Chapter Thirty-One

GABRIELLA The floor is cold against my palms and I stay there for a moment, just breathing, letting the shock of the fall settle before I try to take stock of the damage. My right leg is throbbing. My toes feel like they are about to fall off. The music is still playing in the studio, the same song I’ve been playing over and over for the past hour while torturing myself with the spin I’m trying to perfect. I reach up to kill the music on my phone but my arm is shaking too much to do it smoothly.But I barely register all of this, not when the studio doors slam open and Leon marches across the room in a few strides. He crouches down before me and silences the music from my phone on the floor across from me. I look up at him and the words come out before I can even think about it.“Get out.”He ignores me.“The studio is off limits for you,” I continue, my voice carrying less authority than I’d like, mostly because I’m still on the floor trying to remember how to breathe. “This is my s

Chapter Thirty-Two

LEONI wake up with an unfamiliar feeling in my chest. It’s a strange lightness, and I refuse to admit that it’s a pleasant feeling. I force myself through my routine, splashing cold water on my face and aggressively shutting down any lingering thoughts of last night. The way she cried. The way she pressed her lips to my cheek. The truce. Things are obviously going to be different between us now, and I have no idea how I’m supposed to navigate it.I head down to the car to wait for her, drumming my fingers against the steering wheel. When she finally steps out of the building, my breath catches. I expect her to pull open the back door like she’s done every single day for the past two months. Instead, the passenger door clicks open and she slides into the front seat right beside me.Her fragrance, something sweet and floral, instantly floods the tight space of the car, wrapping around my senses. She buckles her seatbelt, her bright pastel sweater practically glowing against the dark le

Chapter Thirty-Three

LEONHer words are a whisper, but they hit me like a physical blow. Anger immediately flares in my chest that she would even think that about herself. My jaw clenches, but I force myself to remain quiet. She tells me everything. The difficulty she’s been facing in school, the weight of the upcoming New Dance ceremony, the pressure to prove herself to her professors and everyone who thinks she secured her slot in her class because of her father’s money.The more she speaks, the more I realize I was totally wrong about her.Gabriella is not spoilt. She doesn’t expect to get anything she wants easily just because she was raised in wealth. She’s someone who clearly values hard work and integrity.I’ve been judging her harshly, the same way everyone else in her live has. It makes me feel like shit. When she finally stops venting, her breathing is slightly ragged."You’re not a failure, Gabriella," I say firmly, making sure she hears the certainty in my tone. "Far from it."She scoffs qui

Chapter Thirty-Four

GABRIELLAThe ticking of the digital clock on my nightstand reads 2:14 AM. I roll onto my back, staring up at the dark ceiling as my eyes refuse to drift close to sleep and my mind refuses to turn off.My thoughts drift to my friends. Or my current lack of friends.I miss Lisa and Nicole. It stings to admit it, even to myself, but the silence in my life outside of dance class is deafening. We haven't spoken since our last argument, and despite how passive-aggressive they’ve been acting, I hate this isolation. I miss having friends to text about stupid things. I miss feeling like a normal twenty-year-old girl.My thoughts linger in that direction for a few minutes, before they drift, as they inevitably do these days, to Leon.Before I can stop it, a ridiculous, silly smile splits across my face in the dark. I quickly press my palm over my mouth, feeling foolish, but the warmth in my chest lingers. Things are different between us now. Ever since the night he massaged my bruised feet an

Chapter Thirty-Five

LEONThe car ride to school the next morning is suffocating, but it is not because of the bitter coldness that usually sits between us. The air in the confined space of the SUV is thick, heavy, and humming with electricity. Every time Leon reaches down to shift gears, my eyes track the movement of his hands, my mind instantly flashing back to the kitchen.I can’t stop thinking about the hard, tattooed lines of his bare chest. The image is engraved in my mind. I can still feel the radiating heat of his skin, the roughness of his calloused hands gripping my waist as he lifted me onto the marble counter. I remember the sharp hitch in my breath when our mouths were inches apart.We almost kissed.The realization settles in my stomach and knots my insides with a frustrated, desperate ache.I wish we had.The moment he pulls up to the campus curb, my heart is hammering so aggressively against my ribs that I practically jump out of the passenger seat just to escape from that suffocating sile

Chapter Thirty-Six

LEON“I think this search is fruitless. We have found absolutely nothing.”Kai tosses a thin manila folder onto his desk, his frustrated expression illuminated by the light from the large computer screens before him.“I know I might be a pro at technology and all, but it’s hard to find someone if you don’t have a name or a face. It’s like chasing a ghost, which, technically, that’s exactly what this is because the woman is dead.” He sighs, rubbing his eyes and spinning his revolving chair to face me. “This is a complete waste of time.”I lean forward, resting my forearms on the desk, my eyes moving from the useless printouts to the images of the dozens of dead ballerinas we’ve scanned over the past few hours. If Ivy were here, we wouldn’t have even spent that much time on this in the first place. She’s out on one of her solo runs today, leaving just Kai, Dante, and me to sift through the dead ends.Dante pushes off the brick wall, crossing his arms over his chest, his expression as br