Staccato (Magnum Opus #2) - E.M. Lindsey Page 0,110

without actually saying it, but he told me that this would happen.”

Nik dragged angry fingers through his hair and tugged until it hurt. “He had no right.”

Adam’s laugh was strained. “Maybe not, but would you have done it? Would you have submitted the composition yourself?”

His silence said everything. “It wasn’t ready.” But his excuse was weak, and he knew Adam could hear it.

“You can be as angry at him as you want, Nik, but you also can’t tell Alessio no.”

Nik felt his stomach drop to his feet. “Please…”

“I’m nothing compared to this offer, Nik, and you know it. I’m a moment in your life, a drop of water in the ocean waiting for you. I’m a small-town nothing, and you’re…”

“Don’t,” Nik said, his voice rising with his anger. “Stop diminishing what you are—to me, to everyone who loves you! Stop talking like this doesn’t matter.”

“I know it does,” Adam said, his voice barely a whisper now. “But you can’t turn this down for my shitty apartment and one private student. You know you can’t. And you know that wasn’t your plan.”

Nik let his head fall back against the door, his groan filled with agony, because this was like being ripped apart—like the truth had claws, and it was gutting him right there in front of Adam. He wasn’t wrong. He was just honest, and it was the last thing Nik wanted to face.

“I’m not ready to give you up.”

Adam laughed softly and finally closed the distance between them again before laying a warm hand to Nik’s cheek. “You don’t really have a choice at this point, do you?”

Nik’s heart hammered against his ribs, but he couldn’t make his tongue tell another lie. This was a crossroads, but the decision had been made years ago. He could be a fool and ask Adam to wait for him, but even he wasn’t that cruel. Adam deserved more, deserved better, deserved everything Nik wasn’t capable of giving him.

Someone was, though. Someone would have the will and the strength to love this man the way he deserved. So, he did the only thing he could think of—he leaned in and let that last kiss feel like a goodbye.

Because for the first time, he faced that harsh reality.

It was.

Van came home after four days of radio silence, and he took Nik’s rage with all the resignation and accountability that it demanded. Nik was aware—somewhere, in the back of his mind—that a lot of his anguish had nothing to do with Van sending the video and everything to do with the fact that Adam had kissed him, walked out, and wasn’t coming back.

Nik gave in to his panic and tried to call the evening before Van came home, but the little recording told him the number was disconnected. Losing Adam combined with the grief of losing his father overwhelmed him to the point he couldn’t think, but once he found his voice enough to shout at Van, things started to make sense again.

“You had no right upending my life like that! No right to take that choice away from me! How could you?” His voice finally faltered, growing thick with tears that remained unshed. He was in the middle of the room, no idea what direction he was facing, his hands twisted in his hair.

“I’m not sorry for that,” Van told him, and Nik’s laughter was tense and on the verge of hysterical. “I’m not,” he said, and Nik heard his heavy steps before Van grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him. “You deserve this, Yanik. This chance, this recognition, this life beyond this shitty little town.”

Nik sagged against him, torn between his desperation for comfort and the ache inside him that he couldn’t reach. But no one had touched him since Adam left, and Van was willing to offer something. He laid his face against Van’s shoulder and sucked in breaths until his lungs didn’t need to be forced, and then he swiped at his face to clear away the tears that had finally escaped.

“I don’t want it like this.”

“I know,” Van told him. “And I’m sorry. I didn’t know he’d show up right then—I didn’t know he couldn’t reach you first. I didn’t mean for it to be like that.”

Nik knew that was true, but he wasn’t ready to absolve his brother just yet. After a beat, he pulled away and stepped back. “We have a meeting with the realtor the day after tomorrow. They’re going to want to do photos soon, so