The Prelude (A Musical Interlude Novel) - By Kasonndra Leigh Page 0,73
move along with the dancers’ bodies so well, that I find it hard to believe I designed them. Even Lila’s version of My Heart Will Go On doesn’t irritate me as badly as I originally thought it would.
Especially since she’s wearing the dress I designed for the Mystical Diva. I almost had a heart attack when I found out she was planning to wear it. Turns out snooty Lila preferred my design over her own.
This sneak peak of the big performance happening in two weeks moves along without a hitch.
Feeling confident, I just know there’s nothing that can go wrong. I’m stepping outside of my comfort zone, and taking a chance on believing I’ll find that damn pot of gold everybody keeps teasing me about. You know the one the people like to say waits at the end of a hard to find rainbow? Yeah, that one. There has to be a rainbow nearby. With the way everything is falling into place there’s no way that my luck can run dry.
At the end of the performance, we all rise to our feet. The custom calls for the maestro to stand center stage with his leads. Alek does this with such grace and class and I cannot wait to get him home so I can fuck him until he passes out. Yeah, I’m that turned on by all of this.
Several roses fly up on the stage. I steal a quick glance at Alek’s mom and do a double take. She’s talking to a man who looks familiar to me. Katerina’s expression tells me the conversation isn’t going so well.
Squinting, I focus on the man. The long gray hair held back in a ponytail catches my attention first. I know that hair. The only other man with locks to rival his is Fabio. Petre came to the show? I had no idea he enjoyed symphonic productions.
After some debate, Katerina rises and trudges toward the exit. Instinct tells me to follow Petre and Alek’s mom. There’s this lump of unease sitting in my chest, getting heavier the longer I stare after the pair who just disappeared through the doors leading to the hallways located just outside the auditorium.
“I’ll be back in a bit,” I say to Adriana and Luca. “Could you let Alek know I’ll be near the dressing rooms?” She’s so caught up in being comforted by Luca, I wonder if she’ll even remember what I just said. “Right. Okay, never mind me.” I glance up at Alek and blow a kiss to him.
And then I head toward the place where Katerina and Petre just disappeared to. Alek doesn’t notice me leaving because he’s engrossed in a conversation with Nikolai and his players.
I head through the door and out into the hallways. It doesn’t take me long to spot Katerina and Petre, my life coach. And the two are really going at each other.
“What are you doing here in Milan? I told you to stay away from my family and me,” Katerina hisses.
“I’ll never stay away from you. Sergey’s a fool, letting you go the way he did. If you were mine, I’d never have let you leave,” Petre says, his body pressed up against Katerina’s in an intimate position. Clearly they know each other.
“If I’d known what you had intended to do with those boys, I would never have allowed you near my son. You sent Alek into a slaughterhouse,” Katerina hisses at him.
“No. I taught your son how to become a man. Something your husband never once tried to do,” Petre answers.
I stand there horrified. All of the feeling leaves my muscles. I’m thinking I’ve stepped into one of those weird carnival houses where the mirrors distort everything and make you feel crazy in the head. But there aren’t any mirrors in the theatre’s hallways. What I’m seeing is real.
“Get off of me,” Katerina orders. She hauls off and slaps his face. The smack whips his head to the side. I wait for him to hit her back, but he doesn’t. Instead, he does something even worse. Growling like a wild animal, he grasps her upper arms, lifts her up off the floor until she appears to be standing on her tiptoes, and begins shaking her. This stirs something in my stunned body, and my feet race forward.
“Stop this!” I yell, rushing up to Petre and begin digging my nails into the fleshy part of his neck.
“Erin stay out of this,” Katerina orders. How could she defend this man who