Bound by Honor novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Stairwell

Orazio ended the party in under three minutes.

"A family matter," he said into the microphone, calm as a priest. "We will handle it among ourselves. Please, enjoy the music."

The quartet started up again, thin and nervous.

Silvio was gone.

He had walked out through the side door with four men.

I had watched his white tie go past the potted palms without once looking back.

Nobody had stopped him.

Nobody had even called his name.

I found the back stairwell by instinct, a narrow servants' flight behind the ballroom, with a bare bulb and a smell of floor wax.

My legs gave out on the fourth step.

I sat down hard, put my head on my knees, and began to shake.

I had stood on a stage in front of a hundred and fifty people and called a man a forger.

I had not thrown up, and I had not cried.

I was very proud of that, and I felt sick.

Footsteps came down the stairs above me.

I knew them by now.

Dario sat on the step beside mine and said nothing.

After a minute, he took off his jacket and put it around my shoulders.

It was warm from his body and smelled like him, and that finished what was left of my composure.

"He's going to walk," I said into my knees. "They didn't even arrest him."

"I know."

"We showed them the paper, and your father said enjoy the music."

"I know."

"Why aren't you angrier?"

"I am."

His voice was very quiet.

"I'm so angry I can't feel my hands."

"But I watched you up there, Bianca, and I have never been so proud of anybody."

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