“As for the money,” Jason looked around again. “I think we can help you with that.”
My heart clenched. “You don’t have to—”
Jason interrupted. “We know we don’t have to. We want to. Grant, you’re our brother. Will you stop being so damn stubborn and let us help you?”
I looked around at the rest of my band. They were all nodding in agreement with Jason.
“We’ll have to play under a different band name for a while,” Darren said thoughtfully. “To keep Valentina from sending her goons after us again.” I winced. Something else I had brought upon my bandmates through my own stupid actions. “But if we play a few gigs, and put all of the money we earn toward your debt, we should be able to pay it off in a few months. What do you say? Will you let us help you?”
I looked around at my bandmates, at their open, honest faces, full of love and concern. I felt the wall that I had spent the last year carefully constructing begin to crumble. Jason was right: these men were my brothers. I had always known that I would do anything for them. It was time for me to accept that maybe, just maybe, I was worthy of the same from them.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do it.”
23
Ella
I made a beeline for the exit, pulling up short just before I reached it. I had to get away from the Ball, there was no doubt about that, but to where? I was in an unfamiliar city with no money.
In that moment, I made a split-second decision. Quickly, heart beating a tattoo against my chest, I ducked into Valentina’s office. It seemed luck was on my side: Valentina had left her purse right there on her desk. Swallowing hard, listening intently for any sign that someone was coming my way, I peeked inside.
Valentina’s purse was full of envelopes, and those envelopes were stuffed full of cash. There was definitely something sinister going on here, and I had only barely begun to scratch the surface, but I didn’t have time for that right now. One of those envelopes would surely be enough to get me a bus ticket to New York.
I had never stolen anything in my life, not even a stick of gum when I was a little girl, but I reminded myself that desperate times called for desperate measures. Valentina was dangerous; she had set fire to her own business, possibly more than once. I remembered Grant’s girlfriend had perished in a fire at the Ball, and felt myself break out in a cold sweat. Could Valentina be responsible for her death? And now she was after the Prince Charmings. Their faces swam through my mind. I needed to find them, to warn them, but I had no idea where they might be.
Sending up a silent prayer for forgiveness, I slipped one of the envelopes in my pocket and, pausing only to retrieve my singed, abandoned boot, I slipped away, running through unfamiliar streets until my feet carried me to the one place in the city I felt safe, where I knew I had a friend: Pumpkins.
For once, Demi was at the counter when I entered the shop, and she looked up in surprise as I burst through the door.
“Ella!” she said. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d be in New York by now. And . . . why are you covered in soot?”
Her face was so open, so full of concern, that before I knew it, I was spilling the whole story: how I had spent the night with the Prince Charmings, but slipped away in the morning when I realized what time it was; how I had returned to the Ball to find it in flames; that I had learned this morning that Valentina was responsible, that the Prince Charmings might be in danger.
Demi listened, exclaiming in the appropriate moments, until I had finished. When I finally ran out of steam, I found I was close to tears.
“Hey,” Demi said softly, coming around the counter to wrap her arms around me. “It’s okay. It’s all going to be fine.”
“My dad would be so disappointed,” I said, my chin trembling. “How am I ever going to face him again, after what I did at the Ball?”
“There’s no shame in what you did,” Demi said forcefully. “As long as everyone is consenting, you’re free to love and be loved by whoever you want, to receive pleasure in whatever way makes you happy.”
My mind reeled. Love? Was that what I was experiencing? With some effort, I tucked that away to examine later. I had other matters to deal with right now. “I have to find them, Demi,” I said. “I need to warn them about Valentina.”
Demi smiled a small, secret smile. “There, I might be able to help you,” she said. “After you ran off yesterday morning, seven very handsome men came by here. They had one of your boots.” She nodded toward the boot I had forgotten I still held, tucked under my arm.