"Have you taken leave of your senses? What in heaven's name were you thinking?"
Erik did not always see eye to eye with his lawyer, but in this instance he had to admit the man was right in expressing his doubts about the situation. He could not even offer him a decent answer because the truth was he hardly knew himself what had been going through his head when he asked the girl to stay in exchange for paying for her father's medical care. He did not know the girl, did not have any connection to her whatsoever, and yet the moment he heard her sing he knew he could not let her leave. He had heard the voice of an angel, and although he had not understood every word of what she was singing – his Swedish was a little rusty - her music had spoken straight to his soul. If he even had a soul, that is. He knew that the notion would not make sense to anyone else. There was simply no other way to explain it. All he knew was that he needed her to stay.
"Honestly, I do not believe I was thinking, Nadir," he admitted with a deep sigh, nervously pacing the floor of his study, "but it is too late to go back now."
Nadir pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers in obvious frustration. Seeing as he had been Erik's closest (and, frankly, his only) friend for the past twenty years, the man really should have been used to dealing with his strange demands, although to be fair this must have been the strangest yet.
"Very well, then. You want me to draw up a contract for this… arrangement. What exactly do you wish to include in it?" He was sitting at Erik's desk, pen in hand and an empty sheet of paper in front of him, waiting for Erik to start dictating.
Erik shot his friend a quizzical look from across the room. "How should I know? You're the lawyer, are you not? I have not exactly had much experience with situations like these."
"And you think I have?" Nadir exclaimed. He let out an exasperated sigh. "You are truly unbelievable. You are the one who suggested this little deal to the young lady. So how about you start by telling me what you want her to do once she has moved in here. We have already established that she is to sing for you occasionally, but even if she were to perform every night, that still leaves her with a lot of time on her hands. So how else is she to spend her days here?"
Ah, that was a good question. What did he want her to do? He really should have given this more thought before his miserable mouth ran away with him. Except for Nadir, Madame Giry, and the few other servants he had kept on to keep the estate running, he had hardly had any company ever since his father's death, much less female company. And there was a good reason for that: he did not want company. His asking the girl to stay as his companion would sound absolutely ridiculous to anyone who knew him, but it had been the only excuse he could think of to keep her here. The sound of her voice still haunted him.
"Can we not figure that out as we go? I told her she was to keep me company and she seemed to accept that vague description without questions. I'm sure she and I can discuss the particulars when the need arises. What is more important is that the contract states that in case any harm comes to her during her stay, the contract will be dissolved immediately and she will be free to leave."
Nadir did not seem very impressed with the rather imprecise contents of the contract, but refrained from offering further comments and simply started writing. Arguing with Erik on matters like these had not gotten him anywhere in the past. Erik could be as stubborn as a mule, and they were both aware of it.
"You can add that, should that come to pass, I will continue to pay for her father's care until she has found another solution."
Nadir quirked an eyebrow at him.
"That is quite generous of you. I have never known you to be so… charitable towards strangers."
"Well, none of this was the girl's idea, was it? I'm well aware that she only accepted this insane proposition for her father's sake. If I manage to mess this up – and let's be honest, that particular scenario is not unimaginable – that does not mean her father should pay for it. And you know as well as I do that I would not miss the money."
Nadir rolled his eyes at the comment, probably thinking Erik did not see, but did not say anything as he took up his pen and continued writing.
It was true, Erik had more money than he knew what to do with, an inheritance from his late father, who would probably turn in his grave if he saw him squandering his money on two poor street musicians, which made the idea all the more appealing.
He and Nadir continued discussing the terms of the contract until about an hour later, just as the final words had been written down, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in," Erik called out.
The door swung open to reveal Madame Giry.
"Mademoiselle Daaé is awake and would like a word with you," she informed him.
"Very well, send her in," Erik replied.
Nadir took this as his cue to leave, making room behind the desk for Erik. He waited for Mademoiselle Daaé to enter and pulled the door closed behind him on his way out.
The girl looked remarkably better after a night's rest in a warm, dry room. She was wearing a simple but clean grey dress and her long dark hair, which had been falling in her face in wet strands the previous evening, was now neatly pinned up. Studying her by the glowing light of the fire from a dark corner in the sitting room last night he had already found she held a certain appeal, soaked and dishevelled as she was, but now that he saw her in the daylight falling through the window of his study, he realized how pretty she really was.
Wait, why was he giving any consideration to her physical appearance? Maybe it was the fact that except for Madame Giry, he had not enjoyed any female company in years, or maybe he was simply tired, the memory of her voice having kept him tossing and turning in bed all night. Whatever it was, he had not thought about a woman in that way in a very long time, if at all, and he would not start now.
No, such thoughts would not do. How she looked was of no importance. This was a business arrangement, nothing more, or at least that was what he told himself.
"Mademoiselle Daaé, please take a seat." He gestured to the chair in front of her.
"Thank you," she replied as she sat down, "Monsieur…?"
"Erik."
She gave him a questioning look.
"I do not use my last name," he clarified.
She waited for a moment, as if she were expecting further explanation. When it became clear she would not receive any, she nodded and said: "Very well, Erik."
He cleared his throat and came straight to business. "I suppose you have come to discuss the terms of your contract. As you saw, my lawyer just finished writing a first draft," he said, pushing said document towards her. "Rest assured, alterations can still be made if there is anything you do not agree with, although I believe you will find the contents to correspond with what we already discussed last night."
He studied her as she read through the contract, trying to determine what she was thinking, but she kept her expression carefully blank. She seemed to be just as fine an actress as she was a singer. When she was finished, she simply asked for a pen and signed her name to the contract in an elegant hand.
"Good, I'm pleased we were able to come to an agreement so quickly," Erik said as he stood up, placing the papers neatly on the corner of his desk where Nadir was sure to find them later. "Now if you will excuse me, I have business to attend to. Feel free to explore the house and the grounds, but know that the west wing is off limits."
Her head snapped up, curiosity burning in her eyes.
"What's in the west wing?"
"Nothing," he answered too quickly.
"Nothing?" she repeated, raising an eyebrow.
He barely suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. God save him from the curiosity of women.
"Nothing that could possibly be of any interest to you," he replied, clenching his jaw, trying his best to keep his tone neutral. He should have known that she would ask questions, but he could not have her poke her nose into things that did not concern her. If she ever found out what was in the west wing, if she ever learned the truth, she would pack her things and leave immediately, regardless of the contract she had just signed.
"If it would not interest me, then surely there is no harm in my seeing it?"
"I said the west wing is off limits!" he snapped. "You are not to go there under any circumstances, is that understood?"
She shrank back in her chair, visibly taken aback by his outburst, lowering her eyes in submission.
Fantastic. She had not even been here for twenty-four hours and he had already managed to scare her.
He took a deep breath to calm himself and tried again. "Except for the west wing, you are free to go wherever you like here in the house or in the gardens. If there is anything you require, Madame Giry will take care of it."
"Actually," she began hesitantly, fixing her gaze on the carpet rather than looking at him, "I would like to see my father. Would it be possible for someone to show me to his room?"
"No, that will not be possible."
Now she did look at him, an anxious expression on her face.
"Why not? Has his condition worsened? He is still alive, is he not? Please tell me he is still alive."
Tears were forming in her eyes, her voice trembling. He held out a hand to stop her panicked rambling.
"Not to worry, mademoiselle. Your father made it through the night and was taken to the hospital early this morning."
She stared at him in bewilderment.
"He was… taken away? Already?"
"Well yes, I believed it to be in his best interest –"
"You sent him off without letting me say goodbye?" she asked, her voice rising in pitch and volume, making it sound more like an accusation than an actual question.
Was she upset with him? What an ungrateful child! She should be thanking him for acting so quickly!
"My father is deathly ill. I might never see him again, and you did not even give me the chance to say goodbye!"
"Enough!" he roared, banging his fist on the desk to silence her. "I decided it would be best to have him seen to by a doctor as soon as possible. You wanted your father to have the best chance of survival and that is exactly what I have given him. If I had let him stay long enough for you to say goodbye, he might not have made it to the hospital alive."
The situation might not be to her liking, but surely she had to admit that he had taken the best course of action considering the circumstances.
Suddenly the girl let out a loud sob, stood up and ran out of the room crying, slamming the door shut behind her on her way out.
After staring at the closed door for a long time, trying to comprehend what had just transpired, Erik fell back in his chair with a heavy sigh. Even though he was still convinced that he had made the right decision, he had never meant to make the girl cry, certainly not after he had already frightened her with his violent temper, all on the first day. All he had managed to do over the course of their very brief acquaintance was to show her what an ill-mannered brute he really was. This had been a disaster in the making from the very beginning. He never should have asked her to stay.