Chapter 3

For the first time in months, Vivian went home.

The apartment was dark and empty. There was no sign of Ethan anywhere in it.

Frowning, she took out her phone and called him.

To Ethan's astonishment, someone picked up.

The other end was silent.

Vivian didn't find that strange. He'd lost his voice six years ago; the few calls they had ever shared were her talking and him listening.

"Ethan, where are you?" Her voice was flat and cold. "Don't tell me you're hiding because Noah's back."

Silence.

Vivian sighed and pressed her fingers to her brow, forcing some patience into her voice.

"I know you've always believed Noah took your chance to study at Curtis. But Curtis admitted him. Your mother had one tuition and two sons, and there's nothing unreasonable about the choice she made.

"None of it was Noah's fault, either. He's wanted to make peace with you for years, so--"

She stopped, and when she spoke again her voice had dropped.

"Ethan, I've never asked you for anything. I'm asking for this. Come to your brother's concert. If you're there tomorrow, we can talk about... having a child."

Ethan's spirit shuddered.

She'd been distant for six years, but she had almost never refused him anything.

He wanted to be married by the water, so she found an estate on Lake Michigan and handled every detail herself. His mother didn't want them living far away, so she turned down a lucrative offer across the country and stayed in Chicago with him.

On one subject alone she never gave an inch.

Ethan had wanted a child for years. Vivian always cited her work and said no.

He'd assumed she just didn't want children.

Now, for one wish of Noah's, she was willing to carry his.

All those years of trying, all that careful hope--it felt like a joke someone had been telling at his expense.

But Vivian.

Do you understand?

There's no child now. There can't be.

Whatever she offered, whatever she promised, Ethan was never going to walk through that door.

The next night, the New York Symphony gave its final Chicago performance, a program called Confession in the Dark.

Noah waited in the wings, and the light in his eyes went out by degrees.

Only when the stage manager called him did he smile, thin and rueful. "I suppose he really can't forgive me."

Tessa had had enough. "Forget him. Honestly, who cares whether he-- Noah, are you crying?"

Vivian's head came up. A tear was sliding down Noah's face.

She caught it on her fingertip without thinking. It burned.

Noah was still trying to smile. "It's fine. Maybe he just needs more time. I should get out there."

He rose to go, and she caught his wrist.

He blinked, startled, and found her looking straight at him.

"Just play," she said, and her voice was unbelievably gentle. "Before the last piece is over, I promise you I'll have Ethan here."

Vivian strode toward the parking garage, calling Ethan as she went.

The moment the line connected, her voice went glacial.

"Ethan, where are you? Why aren't you at Symphony Hall?"

Silence again on the other end.

The cold in her voice deepened.

"Two days ago you left Noah standing at the airport for three hours. Today you don't show up at all?

"Ethan, do you honestly think the whole world owes you because you lost one chance to study abroad and then lost your voice?"

Ethan's spirit stared at the woman in front of him.

In all the years he'd known her, she had never once spoken to him like that.

She'd been distant, but she'd given him whatever he asked for, gently and with respect. So he'd told himself the truth was simple: she didn't love him.

Only now did it occur to him.

Maybe she hated him.

Hated him for stepping in front of that scalpel. Hated him for taking a wife on the strength of a debt. Hated him for costing her the right to go after his brother.

The tears he'd been holding back finally came, and he bowed his head and let them fall.

But Vivian.

I never wanted to make you marry me.

If I'd known your heart was already somewhere else, I'd never have said yes.

There was no if. Not anymore.

Ethan couldn't defend himself now. All he could do was listen to her say it, one word at a time.

"Ethan, this is your last chance. If you're not dead, get to Symphony Hall. Now."

She hung up.

A second later the car door was wrenched open, and Tessa's face appeared, white with panic.

"Vivian--Noah's been kidnapped!"