys while his expression was unreadable.

I was scared to break the spell, so I paused at the threshold. Jack was constantly on guard, his feelings confined within indestructible walls. But he was exposed right here, right now. At risk.

I moved forward cautiously.

I whispered, "You play beautifully."

For a heartbeat, there was quiet between us as his fingers froze on the keys. Then he stood suddenly, his chair scraping the smooth floor as though I had broken something delicate. All signs of weakness vanished in a moment as his face hardened.

"You're not supposed to be here." His tone was aloof and icy.

I scowled. "What makes you do that?"

"What do you do?"

"Keep me out."

His mouth tightened. "Because it's more effective that way."

"Who is it better for?" I took a step closer and challenged.

Jack let out a loud breath and combed through his hair, clearly frustrated. "Amelia, go back to bed."

"No." I proudly raised my chin. "I'm curious as to why you conceal yourself in this manner."

A maelstrom that could not be read swirled inside his blue eyes as they met mine. I briefly believed he might tell me. Maybe he'll let me in. However, his face froze again, and he turned his back.

His voice was hardly audible above a whisper when he said, "You don't want to know."

"Yes, I do."

I briefly believed he was going to go as his fists clinched at his sides. But then he replied, "Because if you knew the truth, you'd run," in a voice so low I nearly missed it.

A shiver went through my body. "Give me a try."

Jack chuckled bitterly. "Amelia, do you believe you're prepared for my demons? You’re not.”

My heart was racing as I swallowed hard. "Let me make that decision."

For a long moment, he looked at me as though he was weighing my worth as a risk. Then, with a sigh, he turned back to the piano, his fingers caressing the notes absently.

Finally, he remarked, "My mother used to play." "She owned that song."

There was a faint break in his voice that I could hear. I sensed it.

“What happened to her?” Gently, I inquired.

His entire body went rigid as his hands froze. There was something weighty and unsaid in the air between us, and it deepened.

"She's dead," he declared bluntly. “And I killed her.”

My lungs were robbed of their breath when the words struck like a thunderclap.

I looked at him, waiting for him to retract his statement that it wasn't what I had assumed. However, he didn't. He waited for me to respond while standing there with a disturbed expression on his face.

My mind cried out for me to flee. to depart before I get too involved. However, something inside of me whispered that this was the turning point in my life.

Because Jack was more than simply a threat. He was shattered.

Furthermore, I wasn't sure I could resist the need to try and reassemble him.

As dense as the night air outside, a stillness descended between us. I wanted to push harder, but something about his tight posture, waiting for my response, made me resist.

"How?" When I did inquire, it was hardly more than a whisper.

Jack let out a sigh and lowered his shoulders. He looked aside, his eyes fixed on the piano as though its black-and-white keys held the solution. It was not intended to occur. I was only a child. But she didn't make it because of me.

I felt a chill when he said. "Tell me," I said.

As though erasing a memory that would not go away, he wiped a hand down his face. "It happened by mistake. A fire. Outside, I was playing. She was in there. When I finally recognized and attempted to remove her... His voice broke. "It was too late."

I got a lump in my throat. "Jack—"

With ember-like eyes, he turned on me and yelled, "Amelia, I don't need your sympathy." "You don't have to try to fix me."

"This isn't what that is."

"So what is it?"

I took a step toward him and tentatively touched his arm. "I'm not running,"

He looked for anything in my face, perhaps dread or incredulity. His breath caught when he discovered neither. Jack appeared disoriented for the very first time.

Then a smash reverberated through the halls from somewhere deep within the estate, followed by the distinct sound of glass breaking.

Jack tensed, his whole attitude changing in a moment. He said, "Stay here," and walked over to the doorway.

"Jack—"

“Don’t move, Amelia.” There was no room for debate in his acerbic tone.

Then he vanished, vanishing into the shadows beyond the music room, leaving me alone with his confession's ghost and the unnerving knowledge that whatever had just transpired...

It wasn't finished.

I stood motionless, staring at the empty doorway while my heart thumped in my ears. All of my instincts told me to follow him, but a deeper voice warned me not to. Stay put, Jack had said.

However, I was unable to.

I took a trembling breath and moved ahead. The aftermath of the disaster hung in the air like an incomplete sentence, and the halls were suddenly strangely quiet. I turned the corner and followed the sound, my heart thumping 

He arrived directly in front of a dark figure standing at the shattered glass.