He Smashed My Violin And Lost Me

The muffled roar of the crowd still vibrated through the floorboards. Beyond the heavy velvet curtains, the backstage crew popped champagne, celebrating my sold-out solo debut.

I hugged Maestro Valerius’s antique violin against my chest, the polished wood warm against my skin. I needed to find Ethan. My husband had missed the final bow, but I wanted to share this triumph with him first.

I pushed open the door to his private lounge.

Ethan had Laney pinned against the makeup vanity. His hands gripped her waist. Her fingers tangled in his hair. They were swallowing each other.

I didn’t drop the violin. I squeezed the neck of the instrument so hard my knuckles turned white.

"Are we celebrating early?" I asked.

Ethan shoved backward, wiping his mouth with the back of his wrist.

Laney didn’t move away. She smoothed her skirt, leaning her hip against the vanity. Laney Foster. The girl who made my high school years a living hell, now standing in my husband's dressing room with smeared lipstick.

"Still a sore loser, Elowen?" Laney smiled, tracing a fingernail down Ethan’s lapel. "Just like in biology class. Always walking in at the wrong time."

"Get out of my husband's dressing room," I said.

"Keep your voice down," Ethan snapped. He stepped in front of Laney, shielding her from my view. "People are right outside in the hallway."

"You're worried about the noise?" I stepped further into the room, kicking the door shut behind me with a loud thud. "Not the fact that your tongue was down my former bully's throat?"

"It was a momentary lapse of control. Don't make a scene, Elowen."

A dry, humorless laugh scraped up my throat. "A lapse? Her lipstick is smeared across your chin, Ethan. You didn't slip and fall into her mouth."

"We were just talking," Ethan insisted, adjusting his collar. "Things got out of hand. You're blowing this out of proportion."

"I walked in on you kissing her!"

"And I said it was a mistake!" he yelled. "Can you just listen for one second instead of being so hysterical?"

I walked over to the center table and gently set the Maestro’s violin down in its open case. I needed my hands free. I needed to slap him.

Before I could cross the room, Laney shifted. She reached for her silver clutch resting near the violin case. Her elbow swung out.

She looked right into my eyes as her arm swiped the table.

The violin teetered on the edge.

"Don't!" I lunged forward.

I caught the instrument just before it hit the concrete floor, clutching it to my chest. My momentum carried me forward, and my shoulder slammed into Laney’s legs.

Laney shrieked. She threw herself backward into Ethan’s chest, clutching her ankle. "Ow! Ethan, she pushed me!"

Ethan wrapped his arms around Laney, glaring down at me. "Are you insane, Elowen? She could have hit her head!"

"She knocked over the Maestro's violin!" I stood up, cradling the wood. "She did it on purpose. She looked right at me!"

"I was just reaching for my bag," Laney whimpered, burying her face in Ethan's shirt. "I didn't even see the violin. Why is she always so aggressive?"

"You've been completely unhinged since the curtain dropped." Ethan pointed a finger at my face. "Everything is always a massive drama with you. You're overreacting to everything tonight."

"Overreacting?" I stared at the man I had married three years ago. "You are defending the woman you just kissed. You are blaming me for saving a two-hundred-year-old instrument that she tried to break."

"She didn't try to break anything! You're acting crazy."

"You've always been jealous of me," Laney said, peeking out from behind Ethan's shoulder. "Even in high school. You couldn't handle that I got first chair."

"You bribed the conductor," I shot back. "Just like you're manipulating my husband right now."

"Manipulating?" Ethan scoffed. "She listens to me, Elowen. She doesn't constantly demand my attention or make me feel like I'm second best to a piece of wood." He gestured toward the violin in my arms.

"You're justifying this?" I asked. "You're actually blaming my career for your infidelity?"

"I'm saying you're never present!" Ethan shouted. "You're always practicing, always touring. Laney understands what it's like to support someone."

"She's a cellist in a second-rate orchestra," I said coldly. "She doesn't support anyone but herself."

Laney gasped, clutching Ethan's arm tighter. "See how she talks to me? She's so cruel, Ethan."

"Apologize to her," Ethan demanded.

"Are you out of your mind?" I stared at him. "You want me to apologize to the woman you were just making out with?"

"You insulted her career!"

"She tried to destroy my mentor's violin!"

"It's just a stupid instrument!" Ethan roared. "You care more about that dead man's violin than you do about our marriage!"

"Right now, this violin is the only thing in this room worth anything to me."

That was the trigger.

"I said, calm down!"

He lunged. His hand clamped around the neck of the violin.

"Ethan, no!"

He wrenched it from my grip with brute force.

Before I could grab his arm, he swung the instrument in a wide arc and slammed it onto the concrete floor.

Wood splintered. The strings snapped with a sharp, violent twang. The bridge shattered into three pieces, scattering across the room. The hollow body of the antique cracked wide open, exposing the delicate ribs inside.

Dead silence filled the room.

The champagne corks popping outside felt a million miles away.

I stared at the ruined varnished wood. Maestro Valerius's legacy. The only thing he left me before he passed away. Gone in a single second.

My chest hollowed out. I didn't scream. I didn't cry. The tears simply refused to form.

I looked up at Ethan. He stood panting, staring at the debris like he didn't know how it got there. His hands hung loosely at his sides.

"Elowen, I..." Ethan swallowed hard, taking a half-step back. "You wouldn't listen to me. You pushed me to do that."

I reached for my left hand. I twisted the diamond ring, sliding it off my finger with a sharp tug.

I tossed it.

The ring clattered against the broken neck of the violin, the diamond catching the harsh vanity lights.

"What are you doing?" Ethan asked, his voice trembling slightly. He looked down at the ring, then back up at my face. "Elowen, pick that up. Stop being dramatic."

"You didn't just smash a violin," I told him. My voice held no warmth, no anger. Just absolute finality.

"You can't just walk away because of one fight. We have a mortgage. We have investors for your next album."

"You don't have anything anymore." I knelt on the cold floor, gathering the splintered pieces of wood into my arms. "Call your lawyer."

"You'll ruin your own reputation!" he threatened, his panic turning back into anger. "If you walk out that door, I'll tell the press you had a mental breakdown. I'll tell them the pressure of the solo debut cracked you."

"Tell them whatever you want."

The jagged edges dug into my skin, but I didn't care. I picked up the bridge. I picked up the snapped strings.

Laney stepped over the debris, her shoes narrowly missing my fingers.

She crouched down next to me.

I didn't look at her. I just kept gathering the wood.

"Oh, by the way," Laney whispered, leaning close to my ear. Her voice carried a sickeningly sweet tone. "That European tour spot you were celebrating tonight? The one you thought you secured?"

I froze, a piece of spruce hovering in my hand.

Laney smiled, her eyes gleaming with triumph. "Ethan already recommended me for it."