Page 100 of Vengeful Melodies

This isn’t just another city. Another gig.

This is the calm before something mean. The moment before the trap springs.

But when the lights drop tonight, when the crowd screams and the stage catches fire—

we won’t just be playing for them.

We’ll be playing for her.

And if the bastard in the shadows thinks he can take her—

he better pray the music’s loud enough to drown out his screams.

Chapter Forty One

Takoa

We’re thirty minutes out.

Alix is tapping his drumsticks against the edge of the leather couch, Kaiser’s pacing with his bass slung across his back like a burden, and Bash is halfway into his eyeliner, smudging it purposefully into something chaotic. We’re all buzzed with nerves—Pasadena always hits hard. Especially tonight. The fifth show in. Europe is just around the corner. It’s been nearly a fucking year since Dreya and Wren walked into our lives, and everything shifted like a landslide under our feet.

And she’s been good. Quiet lately, but good.

At least that’s what I tell myself.

Dreya sits curled in one of the oversized chairs near the back of the room. Jack’s curled at her feet. She’s got that black hoodie pulled over her knees, sleeves nearly swallowing her fingers. Shehasn’t said much. Her phone’s in her lap. The glow of the screen stains her face.

I catch the moment everything changes.

Her breath stops. Visibly. Like she’s been shot.She drops the phone.

And she crumbles.

“Dreya?” I’m across the room before I even register the sound of my own voice. Her hands are shaking—violent, uncontrollable tremors—and her face is ghost-pale, eyes wide but hollow.

She doesn’t answer.

Just starts to sob. No tears at first, just the noise. Like her throat is being scraped raw from the inside. Like something inside her is finally breaking loose after years of being strangled into silence.

Jack barks, unsettled. Wren’s not here. He went with Grey to check the lights for our set.

“Talk to me, Muse. What happened?” I crouch, brushing her curls back from her face. She flinches.

And that’s when I know.

This isn’t new.

This isn’t just today.

She’s been carrying something. Something so big, so dark, it’s poisoning her from the inside.

Kaiser sinks to his knees next to me. Bash and Alix aren’t far behind. The room has gone deathly still.

Dreya lets out a choked sob, curling in on herself like she’s trying to disappear. “I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t want to make it real.” Her voice is cracked glass.

I slide my hand gently over hers. “You’re safe, Dreya. Whatever it is—you’re not alone.”

Her lips tremble. She looks at all of us. And then the dam breaks.