Page 20 of Symphony for Lies (Tangled Truths #2)

“I think I have everything there is to know about music,” Zane stated. He pulled out two books, handing them to me. “These are about hidden messages in music.”

My gaze wandered over the other titles on the shelf, and a deep lilac book with golden lettering caught my eye. Wind Chimes and Their Sounds.

Almost instinctively, my hand reached for it.

“Wind chimes?” Zane inquired, seeming to recall something. “The tones did sound kind of like wind chimes.” His gaze sharpened on me. “I take it you’re not going to let me in on your little secret, are you?”

Something twisted inside my chest. I wanted to tell him, to share the weight of everything with someone else, but could I?

Wouldn’t I just be dragging him into the twisted game, too?

Instead of answering, I just dropped my gaze.

“Come here.” His warm fingers gently wrapped around my wrist to pull me across the room.

The air between us felt charged.

We sat down on the piano bench, so close that our clothes brushed together.

Zane took the books from my hands, set them aside, and lifted the lid, exposing the sleek black-and-white keys.His fingertips grazed across them, teasing the notes before pressing down on a soft, melodic chord.

“I can show you a few things before you bury yourself in those books.”

“I didn’t know you played the piano,” I admitted, not hiding the doubt in my voice.

“I’m not the best.” He shrugged. “My talent lies with the violin.”

I blinked, caught off guard. Hearing him admit he wasn’t perfect at something felt unexpected.

“Why are you even helping me?” Before he could answer, I shook my head. “No. Don’t answer that.”

A slow smile tugged at his lips, but his fingers stilled against the keys for just a second.

It was subtle, but I noticed it. Like he had caught himself getting too lost in the moment.

He cleared his throat, and a smirk slid into place like nothing had happened at all.

“Thank you for helping me,” I said genuinely. “I really appreciate it.”

Zane’s eyes softened. He pressed a bright note, letting it linger before shifting into an explanation.

He told me everything he knew about secret messages in music. I had already heard of some of it before, but other things were new. For example, the sequence of notes could be a deliberate misdirection. Or, specific meanings could be the opposite of what they appear to be.

“Each note can stand for something. A direction, an emotion, even a letter, depending on how it’s used. It’s like the sender has their own musical code, and we’re trying to crack the pattern.”

His finger moved lightly over the keys, effortless and teasing.“Let’s see if you can decode this one.”He played a simple pattern of notes.

The sounds vibrated in the air, carrying an almost instinctive direction.

“Look to the left?”

He nodded.“Exactly. But like I told you, sometimes the meaning is reversed.” He pressed another key, layering a lower F beneath the high C.“So the actual message would be, look to the right.”

I nodded, quickly typing notes into my phone.

“Some tones are signals,” Zane continued. “Some are confessions. Love letters. Warnings. Clues. And sometimes…” He paused, his fingers drifting. “…sometimes, they’re meant to mislead you.”

I nodded.

“It’s a bit like musical Morse Code. Except there’s no universal system. You have to feel your way through it based on what repeats. And what feels off.”

“So… the killer could be intentionally messing with the notes to create confusion.” Lost in thought, I barely noticed myself speaking aloud.

A sudden discordant clash of notes made me jump. Zane’s fingers were still on the keys, but his expression had changed.He wasn’t relaxed anymore. His entire body was tense, and his eyes were dark, burning with something sharp.Dangerous. “Killer?”

The dissonant sound still rang in the air between us.

I internally cursed myself for speaking without thinking.“I-I mean…” My voice wavered. “You must have misheard.” Well, that wasn’t convincing.

Zane’s eyes never left mine, so I turned away, searching for an escape. An excuse to get out of the conversation.

Nothing.

Something inside me whispered that I shouldn’t lie to him. Maybe it was the way he looked at me like he actually cared. Like he wanted to listen.

“It’s… complicated.”

“Then make it simple.” There was no demand in his request. Just quiet patience.

After a long moment, I exhaled and told him what was going on. Not everything. No details. No names. Just the bare minimum.

The hidden messages in the music, the fact people were dying, and how I got caught up in the whole thing after finding the first body.

Zane didn’t interrupt.He just watched me.

And for the first time since I had met him, his eyes held no underlying sense of teasing. No smugness. Just something raw.Something I didn’t know how to name.

After a beat, he dragged a hand through his hair. “Fuck, Amelia. And you’re telling me this just now?” His voice was controlled, but there was something underneath it. Sharp, possessive.

I shifted slightly.“I mean, we don’t really know each other that well,” I tried to argue.

His expression didn’t change.

“And besides, you probably would’ve thought I was exaggerating.”

He let out a short, humorless laugh.“No, I wouldn’t have. If you told me earlier, I would’ve known right away that you were caught up in something seriously messed up!”

The situation was undeniably messed up and terrifying, but how could I honestly respond to that?

“And now?” Zane asked after a moment.

“Now we read?” I suggested, lifting the book on wind chimes.

He looked like he wanted to argue, but then his features relaxed. A low, almost amused breath escaped his lips as he leaned forward to close the piano lid.“Fine. But we are going to talk about this later.”

I nodded, flipping open the book.

Zane grabbed another one, settling into a comfortable position beside me.

The next hour passed in relative silence. Pages turned. Notes were typed into my phone. Zane’s presence was a quiet, steady force beside me. Every now and then, I felt his eyes on me.

I ignored it at first, but eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore.“Something wrong?”

His brown eyes gleamed. “Nothing. I just think it’s fascinating how focused you are.”

I raised a brow. “It’s important. Was that an attempt at praise?”

“Well, if your mind is as sharp as your looks are distracting, then—”

“Zane.” I cut him off, rolling my eyes.

“What?” He shut his book and let it fall onto the piano lid. “It’s refreshing. I’m constantly surrounded by people who talk a lot but say absolutely nothing.”

I hummed in understanding, flipping through a passage on musical codes. Before I could go back to reading, Zane’s fingers brushed against mine.With a swift, fluid motion, he closed my book, too.

His hands were warm and large, with veins tracing subtly over his knuckles, a silent testament to the restrained strength beneath his skin.

A slow, electric pulse spread through me like static in the air before a storm.

“Why are you helping decode these notes?”

I hesitated.

Why was I?

Because I felt like I had to, or did I want to prove something?

Spencer believed my theory. He didn’t have to, but he did. And because of that, I had to see it through. That was reason enough.

“Amelia?” Zane’s voice was suddenly close to my ear.

I tensed as he leaned in, his breath ghosting over my skin and his fingers grazing my forehead lightly.

“Sorry, I just… I think I’m doing it because I was asked to,” I murmured, shifting slightly to create space between us. “And, of course, I want the poisonings and murders to stop.”

I moved another inch away.

There was a faint creak of shifting weight beneath me.

I frowned, adjusting my posture again when the bench snapped.

My balance tipped. And suddenly, I was falling.

A startled gasp left my lips, and in the next breath, Zane was falling with me.

Heat. Weight. The solid press of muscle.

I hit the ground, but the impact barely registered because Zane was right there, his body covering mine, pinning me down.

My breath hitched.

His chest rose and fell against mine, his dark hair falling messily over his forehead, lips slightly parted.

It took me a moment to process what had happened.

The broken wooden legs of the bench lay scattered beneath us, but that wasn’t the problem.

No. The real issue was the way Zane was looking at me.

Like he wasn’t thinking about getting up. Like he was thinking about something else.

I blinked rapidly.

We needed to get up. Right away.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” I swallowed. “I’m fine.” I pushed at his chest, attempting to create some distance between us. His body was solid, warm, and unmovable.“Could you, um, get off me?”

He didn’t move.

His gaze traced over my features, and without warning, he rested his head against my shoulder. He took a deep inhale like he needed a second to collect himself.

And my heart felt like it stumbled in my chest.

The air between us was charged. Heavy.

“Just give me a moment,” he murmured huskily.

“A moment for what?”

Zane lifted his head slowly, eyes locked onto mine with an intensity that sent a slow shiver down my spine.

His arms caged me in, hands placed on either side of my head.

My breathing became shallow.

His scent of sandalwood and the subtle tang of bergamot wrapped around me.

I tried to look anywhere but at him, and my gaze flickered to the last row of books on his shelf.

A flash of elegant script. Muted colors.

“Are those romance novels?” I blurted.

Zane’s lips twitched.“Oh. Busted.” The smirk he gave me was pure sin.

“You read those?” My voice came out higher than I intended.

He leaned in, and his breath feathered over my skin. “Of course.”

I swallowed thickly.

The space between us felt smaller and warmer.

“How else would I learn how to properly seduce a woman?”

My brows raised sharply, and the words slipped out before I could think better of them. “Did it help?”

He didn’t answer.