Chapter 18

Silvia I said I'd rather go to Alpha Schellman's office. But now I'm here, sitting on his luxurious leather couch. My sketchbook was open in front of me and I couldn't concentrate at all. The office was eerily quiet except for the occasional rustle of papers as Alpha Sherman reviewed documents at his desk. Every few seconds, my eyes darted to my phone lying face-up on the coffee table, its screen stubbornly dark—Noah still hadn't called, texted, or sent even a single word. I tried to focus on composing music, the one thing that usually made my heart race and my fingers tingle with anticipation. Music was where I felt I could truly create something meaningful. But my mind was a jumble of scattered thoughts, bouncing between Noah's pained expression. Alpha Sherman 's blunt confession, and the awkward silence that followed. Every mark on the paper looked chaotic and messy, just like my current thoughts. I sighed heavily, scratching another line with my pencil. Then I heard deliberate, so