I spent the next four hours digging. I used my private investigator—the one I’d kept on retainer since I made my first million—to look into Silas and Elena’s finances.

The “masterpiece” was a business.

The Vances were broke. They had gambled their fortune on Bella’s career. The concerts, the sponsorships, the high-stakes recordings—it was all leveraged. If Bella didn’t play, the bank took the house. If Bella didn’t play, the Vances were paupers.

They had been pushing her. Feeding her performance-enhancing stimulants to keep her at the piano for fourteen hours a day. They had literally burned out her kidneys to keep the music playing.