Read Chapter 28: The Baron's Opposition

The clearing smelled of crushed ferns and damp earth. Dusk had painted the forest in shades of violet and bruised blue, and Evie stood with her back against an ancient oak, her heart hammering against her ribs. She had come alone—Julien was watching the road from a concealed copse—and she had been waiting for nearly an hour.

Then the undergrowth rustled, and Lily emerged.

She wore a plain grey dress now, not the garish flamenco costume of the garden party, and her dark hair was pulled back severely. Even so, the resemblance between them was unmistakable—the same wide-set eyes, the same stubborn set of the jaw. Their father's face, split between two daughters born on opposite sides of the world.

"You came," Evie breathed.

"I said I would." Lily's voice was tight, strained. She glanced over her shoulder, then stepped closer, lowering her voice to a whisper. "But we have very little time. The Baron has already noticed I was gone from my room tonight. If I'm not back within the hour, he'll send men looking."

Evie nodded, her mind racing. "Then we don't waste a moment. Tell me everything about this place—the layout, the guards, the routine. And tell me about Étienne. What does he hold over you?"

Lily's laugh was hollow. "Everything. My contract, my earnings, my very name. He bought my indenture from Lucien—" She spat the name like poison. "—and he took me to La Clairière. The Baron thinks I'm just another performer. But Étienne told him the truth, that I'm their father's bastard. He thinks I'll be useful as a bargaining chip with the legitimate family."

"Does he know about me?"

Lily's eyes met hers. "No. Étienne doesn't know you exist. Only Lucien does, and he's saying nothing—not while you keep your silence." Her voice dropped even further. "And it has to stay that way, Evie. If Étienne discovers there are two of us now, with you in a position of influence in Paris society..."

"He'll try to control us both."

"Yes." Lily grabbed her arm, her fingers cold. "Evie, listen to me. The Baron isn't just a collector of performers. He keeps notes on all of us—our true parentage, our histories, our weaknesses. It's in a ledger in his study. If he ever decides to use that information, he can destroy us. Ruin us publicly, expose our mother's shame, drag our father's name through the mud even after his death."

Evie's blood ran cold. "The legitimate family. The one that never acknowledged us."

"They're powerful," Lily said. "French aristocracy, well-connected. If the Baron exposes us as the illegitimate daughters of a French officer who seduced an Indochinese woman, neither of us will be able to show our faces in Paris. Your Count—whatever he means to you—he'll cast you out. You'll be a scandal, just like in New York. But worse."

Evie's jaw tightened. She had escaped one scandal by crossing an ocean. She would not be chased from another.

"Then we don't let him use that information," she said firmly. "We take it from him."

Lily's eyes widened. "You don't understand. The Baron's study is always locked. He's paranoid. He has guards—"

"I have Julien." Evie spoke the name with more confidence than she felt. "And I have a plan forming. Tell me about the ledger. Where does he keep it? What does it look like?"

Lily hesitated, but desperation won out. "It's a red leather book, bound with brass corners. He keeps it in a safe behind a painting in his study—a landscape of the Loire valley. I saw him open it once when he thought I was asleep. The combination is engraved inside his watch case. He never lets the watch leave his person."

Evie filed the details away. "And the Baron himself. Does he know you tried to see me tonight?"

Lily shook her head. "He knows I went for a walk. I told him I needed air." She glanced back toward the path. "I should go. If he grows suspicious, he might search my room, find the note you slipped me. Everything would be over."

Evie reached for her hand and squeezed it. "Tomorrow night. Same time. I'll come back with Julien, and we'll have a plan. Trust me."

The word felt heavy on her tongue. Trust was a luxury neither of them had been afforded. But Lily nodded, her lips pressing into a thin line.

"I trust you," she said quietly. "You're the only family I have left."

Then she was gone, slipping through the trees like a ghost, leaving Evie alone in the gathering darkness.

---

Julien met her on the road a quarter hour later, emerging from the shadows with his collar turned up against the evening chill.

"Well?" he asked.

Evie recounted everything. When she finished, Julien was silent for a long moment, his brow furrowed in thought.

"A ledger of secrets," he murmured. "The Baron de Saint-Loup has built his empire on blackmail. He isn't just a patron of the arts—he's a collector of souls."

"Then we give him a taste of his own medicine." Evie's voice was steady, hard. She had survived New York. She would survive this. "We need to get into that study and steal that ledger. And we need to do it before Étienne can use Lily as a bargaining chip with the legitimate family."

"You mean before the Baron decides to sell her off to the highest bidder," Julien said grimly. "This isn't just about freedom, Evie. It's about leverage. If we have that ledger, we have everything. We can expose the Baron's practices, ruin his reputation. We can make him release Lily and her contract without a fight."

Evie nodded slowly. "But we need a way in. The Baron is paranoid. The study is locked, the safe has a combination only he knows, and he never lets that watch out of his sight."

Julien's eyes sparked with something that might have been admiration. "Then we take the watch."

"Julien—"

"We're already playing a dangerous game," he said, his voice low and urgent. "We came here posing as entertainers. We're already risking my family's reputation, your career, everything. If we're going to be damned, let's be damned for something that matters."

Evie studied his face in the dim light. There was a fire there she hadn't seen before—not just the passion of a musician, but the determination of a man who had finally found something worth fighting for.

"All right," she said. "Tomorrow night, we go back to the villa. We find a way to separate the Baron from that watch, and we break into that study. We take the ledger, and we expose him."

"And if he catches us?"

Evie met his gaze. "Then we make sure we're the ones holding the evidence, and we're far away before he can do anything about it. We'll bring everything to the authorities—the police, the newspapers. The Baron's power comes from secrets. If we take them away, he has nothing."

Julien reached out and took her hand. His palm was warm, calloused from the piano.

"When this is over," he said quietly, "when we've set Lily free and buried the Baron's ambitions and Lucien's threats—I want to play for you. Not in a club, not for money. Just for you, in a room with a good piano and no one else listening."

Evie's heart stuttered. In all the chaos of the past weeks, she had barely allowed herself to think of the future—of what it might look like beyond survival, beyond escape.

"I'd like that," she said softly.

He smiled—a rare, genuine smile that softened the sharp lines of his face. Then he straightened, releasing her hand.

"We'll need help getting inside La Clairière," he said, his mind already turning to practical matters. "And we'll need someone who knows the Baron's routines. But first, we need to get back to the inn before anyone notices we're gone."

They began to walk, side by side, the forest dark around them. A single thought circled in Evie's mind, sharp as steel. Lucien had used her. Étienne had used Lily. The Baron would use anyone to maintain his power.

But she was through being used.

She would become the one doing the taking.