Chapter 2 Below The Stage,Beneath The Skin

The staircase swallowed her whole.

Lily descended behind Gabriel, her hand grazing the damp stone wall as they spiraled into the bowels of the concert hall. The sound of the storm outside faded until all she could hear was her own breathing-and his footsteps echoing like warnings.

A dim light flickered at the bottom. Not romantic. Not safe. A bare bulb swinging from a frayed wire.

Gabriel pushed open a steel door and stepped into a long corridor lined with storage crates, broken instruments, and dust-thick mirrors. It was like time had stopped down here. Trapped. Forgotten.

"Where are we?" Lily asked, breathless.

He didn't answer. Not right away.

He walked ahead, brushing aside a curtain that revealed a low-ceilinged room filled with sheet music, shattered candelabras, and more pianos-some covered, others broken. The air was thick with age, with history. With memory.

"This was the heart," he finally said, his voice lower now. "Back when the theater was alive. Before everything collapsed."

"You used to play here," she guessed.

Gabriel turned toward her. His eyes were unreadable.

"I lived here," he said. "Before they shut it down. Before they shut me down."

She stepped further inside, taking it all in. "You were famous?"

"Not quite. Just... loud enough to be noticed. And reckless enough to be erased."

There was something in his voice that didn't match the man on the stage. Something quieter. Raw.

Lily crossed the room and sat on the edge of a bench, her fingertips grazing the worn ivory keys of a ruined upright.

"What happened?" she asked.

He leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, watching her. "I trusted the wrong person. Signed with the wrong man. Played the wrong song at the right scandal."

"Scandal?"

He looked at her like he was debating how much to tell. "Let's just say my music didn't make headlines. My choices did."

She swallowed hard. The air between them shifted again-tighter, more intimate. It wasn't just about the music anymore.

It was about what it had cost him.

And why he still played.

"Then why come back here?" she whispered. "If it hurts that much."

Gabriel walked over, stopping just in front of her. "Because pain is louder in silence. At least down here, I can scream without anyone pretending not to hear."

For a second, the room felt smaller. The tension stretched taut between them.

"Why you, Lily?" he said softly. "Why did you walk into a storm and find this place? Find me?"

"I don't know," she said honestly. "But the second I heard you play, I couldn't turn away."

His hand brushed hers on the keys. "And now that you're here?"

She met his gaze without flinching. "Now I don't want to leave."

A silence fell-heavy, brimming.

Then Gabriel leaned in, slowly, deliberately, until their mouths were a breath apart. She could feel his hesitation, the way his control trembled just beneath the surface.

But he didn't kiss her.

Not yet.

Instead, he whispered, "If you stay, Lily, there are rules."

"Rules?"

"No lies. No pretending. And no running when it gets dark."

Her heart thudded. "I don't run."

"We'll see."

And then he kissed her.

It wasn't soft. It wasn't sweet. It was fire-sharp and consuming. His hands gripped her waist as she melted into him, fingers curling into his shirt, pulling him closer. The broken piano behind her groaned beneath their weight.

She didn't care.

She hadn't felt anything this real in years.

When they finally broke apart, her lips were swollen, her pulse racing.

"What happens now?" she asked, breathless.

Gabriel's expression darkened, but not with fear. With hunger.

"Now," he said, "we wake the ghosts."

He walked to a stack of tapes on the shelf and picked one labeled only with a date-six years ago. He slid it into a vintage player, and as it clicked to life, the room filled with sound.

A voice-his voice-singing. Softer, younger. Hopeful.

Then a second voice joined in. A woman's.

Lily froze.

It was beautiful. Fragile and wild. The way they harmonized sounded like heartbreak and healing all at once.

"Who is she?" Lily asked quietly.

Gabriel stared at the player like it was a grave.

"Her name was Mara."

"Was?"

He nodded once. "She was the first voice that ever understood mine. And the last."

Lily wanted to ask more-but then the door above them slammed shut. Hard.

They both turned.

A second passed. Then a third.

Then footsteps-slow, deliberate-echoed down the staircase.

Gabriel's eyes sharpened. "No one's supposed to know I'm here."

Lily rose. "Who is it?"

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind a crumbling column, just as a figure appeared in the doorway.

A man. Tall, wearing a tailored coat and a cruel smile. His eyes scanned the room with practiced calculation.

"Still hiding under stages like a broken boy, Gabriel?" the man called.

Gabriel's jaw clenched. "Sebastian."

Lily stayed quiet, heart pounding.

"I heard the piano," the man continued. "And I thought-surely, he wouldn't be stupid enough to come back here."

Gabriel stepped into view. "And yet here you are."

Sebastian smiled. "You're predictable. I told you that."

"What do you want?"

"The usual," Sebastian said. "To remind you that you owe me. And to collect."

His gaze shifted. "You're not alone, are you?"

Gabriel didn't answer.

Sebastian's smile widened. "Well. That's interesting."

Lily stepped out slowly, refusing to be hidden. "And who are you?"

Sebastian looked her over with amused interest. "A fan? Or just another lost soul Gabriel's seducing with his sad little songs?"

"She's not your concern," Gabriel snapped.

"Oh, but she is. Especially if she's gotten close enough to be used."

Gabriel moved forward, dangerous now. "If you touch her-"

Sebastian raised a hand. "Relax. I'm not here to break your toy. Just to remind you of the past. And the debts you still owe it."

With one last smirk, Sebastian turned and left, his footsteps retreating like gunshots.

The moment he was gone, Lily exhaled. "What the hell was that?"

Gabriel turned to her, something dark moving behind his eyes. "That was the man who ruined my life. And now-he's back."