by Bea Paige
Contents
Bea Paige’s Books:
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Symphony
Finding Their Muse – book four
Copyright ©: Kelly Stock writing as Bea Paige
First Published: 17th June 2019
Publisher: Kelly Stock
Cover by: Peryton Covers
Kelly Stock writing as Bea Paige to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Bea Paige’s Books:
Finding Their Muse (dark contemporary romance / reverse harem)
#1 Steps https://books2read.com/Steps
#2 Strokes https://books2read.com/Strokes
#3 Strings https://books2read.com/StringsFTM
#4 Symphony https://books2read.com/FTM4
The Brothers Freed Series (contemporary romance / reverse harem)
#1 Avalanche of Desire https://books2read.com/AvalancheOfDesire
#2 Storm of Seduction https://books2read.com/StormSeduction
#3 Dawn of Love https://books2read.com/DawnOfLove
The Sisters of Hex series (paranormal romance / reverse harem)
Prequel to The Sisters of Hex series:
Five Gold Rings: https://books2read.com/FiveGoldRings
Sisters of Hex: Accacia
Out Now:
#1 Accacia’s Curse https://books2read.com/AccaciasCurse
#2 Accacia’s Blood https://books2read.com/AccaciasBlood
#3 Accacia’s Bite https://books2read.com/AccaciasBite
Sisters of Hex: Fern
Out Now:
#1 Fern’s Decision https://books2read.com/FernsDecision
#2 Fern’s Wings https://books2read.com/FernsWings
#3 Fern’s Flight https://books2read.com/FernsFlight
The Infernal Descent trilogy (co-written with Skye MacKinnon)
Out Now:
#1 Hell’s Calling https://books2read.com/HellsCalling
#2 Hell’s Weeping https://books2read.com/HellsWeeping
#3 Hell’s Burning https://books2read.com/HellsBurning
Links to Bea Paige’s social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeaPaige/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beapaigeauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeaPaigeAuthor
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/beapaigeauthor
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/bea-paige
Web: https://www.beapaige.co.uk
This book is dedicated to my readers,
Thank you for falling in love with Rose and the men of Browlace Manor.
Thank you for believing in their story. Symphony is for you all.
Bea xx
Prologue
Emmie
In my hand I hold onto the letter I wrote to Erik some twenty-one years ago. Wrote but never posted. The paper is discoloured, the words faded. It’s been ten years since I last read it and as I unfold it now, the paper barely holding together at the centre, the memory of the night I wrote it comes flooding back to me, filling my senses alongside the musty smell of old paper.
My hand trembles as I hold the letter delicately between my fingers and thumb, my eyes tearing up at the apology scrawled across its surface and the secrets kept hidden under lock and key for all this time. Within the envelope sits a faded photograph and another document that holds secrets hidden away for years. Secrets I’ve selfishly held onto.
My eyes glance over my words. I’d been so young and foolish back then. A whimsical girl who had been full of hormones, lust and naivety. If I could go back in time and shake myself I would. My actions that summer destroyed two people I cared about, and like ripples on a pond, my decision to listen to a twisted, embittered woman expanded and grew, still having an effect all these years later.
But with age comes clarity and if there’s one thing I do understand, Ms Hadley is just as responsible for Layton’s condition as Erik is. As I am. But more than that, she’s responsible for her own son’s ill health.
A glass cage…
I can’t even begin to fathom how destroyed Erik must have felt to lock himself inside one. I don’t know anything about the man he is now, or his experiences since that fateful night. I only remember the boy he once was… and my God, he was gifted, smart, funny, loyal. I’d hoped over the years that he’d grown into a man that could live up to the memories I treasured, but the truth of who he is came out alongside the lengths his mother had gone to keep him hers.
For the most part this might be an island of decent people, but it still comes with a small village mentality. Everyone talks, even the police officers it would seem. It has become apparent that Erik suffered over the years. He didn’t walk into his future without a backward glance like I had thought. That night broke him just as much as it destroyed Layton, and all because of her; his wicked mother and, of course, me.
“Love, are you coming?” Tim calls from downstairs.
My heart squeezes in my chest at the thought that I could very well destroy our marriage with what I’m about to do. I never told Tim about Erik and Layton, or what happened during that long hot summer. Tim’s my heart, my own love. He is who I adore above all else, but I have to make amends to the boy I’d betrayed and the man he almost killed. I can’t sit back and stay silent anymore. Neither Erik nor I can change what happened, but he at least deserves to know the full truth, no matter the consequences to me.
“Coming, just grabbing a jacket,” I lie, folding up the letter, returning it to the box and placing it back into my wardrobe.
Standing, I take a look at my reflection in the mirror; there’s only the slightest whispers of the girl I once was in the colour of my hair and the shade of my eyes. Otherwise, she no longer exists. Her easy smile long since hidden beneath years of regret and guilt.
“You should’ve posted the letter,” I whisper to my reflection, to the ghost of the girl staring back at me.
“Love, we’re going to be late!” Tim reminds me, his deep voice sending a familiar warmth flooding beneath my skin.
Drawing in a deep breath, I straighten my spine and slide a stray strand of hair behind my ear. If only I’d been brave enough to send Erik the letter. Better still, if only I’d been brave enough to say no to Ms Hadley in the first place, then perhaps none of this would�
��ve happened. But I was a child who had secrets of her own. Secrets Ms Hadley had used against me. Secrets that had the power to destroy, that still do.
Standing here now, about to go out for our anniversary dinner, I know what I must do. I have to make things right because that woman cannot be allowed back into Erik’s life to cause more pain, more damage, and there’s a chance that might happen if I don’t do something. She has the assistance of Viktor Sachov and I know the power he has. He got Erik out of a prison sentence after all, and together he and Ms Hadley blackmailed me into silence.
Tim appears at the door to our bedroom, an exasperated look on his face but with a hint of a smile that he reserves only for me.
“You couldn’t look more beautiful,” he says, misunderstanding the look I’m giving myself in the mirror. He takes a step towards me and grabs my hand as I let out a shaky breath. “Are you still thinking about that awful woman?”
“No,” I lie, following him out of our bedroom, down the stairs and out into the cold night air.
“You need to let it go. You might have told…” he screws his face up trying to remember her name.
“Rose,” I say.
“Yes, that’s it, Rose. You might have told her how to find Ms Hadley, but you can’t hold yourself responsible for what happened there. No one could’ve predicted what that old witch would do.”
“She’s in hospital right now, Tim. Ms Hadley shot her…”
Tim stops abruptly and turns to face me. “No. Stop that. You had nothing to do with that. Nothing at all. You weren’t to know Rose lied about who she was. They all lied, telling us she was a relative of Ms Hadley’s. I don’t know what the hell is going on between them all, but this is not your fault. Do you hear me?! This mess isn’t yours, so don’t you dare take it on, Love.”
He wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me into his side, pressing a kiss against my forehead. I allow myself a moment to melt into his warmth. He’s my rock, the man I love with every single part of me, but he’s wrong. It is my fault. The actions of a stupid girl have helped lead to this point.
“This is so messed up,” I respond heavily.
Like Tim, the majority of the islanders have been shocked by Ms Hadley’s actions, but not me. I’ve been a victim to her wickedness. I know what she’s capable of. I’ve known all along, and in a few weeks when Tim goes away to start a new build on the mainland, I’ll be leaving for Cornwall and taking that letter with me, because this time I won’t let Ms Hadley destroy Erik’s chance at a happy future. He deserves the truth. They all do.
And I’m going to be the one to give it to them.
Chapter 1
Rose
You’re going to get through this…
I’ve been saying that same phrase to myself every day since I was shot and that’s what I remind myself as I’m wheeled into the operating theatre room for the second time in as many weeks. Machines bleep, the harsh light of the theatre is bright and blinding. I turn my head away, looking to the side at the anesthesiologist who smiles at me as dark spots dance in front of my eyes.
“Back so soon? We’re going to start thinking that you enjoy being operated on,” she winks.
“Didn’t they tell you? I have a fetish for needles,” I quip back, trying to lighten the dark mood I’ve been in these past couple of days since Ivan and Erik left for Browlace. Returning home wasn’t easy for either of them, but it was a necessity. At least Anton remains.
“How are you doing?” she asks, checking her equipment.
Scared shitless, that’s how I’m doing.
“Oh, you know, just peachy,” I respond, then wince at the sarcasm. It’s not her fault I got shot and have a dodgy knee. She laughs, shaking her head as my surgeon pats my arm, drawing my attention away from her.
“Afternoon, Rose. Are you ready to get this knee fixed up?” he asks, raising his bushy grey eyebrows. Beneath them, his brown eyes are sharp with intelligence and as warm as coffee on a winter morning. Dr Smithton was a good choice. Following my operation to fix my shoulder, Ivan and I discussed the options available, and he’d promised me that Dr Smithton was the best orthopaedic surgeon in the business. He came with an endless list of recommendations, but it was his manner that sold me; kind and to the point. He’d promised me that once I was over the operation and weeks of recovery, my titanium knee would give me a new lease of life. Dr Smithton has even suggested that if I got my rheumatoid arthritis under control, I could take up ballet again. Not professionally of course, but as a hobby. That promise alone, and the fact that Ivan had made me a special promise of his own, had me sold. The thought of dancing with Ivan is something that I hold onto, even though I’m terrified this could all go wrong, and I’ll end up in a wheelchair permanently.
So here I am. Terrified. Hopeful. Feeling sick with worry.
“It’s the best artificial joint money can buy, and without blowing my own trumpet, I’m the best in the business, so things are looking up, Rose…”
I laugh at his confidence and his arrogance. Normally that combination would piss me off, but in this situation, it’s comforting.
“Thank goodness,” I say honestly, wincing as I shift on the gurney.
“Shoulder still hurts?” he asks.
“Yep, but I’m getting there.”
“Well, rest assured we’ll make sure you’re taken care of after this is op is over. Are you ready to proceed, Rose?” He flashes me another genuine warm smile.
I dread to think how much this operation has cost Ivan but both he insisted that I get the best possible care that money can buy. I’m still recovering from the gunshot injury and the resulting operation to fix my damaged shoulder. It still bloody hurts and I still have flashbacks of Ms Hadley holding the gun and taking aim, but right now I need to concentrate on getting through this ordeal. Flinching at the memory, I push aside the anger that still boils inside and give Dr Smithton an honest answer.
“I’m ready, but that doesn’t make me any less terrified. The last time I was operated on it was a necessity. I’m not fond of hospitals, frankly, or needles…” my false laughter trails off as Dr Smithton regards me.
“You need a new knee, Rose. This operation is a necessity and whilst it might put you in a wheelchair for a few weeks, you’ll be in one permanently if you don’t go through with this.”
I sigh heavily. “I know you’re right,” I respond. My previous career as a ballet dancer combined with my medical condition have worked against me, leaving me practically crippled at thirty. That and the fact Ms Hadley tried to kill me a few weeks back meant that my condition has flared up with the stress. Everywhere fucking hurts; I feel like shit. That feeling goes way deeper than my obvious injuries, but right at this moment no one but me is aware of that fact. There’s no point in telling them all how much pain I’m really in. They’d make me wait and I’m done waiting to feel better.
Besides, I need this operation. I have three men counting on me. One of whom is waiting in my private room for me to return whilst the other two have returned to Cornwall.
I smile, remembering how Anton had pressed his lips against mine not more than ten minutes ago, his tongue sweeping into my mouth possessively. He stayed behind to keep me company whilst Ivan and Erik flew home to Browlace, an unfortunate necessity after Erik had a minor relapse at the hotel they’ve been staying at whilst I’ve been at the hospital.
My heart aches for Erik. He’s come so far, but he still has a long way to go. I so want him to get better. We all want to undo the damage done by his past, by Ms Hadley. Going back to Browlace was the right decision, no matter how hollow I feel from their absence. Besides, it won’t be long until I’ll see them again. Dr Smithton has promised I’ll be able to return to Browlace just as soon as he thinks I’m fit enough to travel in Ivan’s private jet.
“Mr Sachov and Mr Hadley are putting in place the best possible care for you back home. Once I’m certain you’re fit enough to travel, we can get you back to a more familia
r environment to recover from your operations,” Dr Smithton says, confirming his promise from a few days before.
“I miss them…” I mumble, the words releasing from my lips before I can stop them. A couple of months ago I would never have acknowledged those feelings, let alone voice them, but things have changed. I’ve changed. I’m still getting used to this new me; the one who doesn’t run from her feelings, doesn’t push them away.
“I understand,” he responds.
Ivan and Erik left two days ago. Even with Erik’s episode at the hotel, I don’t think either would have gone had it not been for the phone call from Ivan’s lawyer giving him news about Ms Hadley’s case. Whatever discussion they’d had sealed the deal, and Ivan and Erik returned home. Up until that point, they’d purposely kept any news about her arrest and upcoming court case from me, trying to protect me whilst I get through these operations. Whilst I appreciate their thoughtfulness, I want to know what’s happening with Ms Hadley. I need to know she’s going to be locked away for good for what she tried to do to me, to us.
That fucking bitch.
Rage spikes in my blood, and for a moment I forget I’m in the hospital about to have an operation. Sensing my change in mood, Dr Smithton squeezes my arm.
“They’re good men. They care about you,” he responds, and even though he doesn’t say anything to the contrary I know he has his own personal thoughts about our assumed relationship. The fact is, right now, even I’m not sure how to label us. There’s been no time to discuss what we are, if we’re anything at all frankly.