Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 52440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
But do I regret pushing her out of the shadows? Hell, even her song says she stood in my shadow, feeling small. How can I regret giving her a chance to find out for herself exactly what she was capable of? She was meant for greatness. And now, she's found it. The whole goddamn world knows her name. I wish like hell that I'd been along for the ride. That was always my dream—to be there to support hers. To be her rock while she touched the stars.
"Parts of it," I admit. "I regret like hell that she hates me. I'll never forgive myself for what happened. But I don't regret that she ended up where she is. She belongs on that stage. I don't think she ever would have taken that chance had our lives played out the way she envisioned. She would have gone to college, settled into a career like teaching music, and never gone after what she wanted. She would have continued to put me and my future first—the same way she always did. She deserved more than that."
"You still love her, don't you?"
"Never fucking stopped," I rasp, my throat raw. "Not for a single goddamn second."
Emelia nods thoughtfully. "She's your new girlfriend," she says after a minute. "You two are going to pretend to be in a relationship to save your image. And trust me, Teo, it desperately needs saving right now. Because as soon as I leave here, I have to go explain to your bosses what happened last night—and they're already looking for a reason to get rid of you."
"She's never going to go for that."
"I'll convince her myself if that's what it takes," Emelia says. "But she's your new girlfriend, Teo."
"It's not her job to save my image, Emelia. I fucked that up all on my own. If I crash and burn because of it, that's on me."
She rolls her eyes at me. "This isn't really about your image. It's about giving the two of you a chance to reconnect. You need that more than your image needs Jesus."
"I'm not going to risk fucking up her image to save mine."
"Obviously not." She hits me with a look sharper than a dagger. "That's precisely why you need her. You may not care about your image, but you do care about hers. You wouldn't dare do anything stupid enough to mess up her image or get her into trouble. I know you well enough to know that. You two can reconnect while I work on digging you out of this hole. And you'll be safely out of trouble while I do it. Two birds, one sorta-fake relationship."
"That is not how that saying goes."
"It is now."
"I'm not going to lie to her."
"Then don't. Tell her that you intend to make her fall in love with you again." She waves a dismissive hand at me as if telling me she doesn't give a shit what I do so long as I do it. "Just don't fudge it up, Teo. Otherwise, I'm going to kill you." She bats her lashes at me. "And I have the key to your house now. I can torture you while you're asleep anytime I want."
"Give me my key back, Emelia."
"Nope." She pats her pocket, smirking. "If you didn't want me to steal it, you should have hidden it better. And you shouldn't have made me worry you were dead."
"Jesus H. Christ." I stand up, yanking the wet sheets off my bed. "It's too goddamn early for this. I'm going back to sleep."
"Oh, like hell you are," she growls. "You're going to go to practice, and then you're going to find Nadia and beg her on your knees to help you. And if she says no because you didn't beg well enough, so help me God, Teo, I will drag you back there by your ear to do it again."
I eye her sideways. "Has anyone ever told you that you're terrifying?"
"Yep." She beams at me. "All the time, buddy. All the freaking time."
I nod, not really surprised. It's honestly impressive how she fits so much attitude into such a little package. Then again, Nadia is the same way.
Fucking hell. Nadia.
If she isn't already mad as hell at me, she's going to be furious when she finds out about those photos. Emelia may think she'll be easy to convince, but my publicist doesn't know her like I do. Once Nadia makes her mind up, nothing changes it.
I've got six years of radio silence to prove it.
Chapter Five
Nadia
"Morning, sweetheart," Mom says, far too early the next morning. "Are you and Zoya on the way to the studio?"
"Not yet." I groan, stretching my arms over my head. "We're getting a late start. Someone decided we needed to drink vodka after the show last night."
My mom laughs quietly. "She gets that from your father."