Page 98 of Stolen Voices

She shakes her head, refusing to look me in the eye and speak the truth.

“Tell me, please.”

“Because of you.”

“Me?” I rear back in shock and my stomach roils with bile at the thought of Callie getting hurt because of me. “What the hell did I do?”

“It’s not what you did. It’s what I did.”

“What did you do?”

“I spent time with you. Silla wants you, but mostly, she doesn’t want anyone in my life to interfere with her plans. She warned me that there would be consequences if I was with you. When she slapped me, it was because she accused me of being a whore like my mother and sleeping with you. That’s why I went to the club. I was ready to throw my good-girl persona down the drain to punish her. If she knew I was here with you—”

“She doesn’t. And she doesn’t get a say in who I spend time with,” I snap as white-hot rage runs through me.

Callie places her hand on my chest, taking the edge off some of my anger with her touch. “No, she doesn’t, but she thinks she has a say in who I spend my time with.”

Not anymore. I’m going to fucking bury Silla, even if it’s the last thing I do. Callie might not know it, but getting rid of her manager is a vow I plan to keep.

“I need you to relax.”

“I’m relaxed,” I grumble.

“Eli, before you and Hudson, Silla would turn everyone against me. She loves to use people and makes it seem like it’s me. She watches my every move, and if she’s not, someone else is.”

I hate the way Callie shivers in fear, like she can feel the creeps out there watching her as we speak, which has me worried and about ten seconds away from calling Mason to look into Silla.

Wrapping my arms around Callie’s waist, I roll onto my back and rest her head on my chest. “This isn’t right, Callie. Let me help you get rid of her.”

“It’s fine. I just have to make it to my twenty-fifth birthday, and that’s only four months away.”

“What happens when you’re twenty-five?”

“It all ends: my contract with you, all my work obligations, the conservatorship with Silla. I also get access to my trust fund, and Silla will have no control over me or my mom. I’ll be free.”

How the fuck did I not know her contract with Blaze ends in four months? I need to check with Dez. And Hudson. Does he know?

My brain is a bomb ready to go off with all the new information I’ve just learned.

Callie yawns as she buries her face into my chest.

“Can I ask you one last question?”

“Sure.”

“Do you like singing?”

“Yes, I enjoy singing. I love music.” She hesitates, and I know she’s holding back. But she’s a puzzle I want to solve.

“But?”

“I don’t love performing, and I don’t want to do concerts. In the spotlight is the last place I want to be. I’d much rather be behind the scenes, producing music and writing songs. Maybe singing a little but nothing big. I’d like to sit in a small hall with my guitar or piano and just sing. This celebrity lifestyle? I do it for Silla. To survive. I want to be Calliope Cartwright. I want what my parents had: love, happiness, a beautiful home, a family.”

Her words hit me like an arrow in the heart, piercing the tender flesh with hope. And affection that borders on something that feels a lot like love. Callie’s description of the life she wants matches the future I envision for myself.

We lie silently side by side until she drifts off. Sleep eludes me as I replay our conversation. The beautiful woman lying beside me, the one I’m falling fast and hard for, has sacrificed so much of herself to protect her mom. Callie deserves the life she wants. Hell, she deserves the entire world.

Determination to make Callie’s dreams come true has me slipping out from under her. I would do anything to make her happy, and unfortunately, that means I need to put a pin in us and head back to California to get some answers and stop whomever keeps trying to hurt her.