Page 17 of Diamonds (Aces Underground #2)

ALISSA

“H oly shit,” Maddox whispers under his breath. “May’s results are in.”

My heart starts thrumming. “You mean… Have they figured out who she is? Can they tie her to Rouge?”

“No idea.” Maddox pockets his phone. “But he’s asking us to come over right now. Do you want to come with me?”

I narrow my eyes. “You do realize this is the second of our dates that will end with a trip to the coroner, right?”

He exhales sharply through his nose. “What can I say? I like to keep you on your toes.”

I squeeze his hand. “You like to make them curl, too.”

Now is not the time to be flirting, but what the hell? I can be frightened for my life and horny for Maddox at the same time.

“Seriously, though.” Maddox looks into my eyes. “You don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to. I can drop you off at home first.”

“Where you go, I go.” I wrap my arm around his bicep. “Besides, we’re already downtown. It would be nonsense to have you drive uptown and back when we’re already here.”

“Fair enough.” Maddox opens the front door for me.

I’m about to walk out when I hear a voice calling out from behind me.

“Alissa? Alissa Maravilla?”

I turn my head. A sandy-haired man in a black tuxedo with a yellow rose boutonniere on his lapel is waving at me.

He looks vaguely familiar, but I can’t quite place his face.

“Um…hi!” I give him a half wave.

He extends his arm. “Maestro Will Patterson. I’m an associate conductor for the CSO. You auditioned for us a few years ago, didn’t you? Flute?”

I widen my eyes as I shake his hand. “You remember me?”

He smiles. “It’s my job to remember. And you left quite an impression on our panel. You played beautifully.”

I paste a smile on my face, trying to think of how to respond to his words.

If I left such a good impression, why didn’t they hire me?

My music teachers prepared me for rejection. You never know what’s going on in the minds of the audition panels, they said. You can give a perfect audition and still not get the job.

Blah, blah, blah. I knew I wouldn’t get every gig I auditioned for. The numbers are against any musician. There’s a huge supply and a much smaller demand.

“I’m glad I left a good impression,” I finally eke out.

Will nods. “Indeed you did. Do you still play?”

I bite my lip. “I take a gig now and then. But I switched careers a few years back. I now work as a nurse at St. Charles General. Full time.”

Will frowns. “That’s a shame. I mean, it’s great that you’re a nurse. I’m sure you’re doing great work with your patients. It’s an important job. But you’re a magnificent flautist.”

My cheeks warm. “Thank you. I truly appreciate that.”

“It’s so funny that I ran into you.” Will pulls out a business card, pushes it into my hand.

“Our first-chair flautist just announced that she’s planning to retire at the end of the season.

It took us by surprise. She’s not exactly young, but we were banking on a few more years of her and don’t have anyone in place.

We’re scrambling a bit, and we’d love it if you auditioned again. But if you’re no longer playing…”

I swallow. “I didn’t say that. I just said I have a full-time job.”

Will flashes me a smile. “This would be a full-time position. Benefits and everything included.”

I look at Will’s business card. It has his office number and email address on it.

“Would I just have to call you, set up a time?”

Will nods. “Or you can email. We’re not hearing that many people. Like I said, we’re scrambling. If you can get an hour or so off from the hospital, we’d love to hear you.”

I look down at the business card, back at Will, and then down to the card again.

Do I want to try this?

I left this part of my life behind. Spurned it for a more stable career.

I stifle a laugh. Most nurses would say their job is anything but stable.

But compared to being a musician? I’m on solid ground.

But…I felt something tonight. There is such joy in creating music. Even music that is as dark as the Shostakovich symphony we listened to this evening.

To fill the space of silence with beauty… With emotion…

There’s nothing quite like it.

But music also broke my heart. Multiple times over.

And me leaving the UK to pursue two degrees in music is the reason my mother…

No. I won’t let her ruin this magnificent evening.

I stare blankly at Will, unsure of what to say.

Perhaps he’s playing a trick on me. He and the other associate conductors are about to go behind closed doors and laugh at meek little Alissa Maravilla. The failed flautist who actually believed she had a shot at a position with the CSO.

By this point, Maddox has walked up behind me. His strong arms are on my shoulders.

“When are auditions?” Maddox asks.

Will crinkles his forehead at Maddox. “I’m sorry. We haven’t been introduced.”

I blink. “So sorry. Will, this is my boyfriend, Maddox Hathaway.”

Will’s eyebrows jump. “Maddox Hathaway. The Maddox Hathaway?”

Maddox rolls his eyes. “The one and only. When are the auditions?”

Will clasps his hands. “Next week. By appointment.”

Maddox nods. “She’ll call you.”

Will grins. “Great! We’re looking forward to hearing you, Alissa. Prepare any piece you like. Whatever shows your skills off the best.”

I look up at Maddox, narrowing my eyes. Then I look back at Will.

“Of… Of course.”

“Wonderful.” Will shakes my hand again. “It was great to reconnect. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to schmooze a few donors. I’ll see you next week.”

I force a small smile. “I guess you will.”

With that, Will disappears into the crowd.

Maddox hugs me from behind. “Look at you! Can you believe my girlfriend is getting recognized by the orchestra higher-ups?”

I turn to him, my eyebrows furrowed. “Why did you speak for me?”

He sears his gaze into mine. “Because this is what you want, Alissa.” He gestures toward the concert hall. “You belong on that stage. You should be making music.”

“You haven’t even heard me play.”

“I don’t have to. I could tell just watching you listen to the symphony. You were living and breathing it in. This stuff is what you were put on earth to do.”

“I’m a perfectly good nurse.”

“And I would have been a perfectly good city councilman.” He shrugs. “Doesn’t mean it’s my calling. My calling is the shop. And your calling is music. I just know it.”

I look down, kicking softly at the floor. “I haven’t gotten the gig yet.”

“I know, baby. And even if you don’t, you’ll still have a stable job at the hospital. But tonight you were in the right place at the right time. That conductor guy recognized you, remembered your audition. That has to mean something, right? Feels kind of like fate to me.”

I scoff at that. Fate is meaningless.

If there were a just hand guiding all of humanity along a predestined path, we wouldn’t be going to a bloody mortuary right now to learn about what happened to May.

Everything is random. By chance.

I wouldn’t be here tonight if it weren’t for…

If it weren’t for Maddox.

Sweet, sweet Maddox.

The man whose shop I walked into one week ago, completely on a whim.

Because I wanted to do something different.

Wanted to leave my sterile, prepackaged world. The world my mother wanted me to live in.

The last seven days have been some of the best—and worst—of my life.

All because I took a chance.

I had no idea what I was signing up for when I walked into Maddox’s shop. When I descended the mirrored staircase into the technicolor world of Aces Underground.

But because of that, I now have a shot at performing with a world-class orchestra.

It probably won’t amount to anything, but I have a shot.

And if I, a silly little girl from Brixton, raised by an abusive mother and an absentee father, have a shot at this position? If I have a shot with Maddox Hathaway, the most beautiful man—inside and out—that I’ve ever met?

I might just have a shot at achieving justice for May, too.