Her Silent Symphony, His Ruthless Claim

Chapter 3

Caelan did not speak in the elevator. He stood beside me with his hands in his pockets, watching the floor numbers climb in the polished steel as though I were a shipment he wanted to arrive undamaged. Somewhere far below us, Saffron's heels were still striking the marble, each step a promise of revenge, and the sound grew fainter with every floor until it vanished completely. I knew silence better than I knew any language, but I had never met one that felt purchased.

The doors opened. He pressed his thumb to a black panel, and a soft mechanical click answered, as if the building itself had agreed to keep me. "Ring down if you need anything," he said, and when my hand rose instinctively to my throat, his mouth curved into something that was not quite an apology. He walked away before I could decide whether he was cruel or simply careless. I stepped inside alone, and the door sighed shut behind me.

The staff apartment on the top floor of the Ashford Sound Group building was not merely a living space; it was a vault. Its walls were soundproofed, the doors secured with biometric locks, and the air within felt sterile, as if even the oxygen here was rationed by Caelan Ashford.

I stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows. Below, the city lights stretched out like a cold, glittering expanse. I no longer held a key. I no longer had my phone. I was safe from Odessa's endless nagging and Saffron's rough pounding on my door, but I realized one thing: I had simply traded my small cage at home for a larger, gilded one, where my freedom had been officially confiscated.

The apartment door hissed open. I turned, expecting an assistant, but it was Saffron who stepped inside.

She no longer looked like the spoiled girl who trembled before Caelan. Her face was sharpened with thick makeup, her eyes burning with pure malice. She locked the door behind her.

"Do you think you've won?" she hissed, her voice low, snake-like.

I backed away, but Saffron snatched my phone from the table and slammed it against the floor. The screen shattered into jagged spiderwebs. The sound of breaking glass echoed like a death knell for my last connection to the outside world.

"Do you think Caelan is actually interested in a mute girl who can't even look him in the eye?" Saffron sneered, circling me like a predator. "He only loves the melodies you write. Once the music runs dry in your head, he'll discard you like trash."

She gripped my wrist tightly, her nails digging into my skin.

"There is a massive audition tomorrow. You are going to write a song that is flat, a song that will ruin this company's reputation. If you succeed in embarrassing Caelan in front of the investors, I'll give you money and let you leave this place. But if you dare to write even one decent note for him ... I will ensure your life truly ends."

I stared at her in horror. Before I could move, the apartment door hissed open again. Caelan stood there. He didn't seem surprised to see Saffron; he only looked at my niece with a gaze that made the room freeze.

"Get out," Caelan commanded. His tone wasn't loud, but his authority was absolute, causing Saffron to release me and retreat with a pale face.

Saffron had no choice. She hurried past him, her shoulders trembling. Caelan shut the door, locking it with a final, echoing click. He walked toward me, glancing at my shattered phone before locking his gaze onto my shaking form.

Caelan reached out, grabbing my chin and forcing me to meet his eyes. "She thinks she can control my assets? How amusing."

He pulled me into his arms. It wasn't a soft embrace, but a possessive one, as if he meant to shackle me. "Don't fear small people like Saffron, Wren. She isn't your problem. Your only concern is how to please me, so that I never have to destroy you.'

I froze, realizing I was trapped not just by Saffron's hatred, but beneath the feet of a man who knew no mercy. He pulled my chin higher, our faces mere inches apart. His breath, smelling of coffee and mint, felt searing against my skin.

"You're trembling," he whispered, his voice dropping into a low, hypnotic register, a stark contrast to his earlier cruelty. "Are you afraid of me, or are you afraid of what you feel when I touch you?"

I couldn't answer. My tongue was paralyzed by fear and something else-a dangerous, magnetic pull. Caelan smirked, his warm fingers tracing my jawline with a confusing, terrifying mixture of threat and desire.

Suddenly, he released me and walked to his desk, placing a black leather folder in front of me. "You have one night to finish the arrangement for tomorrow's audition," he said.

I opened the folder with trembling hands. My heart stopped. It was the melody my mother used to hum before the fatal accident that claimed my parents' lives. A song that should have been lost forever.

How could Caelan possess this score?

I looked up, but Caelan was already standing by the bedroom door, watching me with a harrowing grin. "Why? Do you recognize it?"

I remained silent. In this soundproof room, I realized I was being forced by Caelan to resurrect the past I had desperately tried to bury. I was the only key to completing the melody of death they had been planning all along.

The door closed, leaving me alone. I glanced toward the window. Down below, in the building's parking lot, I saw a silhouette standing near an old car that felt hauntingly familiar. The figure looked up, staring straight at my apartment window, holding an object that glinted under the streetlamp.

This war was no longer about Saffron or a music contract. This was about buried secrets, and someone out there had just signalled that they knew I was here.