Romeo's heart was drumming against his ribs like a trapped bird. He held his breath as the heavy wooden door creaked open. He expected to see the cold, blue eyes of a Victor Security guard. He expected to see a black uniform and a silver badge. He was ready to fight, or to run, or to do whatever it took to keep the men away from the room where Sophia was sleeping.
But when the door finally swung open, the man standing there was not wearing a black security uniform. He didn't look like a robot in a suit.
The man was tall and thin. He had very tired eyes with dark circles under them, and his hair was a messy nest that looked like he had not brushed it in days. He was wearing an old, brown leather jacket that was scratched and faded. His face did not look mean or scary; instead, it looked incredibly worried. He looked like a person who had been searching every corner of a giant maze for a very long time.
"Romeo," the man said. His voice was cracked and full of relief. It sounded like he had just finished running a marathon across the entire city. "I finally found you. I thought you were gone for good."
Romeo stared at him, his mouth hanging open. He was so surprised that he could not speak. He stood frozen in the middle of the dusty room. Then, the name finally reached his brain, and he felt his muscles relax just an inch.
"Jax?" Romeo whispered.
Jax was Romeo's best friend from his old life—the world of fancy schools and expensive parties. Jax did not wait for an invitation to come inside. He was not the type of person who cared about rules. He stepped quickly into the loft and grabbed Romeo's shoulder with a firm, strong grip, as if he wanted to make sure Romeo was real and not a ghost.
"Do you have any idea what kind of chaos you left behind?" Jax asked immediately. He lowered his voice to a sharp whisper so he would not wake anyone up. "The Victor Mansion looks like it's on fire, man. Everyone is panicking. Your father is beyond furious—I've never seen him this angry. The servants are running around like crazy, and the police are everywhere. It's a total disaster."
Romeo quickly closed the door and turned the heavy iron lock. He did not want any more surprises. He did not want a single person from that world following Jax inside. He turned back to his friend with a very serious face.
"You should not be here, Jax. It's dangerous for you. If my father sees you with me, he will think you helped me run away. He'll punish you too."
"I had to be here," Jax replied, leaning against the door to catch his breath. "You missing that big party was a huge deal. Your father had everything planned out to show you off. When your phone went dead and you did not come home that first night, I knew something was really wrong. I knew you were hiding, not just playing a joke to be funny."
Jax stopped talking suddenly. The room had gone quiet for a second. His eyes moved past Romeo and landed on the bed in the far corner of the recording studio. There was Sophia. She was still fast asleep, curled up under the thick, dusty blankets. She looked small and peaceful. She had no idea that a new person was in the room. She did not know that her secret world was colliding with Romeo's old one.
Jax blinked his eyes in total shock. He looked at the girl, then at the old instruments, and then back at Romeo. "Who is she?" he asked, his voice full of wonder.
Romeo stepped in front of Jax at once. He used his body like a shield to hide Sophia from Jax's view. He didn't want his old friend looking at her like she was a mystery to be solved. He lowered his voice to a tiny, urgent whisper.
"Keep it down, Jax. Seriously. Do not wake her up. She's had a harder week than you can imagine."
Jax looked at Romeo, then he looked at the violin case on the floor, then he looked back at Romeo again. He was trying to solve a puzzle in his head, putting the pieces together. "You disappear overnight," Jax said quietly. "The most powerful man in the city is tearing New York apart to find you. And I find you hiding in some old, dusty loft with a girl and a guitar? Romeo, what on earth is going on?"
Sophia shifted a little bit in her sleep, murmuring something about the rain, but she did not wake up. Romeo kept his eyes locked on Jax. He was waiting to see if his friend was going to try to take him home.
Jax let out a long, slow breath. "Romeo, if your father finds out about this... if he finds out you are here with her instead of being at his side..."
"Don't," Romeo interrupted. His voice was firm and hard as a rock. He did not want to hear the rest of that sentence. He knew exactly what his father would do. Victor Kane would see Sophia as a distraction. He would see her as something to be moved out of the way.
Jax studied Romeo's face carefully. He noticed the new lines of worry around Romeo's eyes. He saw that Romeo was not the same happy-go-lucky rich boy who used to play video games and skip class. The careless, bored look was gone. Romeo looked serious. He looked like he had grown up more in three days than he had in three years.
"This is not just you skipping a party because you were bored, is it?" Jax asked softly.
Romeo shook his head slowly. "No, Jax. It's not. It's much more than that. I'm finally doing something that matters."
Jax leaned his back against the cold brick wall. He ran a shaking hand through his messy hair. "You really scared me, man," he said after a long moment. "When you weren't at the mansion and no one knew where you were, I thought something terrible had happened. I thought you were hurt in an alley or worse."
He looked back at Sophia again. A small, uncertain smile appeared on his face. He was starting to see why Romeo had stayed away. "I definitely did not expect to find this, though. You, a secret hideout, and a mysterious girl with a violin."
He opened his mouth to say something else. He wanted to make a joke to make things feel normal again, the way they used to be when they were kids. "So, Mr. Kane…"
Romeo moved faster than a cat pouncing on a toy. Before Jax could even finish the sentence, Romeo stepped forward and placed his hand firmly over Jax's mouth. He stopped the name "Kane" from ringing out in the quiet room.
Leaning closer to Jax's ear, Romeo whispered with a terrifying intensity, "Do not say that name here. Ever. Do you understand me?"
Jax's eyes went wide. He realized he had almost made a giant mistake that could ruin everything. He nodded his head quickly to show he understood. Romeo slowly and carefully pulled his hand away.
"You cannot call me that in front of her," Romeo said quietly. "She doesn't know who I really am. She doesn't know about the mansion or the money."
Jax glanced at the sleeping girl again. He could not believe what he was hearing. "She really has no idea? She thinks you're just some guy? She has no idea that you are the son of the richest man in the city? Romeo, that's insane."
"No," Romeo answered. "And she can never find out."
"Why?" Jax asked. "Why keep it a secret? You could help her. You could call a limo and take her to the best hospital in the world for her dad. You could fix her whole life with one check."
Romeo hesitated. He thought about the music they played in the subway and the way she had looked at him in the snow. "Because she trusts me," he said, his voice full of emotion. "She trusts Romeo the musician. She trusts the guy who helps her carry her case. If she knew I was a Kane, she would hate me before I could even explain. I will not destroy her trust."
Jax watched his friend for a long moment. He had known Romeo since they were little boys in kindergarten. He had seen Romeo get bored by the most expensive toys. He had seen Romeo break rules just because he was tired of being told what to do. But this was different. There was real, deep fear in Romeo's eyes now—but it was not fear for his own safety.
It was a protective fear. Romeo was guarding her like a treasure.
"You care about her," Jax said. It was not a question; it was a fact he could see plainly on his friend's face.
"I care about keeping her safe from my father," Romeo replied.
Jax nodded slowly. He understood now. He knew how scary Victor Kane could be. "Your father is tearing the city apart looking for you, Romeo. He has guards in every subway station and every park. He is checking every hotel and every street corner."
"I know," Romeo said. "That's why you cannot stay long. If they followed you here, we are all in trouble. Sophia won't have a place to sleep tonight."
"I did not bring anyone with me," Jax said quickly, holding up his hands. "I was very careful. I took three different taxis, switched subways twice, and walked through five different alleys. I made sure no one followed me. I'm the only one who knows you're here."
Romeo nodded, feeling a bit better. "Be careful going back, Jax. Thank you for finding me."
"To be honest," Jax said as he walked toward the door, looking around at the dusty, simple room, "you look more real this way, Romeo. You look like you finally found something worth doing besides spending money."
Romeo did not answer, but those words stayed in his mind like a song. More real. He did feel more real. He felt like he was finally standing on his own two feet.
The morning came very quietly to Brooklyn. The dark, heavy rain clouds from the night before had finally moved away, leaving the sky clear. Thin, yellow sunlight slipped through the narrow window of the loft. Little bits of dust floated in the air, glowing like tiny gold stars in the sunlight before settling down on the old wooden floor.
The city outside was waking up slowly. Taxis were honking at the light, and people were walking to work with their coffee. Nobody in the street knew about the big secrets hiding inside the old, peeling building.
Sophia opened her eyes slowly. For a second, she did not remember where she was. She saw the low ceiling and the old, flickering lamp. Then she saw her violin case resting safely against the wall. The memory of the rain, the long run through the dark, and the soft music came back to her gently.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up. That was when she heard voices coming from the main room where the piano and guitars were kept. They were low, serious voices. Two men were talking.
Her body went stiff. She felt a flash of fear. Did the guards find us? she wondered. She got out of bed and stepped quietly toward the doorway. She did not want to be rude and interrupt, but she had to know who was there. When she reached the door, she saw Romeo standing by the window. Jax was standing across from him. Jax looked like a nice person, not like a scary guard or a man in a suit. They both turned their heads when they saw her.
"Hey," Romeo said softly. A look of relief washed over his face. "You are finally awake."
Sophia nodded, smoothing down her hair. She felt a little embarrassed that she had slept so long. "Sorry, I did not mean to interrupt your conversation. I didn't know we had company."
"It's okay," Romeo replied with a warm smile. "Come in, Sophia."
"This is Jax," Romeo said, pointing to his friend. "He is... an old friend of mine from a long time ago. We grew up together."
Jax smiled at her, and his eyes were kind. "Hi, Sophia. It's really nice to meet you."
Sophia returned the smile, though she still felt a little shy. "I am Sophia. Nice to meet you too. Are you a musician like Romeo?"
Romeo hesitated for a tiny moment. He had to be very careful with his words. He did not want Jax to say anything about the Kane family mansion or their expensive school. He needed to keep the story simple.
"Jax knows some people from the music side of the city," Romeo said smoothly, making up a story as he went. "Not big, famous names. Just simple places like cafes and small theaters where people play instruments for a living."
Jax caught on quickly. He saw the look in Romeo's eyes. "That's right," Jax said. "I was just telling Romeo that there's a small theater nearby that needs a violin player for a show tonight. It pays actual money—more than the subway hat."
Sophia's eyes lit up. Actual money? A chance to play in a real theater where it was warm and dry? It sounded like a dream.
"Really?" she asked, her voice full of hope. "Do you think I'm good enough?"
"I know you are," Romeo said firmly.
But as Sophia smiled, Romeo looked at Jax. He saw a shadow of worry in his friend's eyes. Was this theater a real chance, or was it a trap set by his father?
Will this opportunity save Sophia and her father, or will it lead them straight to Victor Kane?
Was Jax truly helping his best friend, or was he being watched by the black cars?