Nocturne(99)

Nathan took it from my hands and flipped through to the article, turning the page once more before handing it back to me, his finger on a section of the story I hadn’t read. Watching his eyes, which seemed to darken slightly, I took the worn periodical from his hand and looked to the section he’d pointed out.

An anonymous source reports to Opera News that Carulli’s daughter, Savannah Marshall, was admitted to the New England Conservatory after Vita Carulli gave a substantial gift to the school’s endowment. According to school records Marshall did not complete her studies at the conservatory. Marshall currently plays for the Bolshoi Ballet.

My cheeks were a thousand degrees as my nerves buzzed with rage. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?” I yelled.

He seemed startled. “Jesus, Savannah, I thought you read the whole thing. I know things with your mom have been shitty, and I figured this was why.”

“It is why … I … shit, I’m sorry,” I said, my eyes filling with tears. “I have to … just … I have to go.” Clutching the magazine in my fist, I headed out of the room and back to the elevators.

“Where are you going?”

“I just need a minute, Nathan. To call her.” The lie came more easily than I was comfortable with, but it came all the same.

“Sorry, I thought that was the reason you were so …” Nathan trailed off and ran a hand through his hair.

“What,” I snapped. “Focused? You thought I was out there every night trying to prove myself? Wait … do you believe that’s why I got in?”

“Jesus, no. You’re better than I am. You know that. I’d never think anything like that about you, Savannah, you know that.”

Just then the elevator doors opened and I rushed inside.

“We’ll talk later,” I mumbled as the doors closed. I didn’t want to fight with Nathan. I knew he didn’t believe those things that were written. What I didn’t know, however, was who might.

But I did know who I could start with.

I gripped the magazine tighter as I knocked on the door to room 744, causing the glossy pages to squeak against my fingers. Gregory opened with a sexy grin on his face, which quickly disappeared.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, stepping back to grant me entrance.

I smacked the magazine against his chest. “This.”

The door closed slowly as Gregory stared between me and Opera News.

“Page ten.” I paced back and forth across the window, resisting the urge to throw something.

A few seconds in, Gregory looked up. “Your parents are divorced?” he whispered. I hadn’t told him.

I nodded. “That’s not why I’m here. Read on.”

Within the span of sixty seconds, his jaw dropped and his eyes shot to me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I shouted as I snatched the magazine out of his hand.

“What are you talking about?”

“That you were all apparently bribed to let me into the conservatory.”

Gregory’s nostrils flared as he took a rough breath. “First of all, Savannah, I’ve never been bribed in my life. I’d never participate in such a thing. And if that’s what you came in here to accuse me of, then you can leave and come back when you have your head on.”

“Explain it, then. Explain who would say something like that.”

“Have you talked to your mother? Seems she should be the one you smack with that magazine.”

“So she did it, then?” My head was spinning as I thought of that day. The day I received my acceptance letter. Everything I’d spent my life working toward was wrapped up in one word: Congratulations. Now, it was about to be destroyed by one word: Donation.

“I have no way of knowing who gave what money to where. Nor do I care.”

“I care,” I snapped as I walked toward him, meeting him toe-to-toe as my vision blurred with tears. “I care, Gregory. I care that everything I worked for means shit if this is true. You were at my audition. Just tell me. Did you even score me or was it already determined that I was a shoo-in because of this? Is that why you were such a dick to me when I had you in class? Because I was the spoiled brat whose mother bought her way into the conservatory?” I was speaking so fast I had to stop and catch my breath, just as Gregory caught my shoulders.

“Listen.” He leaned down slightly so we were eye-to-eye. “I wasn’t a dick to you, Savannah. And, if I was, it was unconscious because I was trying to avoid dealing with my feelings for you. I’m sorry for that. I’ve been sorry for that. That aside, you’re not a spoiled brat and you were not a shoo-in. Any time I’ve heard rumors of things like that happening have been after we’ve already declined someone’s admission. You were in before you walked off the stage, but not because of some bribe.”

“What?” I wiped under my eyes but didn’t try to pull away. His grip on my shoulders calmed me.

His voice softened significantly. “Until that point it had been years since I’d heard a high school student of any instrument play with such skill. You were in before the last note from your flute silenced in the auditorium that day. I didn’t care what the others had to say. And, I had no idea who your mother was. I didn’t know if you had the money to come, but I was prepared to do anything to make sure that you got into that school. Because of your talent, Savannah. Because you deserved it. Because you earned it.”