Page 31 of Symphony for Lies (Tangled Truths #2)

The window was wide enough for me to get through with ease, and my feet landed on a rickety table, the wood groaning beneath my weight.

For a moment, I didn’t move.

My heartbeat pounded so loudly that I was afraid it echoed through the entire room.

The air was thick with dust, old paper, and something damp… something rotten.

I lifted my phone, casting a shaky beam of light over the cluttered storage room. Stacks of forgotten boxes, broken chairs, and discarded school materials crowded every corner.

I took a small breath, but even that felt deafening in the eerie silence.

There was a noise. Muffled. Faint.

My pulse stopped, and like a whip, it raced frantic and unstoppable, slamming against my ribs.

“Stay calm… and think.”

Step by step, I moved forward.

The gun in my hand felt too heavy, too foreign. My fingers were slick with sweat, making it hard to keep a steady grip.

The door groaned as I twisted the handle and pushed it open.

A hallway stretched out before me—narrow, damp, and suffocating.

Flickering overhead lights cast long, jagged shadows across the concrete walls. Large mold patches bloomed everywhere, and the air was thick, unmoving. The perfect setting for a horror movie.

There were multiple doors to choose from, and it took me a moment to gather a bit of courage before trying each one.

Some cracked open, revealing nothing but dust and rusting shelves. Others were locked.

When I stood in front of the last door, I pressed my ear against the wood.

There was a muffled, pained sound.

I stepped back and glanced down at the floor.

A shiver ran down my spine when I caught sight of a single aster flower, delicate and pale. Like an offering… Like a message.

My fingers trembled as I turned the handle. With a sharp click, the door creaked open.

I raised the gun, my finger hovering over the trigger as I stepped inside.

My eyes darted across the dimly lit room.

A figure was slumped on a chair, wrapped in a white sheet like a grotesque, abandoned doll.

For one horrifying moment, I thought it was a corpse.

The sheet shifted.

No. No. No.

My grip on the gun tightened, and my lungs locked in place even as I forced my legs to move.

I tore the sheet away, letting it fall to the ground, and blinked a thousand times. Closed my eyes and opened them again.

Zane.

My knees nearly buckled. His disoriented eyes blinked open, and I took in his state. He was wearing the same clothes as the last day I saw him.His forehead was bloody, his lips were covered with duct tape, and his arms were bound behind the chair, the rope digging into his wrists.

I couldn’t breathe. For a split second, I felt like the entire world collapsed.

But when I heard noises from the hall, a sudden adrenaline rush flooded my body, bringing me back to reality.

“Zane.” My voice was barely a whisper as I peeled the tape from his mouth.

He gasped, sucking in air like a drowning man. “Amelia?” he asked hoarsely.His lips parted in a slow, weary smirk. “I must be dreaming.” The words were slurred.

“You’re not dreaming. I’m here.”

His tired gaze traced my face. “Damn. You look hot as fuck right now. This is really turning me on.”

I gaped, torn between relief and disbelief.Then I headbutted him. Not hard enough to actually hurt him, but enough to snap him out of his dazed state.

He blinked, stunned.

“I’m getting you out of here, fool,” I murmured, working quickly to untie his wrists.

Zane winced, rolling his sore shoulders the moment he was free. “Fuck, my back is killing me.”

Instinctively, I reached for him to help, but he recovered faster than I expected.

He was looking at me. Really looking at me.

I swallowed.

“How the hell could you do something so reckless?”

“What?”

“How could you just storm in here? All alone? Without backup?”

Oh.

Zane was definitely back to his usual self.

“I—”

“Fuck, Amelia!”

I shoved the gun at him, scowling. “I came here to save your ass. Maybe a ‘thank you’ would be more appropriate than scolding me.”

He didn’t respond.In one smooth motion, he snatched the gun from my hands, gripped my waist, and threw me over his shoulder.

“Hey!” I kicked my legs in protest.

“We’re getting the fuck out of here. Now!” His voice was rough, authoritative, and absolute. “After that, I’m going to show you just how grateful I am.”

A wave of heat ran down my body at the promise in his words.

“Zane, you’re injured! You can’t just—”

“Oh, I can’t?” His grip on me tightened as if he got a rush of new energy.“I’m carrying my woman out of this fucking building. So just relax, okay?”

My woman?

I forgot how to breathe.

With one arm locked around my thighs, he lifted the gun with his free hand, his muscles tensing as he moved toward the door.

On the way, I grabbed a wooden stick leaning on the wall. From my precarious position, I noticed notes painted on the floor, but there wasno time to decipher them because Zane was already on the move.

No one was around.

It was too quiet. Too easy.

Again, I had the sense that something wasn’t right.

It was as if the culprit had left Zane behind on purpose. A trap? A warning? A test?

“We have to go that way.” I pointed to the door I had come from.

Once Zane was certain nothing lurked inside the room, he lowered me onto the sturdy table and helped me climb through the window.

I turned to reach for him.“Come on, Zane.”

His rough hand gripped mine as he slipped through the tight space, and we fell to the cold, damp, unforgiving ground together, but I didn’t care. He was alive.

We lay there, panting and shaking from exhaustion.

His breath was warm against my skin. I turned my head, and the moment our gazes locked, everything else faded.

He was alive. Safe.

My entire body trembled with relief, need, and overwhelming emotions I couldn’t name.

My heart raced, skipping and tumbling over itself.

I wanted to kiss him.

I wanted to pull him closer.

I wanted to feel him to reassure myself that he was truly with me.

His dark, burning stare told me he wanted the same.

The heat between us coiled—

“Amelia!” The desperate cries of my friends shattered the moment.

Layla, Stacy, and Tiana were blurs of motion as I was pulled into a group hug.

Tears streamed down their faces as they clung to me, their arms wrapping around my body in a crushing embrace.

“How could you do this to us?!” Tiana’s voice shook with emotion.

I tried to speak and tell them I was okay, but my mind was still on Zane.Still caught in that lingering moment.

Ali arrived, and he immediatelymoved toward Zane, his expression tense.

But Zane didn’t look away. Not once, not even for a second. He was still watching me. Just like I was still watching him.