Sweet Harmony (33 page)

"I'm sure, Dad." She hopped to her feet. "If that's everything, I'll be going to bed."

Before her dad could say anything more, she headed to the door.

Just as she twisted the handle, her dad said, "You have the right to be a little selfish, you know. You can go back."

It took her a moment to realize he was talking about the situation with Jaiden. He'd heard their conversation, after all.

"Just because I have the right to be s
elfish doesn't mean I should be. I'm not Mom," she said quietly. "Goodnight, Dad."

"Goodnight."

She fled to her bedroom.

****

Annamarie sat in a courtroom beside her dad. Nathan was in the row across from hers, but he wasn't wearing the awful orange attire of a prisoner. Instead he wore a black suit and a blood red tie. It was Daniel who was dressed up like a prisoner as his head hung low. Jaiden sat behind him, murmuring words of comfort.

What the heck is going on?
she thought, wondering what Daniel was doing dressed like a jailbird. She turned her gaze toward the judge. It was a plump woman wearing robes.

"Annamarie Chadwick is called to the stand," someone said.

Her heart thundered in her chest.

"Annamarie, get up." Her dad elbowed her. "
You were called."

Shaking, she
teetered over to the wooden chair by the judge. She sunk onto the seat, her palms slick with sweat.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" the judge asked.

"I do," she whispered, even though her voice raised a pitch.

Nathan marched over to her, his eyes cruel and mean.
It took her a moment to realize he was acting as Daniel's lawyer.

"On the
afternoon of March 13th, did you or did you not admit your feelings for Daniel Marino?" Nathan asked, his voice as sharp as daggers.

What the heck was he asking? What right did he have to question her
about that? Her cheeks were so hot she was surprised they weren't steaming.

"That's really none of your business," she snapped.

"Answer the question." The judge's tone was harsh.

She turned to look at her dad—surely he would find this situation odd—but the man looked disappointed by her non-answer.

"Um, I guess I did," she whispered, feeling so ashamed she could have melted.

"You did." Nathan nodded, an evil grin crossing his face. "And did you or did you not request that Daniel Marino sleep next to you in bed
earlier that week?"

Okay, her dad was going to flip out now. No way would he believe
her actions had been innocent. When she turned to look at him, though, his face was expressionless. There was definitely something wrong. Any father would react. She turned her gaze toward Daniel once again and he shot her a furious glare.

"Ms. Chadwick, I'm losing patience with you," the judge said. "Answer the question."

"Y-yes." She nodded. "I did ask Daniel to sleep next to me."

"Right."
Nathan nodded, looking like a fierce beast ready to devour his prey. "Do you admit you still have feelings for Mr. Marino?" 

Oh gosh. Why did she have to answer th
at? She wanted to argue with Nathan, but the judge looked enraged enough.

"Yeah." She turned her face away so she couldn't see
Daniel's reaction.

"And
do you admit that you know of Mr. Marino's feelings for you?" Nathan asked.

It was hard not to know about
Daniel's feelings. He was as subtle as a hammer to the head.

"Yeah, I do." She nodded.

"Then why is it that you left Mr. Marino without a word?" Nathan sounded nasty now.

"I didn't have another choice," she said.

"There's always another choice!" Nathan screamed right in her face.

"I swear there wasn't
," she said, her hands clenching in her lap.

"Hostile witness," the judge said. "Take her away."

What? She wasn't hostile. Guards streamed in from the double-doors as her dad groaned and hid his face in his hands. She gazed at Daniel who was still watching her with anger in his eyes.

"Daniel, I swear
leaving was the only option I had," she said.

One of the guards seized her arms and
pulled her from the chair.

"Help me, Daniel," she said as she was yanked to the door.

"How dare you ask me to help you?" Daniel snapped.

"Yeah!
" Jaiden agreed. "You left him."

She was pulled out the doors of the court
room and into darkness.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"I didn't have another choice!" Annamarie wailed as she awoke with a start.

It took
her a moment to realize she was in her room safe and sound. She groaned and climbed out of bed. Since it was eight o'clock in the morning, she might as well begin her day. Her tutor would be at the house at nine anyway. She stretched and decided to head to the dining room. If she skipped another meal, her dad might just murder her.

She left her bedroom and went to eat breakfast. When she entered the dining room, her dad was already at the table nibbling on a piece of toast.

"Good morning, Dad." She sunk into her chair, feeling like she'd been beaten up by an army of thugs.

Her dad looked up from his toast and did a double-take.

"Did you sleep at all?" he asked. "You look exhausted."

"I'm fine," she said, taking a sip of water but not eating.

"I could tell your tutor you need rest and send him away," he said.

"No, I can do my lessons
," she said.

"
You used to do everything and anything to get out of studying." Her dad raised an eyebrow. "You even lit your tutor's pants on fire once."

"There's no reason I shouldn't
do my lessons." It would keep her mind off of her nightmare.

Her dad groaned again.

As Annamarie ignored him and took another drink, a maid walked into the dining room and looked at her dad.

"Sir, somebody is calling the house phone for you,"
the maid said. "The person is quite insistent."

"The house phone?" Her dad looked up.

The butler answered the house phone to screen calls. Only those who knew her dad had his cell phone number.

"Yes, sir."
The maid nodded.

"Did Mr. Johnson say who it was
that called?" he asked.

"No." The maid shook her head. "He just suggests you take
the call."

"Fine." Her dad stood up. "I'll take
it. Annamarie, when I get back, you'd better be eating."

Crap. She looked down at her plate as her dad left the room.

****

Annamarie sat at
her desk, hunched over a piece of paper. Mr. Fritz, her newest tutor, sat in a chair with a book in his hands. Right now she was supposed to be doing an assignment on German adjectives, but she couldn't focus no matter how hard she tried. Her brain was in a fog. She chewed on her eraser, even though she knew it was yet another awful habit that she should break.

Just as she let out a grunt of frustration
, the door to the study opened and her dad walked into the room. She wondered if he was coming to check up on her. Instead of greeting her, though, her parent looked first at her aged tutor.

"Mr. Fritz, you can leave for the day," her dad said. "My daughter will study
some other time."

Her tutor appeared displeased but masked his frown quickly.

"As you wish." Mr. Fritz bowed his head, seized his briefcase, and then left the study.

Annamarie leapt to her feet.

"I told you I'm fine," she said. "You didn't have to send him away."

Of course, if her dad checked her assignment, he'd see otherwise.

"You have a visitor," her dad said. "I thought it would do you some good to speak with him."

"A visitor?" She froze. "Who is it?"

"It's a surprise." Her dad reached for her arm. "Come on."

Confused and startled, she allowed her dad to lead her out of the room and down the hall. H
e stopped at their sitting room door. Her mom used to use the room for entertaining her glamorous friends.

"Go i
n." Her dad nodded at the door.

"Aren't you coming
inside too?"

"Why on earth would I do that?" her dad asked. "It's your guest, not mine."

She hesitated, suspicious now.

"Who is it?" she asked for a second time.

"I told you, it's a surprise," he said.

Surprise or not, s
he had a bad feeling about how weird her dad was acting.

"I won't go in unless you tell me
who it is," she said.

Her dad sighed.

"I hoped you wouldn't be stubborn, but I should have known you would be." Her dad opened the door. "Sorry about this, sweetie."

"Sorry about
what—AGH!"

Her dad shoved her into the room
and locked the door behind her. What the heck? Her dad had trapped her in here. She pounded at the door until her knuckles burned.

"Boy, you don't seem too happy to see me," Daniel said from behind her.

"Of course I'm…I'm…" Wait a second. Daniel?

She turned around slowly. Sure enough, Daniel sat on the couch, his blue eyes shimmering. Maybe it was the week a
way from one another, but he looked more handsome now than ever before. And boy was she happy to see him. Unfortunately, that joy was accompanied by misery.

"You're in so much trouble." Daniel stood up, his eyes crackling with fire. "Do you know how much I had to go through to come here in the middle of the school year? It's a good
thing Mrs. Carmichael okayed my absences or else my family would have never let me go."

"Did you plan this with my dad?" she asked.

"I called him and asked to see you, yes." Daniel scowled. "Unfortunately, your dad is a hard man to reach. I've been calling the house all week long."

"You wanted to see me that bad
?" she asked.

"Of course." Daniel nodded. "Didn't I tell
you that when I want something, I get it? Well, I want you more than anything else in the world. You and I are staying together."

The words made it hard for her to think.
Daniel approached and her brain turned into soup. She could see her reflection in his blue eyes.
No!
She was falling under his spell again and she didn't want to. She had to remain strong for Jaiden's sake.

"
You have to understand that I left for a reason," she said.

"Jay told me exactly why you
ran away about six hours after your plane left New York." Daniel's jaw clenched. "I guess he felt guilty, chasing you away. I would have been here sooner if I hadn't needed to have a long discussion with him."

"Jaiden told
you?" Stupid Jaiden. She'd done all of this for him.

"Of course." Daniel nodded. "Believe me, I had some choice words for him for not
speaking up sooner. We also came to blows."

Daniel lifted up his sleeve and revealed a dark bruise the size of a fist on his forearm. She sucked in air.

"Jaiden did that to you?" She gasped.

"Yep." Daniel looked pleased. "Of course, I won
the fist fight."

"Is he okay?" she asked.

"Yep." Daniel nodded. "He just has a black eye."

"You're best friends." She didn't
like that they'd come to blows, even though she was punch happy herself. "You shouldn't hit each other."

"It's
a guy thing," Daniel said. "After Jay relieved some of his anger by landing a few punches, he was actually able to talk. I can't believe he even humored the idea of going to Paris. What's worse, though, is that you didn't talk to me when you heard what he was planning."

"The two of you were fighting enough as it
was," she said. "I didn't want it to get worse. You have the tendency to antagonize people."

She gave him an accusing stare.

"That may be so, but I wouldn't have let Jay leave." He shook his head. "Even if he'd gone, I would have brought him back."

"But he didn't want to be around the two of us," she said.

"He realized he was being an idiot about that," Daniel said. "We compromised. He won't leave for Paris. In return, you and I can't rub it in his face that we're together. You two can still be friends. End of story."

"He really agreed to all
of that?" She was so relieved she let out a laugh. Maybe she could really return to the academy again. "He wants me to come back?"

"Yep. See what would have happened if you'd come to me
in the beginning instead of running to London like an idiot?" he said. "I'm your boyfriend. We're going to have to work on your trust issues. If you have a problem, you've got to tell me right away."

"
When did we agree to be boyfriend and girlfriend?" She raised an eyebrow. "You're assuming things again."

"Still playing hard to get, are we?" Daniel chuckled. "I can't believe I
've missed your idiotic stubbornness."

"Hey!"
The warrior in her roared. "Don't call me stubborn, you egotistical chauvinist."

"Yeah, yeah." He winked, then placed his hands on h
er shoulders. "Is it egotistical to say that you're going to admit I'm your boyfriend in about, oh, thirty seconds?"

"Says who—"

Daniel's lips came crashing down on hers. The warmth of his mouth against her own made tingles spread through her entire body. His hard lips chased away all of the pain she'd experienced over the past week. Her heart, which felt so tattered and worn only minutes before, beat with renewed energy. After one second with the right person, all pain was chased away and the world was balanced again. Even though she was annoyed with Daniel already, she pressed herself against him, desperate for more of his blinding heat that forced out the darkness.

With a grunt, Daniel p
ushed her against the wall. Her back ached from the pressure of his body pressing roughly against hers, but she didn't care. By the time Daniel pulled back just enough to stare into her eyes, she shivered. His blue irises were hypnotic. She suddenly had a difficult time thinking. What was she irritated about again? She couldn't remember.

"
I'm your boyfriend," he said. "Admit it."

"Um…" Think, darn it! Think!
She was supposed to be arguing, not mumbling incoherently.

"
Still not going to say it? Fine," Daniel said. "Let me try a little harder."

Daniel laid kisses along her jaw
and journeyed to her neck. A shiver ran down her spine. Any hope she had of regaining control went out the window.

"Tell me
who your boyfriend is," he whispered in her ear.

Oh, to heck with it. Stubbornness was overrated anyway.

"You are," she admitted begrudgingly.

"Good." Daniel stepped back. "Now that we've got that all cleared up, you really need to pack your bags. You're going back to the academy.
I talked to your dad and he says he fully approves of my plan."

After she caught her breath
, she realized she was being ordered around by Daniel again.

"Says who?" Okay, maybe she wanted to go back
to the academy, but she didn't want to be told to go.

"Says me." He smirked at her. "Didn't I tell you I always get what I want?"

"I've heard it somewhere before," she said dryly.

"You'll be hearing it a lot more," Daniel said. "I already told Mrs. Carmichael to have your
dorm room prepared. She even fixed the lock, which she should have done a lot sooner."

"Why are you so confident I'll go
back with you?" she asked.

"Because you like me." He winked. "You act all ornery, but you'd do anything for me."

Outside the door, her dad called, "Annamarie, quit being so stubborn. Just go with him. He likes you and you're miserable here without him."

"Dad, be quiet," Yuri hissed. "You're acting so juvenile."

"Eavesdropping was your idea," her dad said.

"It most certainly was not." The door rattled. "I happened to be passing by with tea when I saw you pressing your head against the door. I just stopped to see what you were doing."

"And you just happened to stand with your head against the wall for five minutes?" her dad asked.

"Hmph," Yuri said.

They had been listening the whole time? Suddenly, she remembered Daniel making her admit he was her boyfriend. It was embarrassing her dad and little brother had heard the exchange.
Why, why, why?
She started banging her head against the wall. It hurt more than usual because of her bruises.

"Don't do that.
" Daniel pulled her back. "You're going to get another concussion."

"
Good. Maybe then I'll forget about this whole conversation," she muttered.

"I don't think you want to do that." He grinned at her. "By the way, I really like your family. They're
strange just like you."

What was with
the name calling? She kicked Daniel in the shin. He howled, gripping his leg.