Chapter 20: Confessions
Amelia and Matteo walked back to the main hall quietly, unaware of the confession in the room. Matteo had handed the flute to Amelia to hold, and she decided to examine it closely, slowly twirling it in her hands to look for the supposed defects.
There were some bumps and scratches, but Amelia knew that those were caused by her childhood self when she tried to use it as a conductor baton. It had nothing to do with the poor girl stuffing it into a locker.
"Mr. Montgomery, actually... this flute isn't really damaged," Amelia said sheepishly. "I don't know how to tell you this, but the bumps and scratches were already there."
He didn't need to scare the living daylights out of Mr. Giovanni.
"Is that so?" Matteo replied with a raised eyebrow. "And how would you know this?"
Amelia froze, but then she sighed. What was the point of keeping this secret from her boss?
He had already seen her with wine in her hair on her knees in front of Caleb. He could not think that she was any more pathetic to begin with.
"This used to be my mother's," Amelia said, caressing the flute.
The stone was cold, much like her mother's hand when she held it for the last time before she was laid to rest. Tears began to well up in Amelia's eyes.
"Back then, I sold it because I needed the money for Caleb― and I've regretted it ever since. I was such a fool. This was her favorite and I sold it for a measly five hundred dollars and―"
And Caleb was loaded; he could spend one million dollars on this flute, but he never bothered to redeem it back for her, and after, it was gone.