The Killer Queen

Noella only realized when she got out of the car that the music store Merrick had described as “sort of” actually took up a whole quaint little building right smack in the middle of Imperial. City’s busiest commercial street.

The place was a full six stories of musical heaven. Whether it was a zither, piano, or guitar, they had everything on and off the market.

They even had a lineup of instruments signed by the masters themselves. Pianos that international maestros had tickled the ivories on were just gathering dust in the corners here.

Noella stood at the entrance of the music store and was lost for words.

The gallery next door, the one the old man had lumped on her along with the music store, was already on Yasbel’s radar.

Polaris Star had wanted to snap it up and run it themselves, but Yasbel was playing hardball.

Beckett pointed to the jade sculptures at the entrance and said, “That’s a masterpiece by the carving legend, Master Sylvie. I had to fork out a pretty penny to snag it at the auction.”

Noella’s gaze fell on the all–too–familiar sculpture, and she went even quieter.

Those statues by the doors of the music store and gallery were her handiwork; carved during a data bottleneck at Polaris Star when she needed to cool off and rethink things. And even such pieces had fetched a cool 30 million at auction.

Beckett ushered Noella into the music store, and the bustling clerks all paused from their tasks. Beckett took Noella’s hand and introduced her, “From now on, this music store is Noella’s. She’s your boss. Got

it?”

The clerks exchanged glances, sensing something unusual in the air.

The young lady took over such a fancy joint right after coming back, so Merrick must think the world of her.

“Yes, Mr. Schnabel.” They replied.

Beckett waved over, and two suit–clad gents scurried over with fawning grins plastered on their faces, “Noella, meet Terrell, the manager of the music shop. And this is Travis, manager of the gallery next door. If you need anything, these are the guys to talk to.”

Noella nodded, going through the motions of meeting the team with Beckett.

After Beckett chatted with the managers about the latest quarter’s financial of music store and gallery, he turned to find Noella standing in front of a zither.

The zither was Master Rainer’s handiwork, priceless, and only on display in Merrick’s music store because the old man had begged and borrowed it, only to have to return it next month.

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Dressed in a light blue gown, Noella looked like a star under the perfectly adjusted lights of the store. Her dress was shimmering as if sprinkled with stardust. She stood there, and her elegant poise was like a piece of snowflake untouched by the world’s taint.

She was breathtaking, and Beckett couldn’t resist whipping out his phone to capture the beauty before his eyes.

Without a second thought, he shot that fairy–like pic into the family group chat.

Ulrich: [Noella looks gorgeous. She’s like a little fairy from our clan.]

Stirling: [Does sis fancy that zither, Beckett? Could we convince Master Rainer to sell it to us?]

Jasper: [I’ll touch base with Master Rainer right away, see how much he’d let it go for.]

Elara: [Noella looks great with those instruments too. Let’s buy them all, heck, just gift–wrap the whole store for her. If you guys are short on cash, I’ll foot the bill. You men are a bunch of cheapskates.]

The chat was charged like a standoff at high noon.

The Schnabel men were all fired up with a burning desire to splurge.

Who was a cheapskate? Talk about throwing away cash here!

Terrell, the manager of the music store, had pretty much run the show since Merrick rarely intervened and Beckett wasn’t a frequent visitor.

So, in his eyes, Noella was nothing more than a clueless heiress.

Do these young misses think they know music? She probably doesn’t even know the first thing. about a zither, he mused.

“Miss, this zither was personally crafted by Rainer. It’s one of a kind, so please be careful.” he thus added.

Noella looked up, giving Terrell in his sharp suit a nonchalant glance.

“The instruments here are all precious, and this one before you is the crown jewel. If you damage it, we’d be in hot water with Master Rainer.”

Beckett shot Terrell a less than friendly look, “My sister’s liking is the zither’s luck.”

Terrell apologized with his lips but couldn’t hide his skepticism.

Here comes a clueless heiress who probably doesn’t know what a zither was, yet she still wants to run the shop.

What a joke.

Noella turned away and settled in front of the zither, casually remarking. “If it’s so precious, why hasn’t anyone fixed contrabass strings when they’re damaged?”

Terrell was sweating bullets, “Well, it’s Master Rainer’s creation, and we wouldn’t dare…”

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“The contrabass strings are important. If you are not fixing them, that’s fine. But why didn’t your clean its whole soundboard as well?”

Noella knew Master Rainer. The old guy wouldn’t bother if it wasn’t perfect. He used the best. materials. And she’d hand–carved the soundboard’s pattern for him.

“Master Rainer would be livid if he knew how you were treating his zither.” As she spoke, Noella effortlessly opened a toolbox on the floor and began meticulously restoring the zither. She was carefully maintaining the strings to ensure the old man’s hard work wasn’t wasted.

Beckett’s icy gaze fell upon Terrell, “Terrell, I believe you owe me an explanation.”

“Well Mr. Schnabel, we really didn’t dare touch this instrument and since Master Rainer’s zithers are said to be unplayable by anyone. We never play it, so we never noticed this.”

Before Terrell could even finish his sentence, the melodious sound of a zither began to echo through the store.

The notes twinkled like fireflies, and the girl playing the piano had fingertips that were pink and lustrous, with nails that were just the right length and sported a soft pink hue. The music flowed in waves, as soothing and refreshing as a cool breeze under a bright moon, which made everyone around hold their breath.

Beckett was so pumped he didn’t forget to record the moment.

When the performance ended, Noella casually tuned the zither before getting up, “A zither is made to be played. What’s the point of having it otherwise? If I catch you guys slacking off and not maintaining the zither again, you can forget about working here.”

The staff in t

in the shop were utterly gobsmacked! They had been working there for years and had

never heard such amazing zither music before!

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This Missy wasn’t just some boss who had stumbled in; she was like a fairy descended from the heavens.

Terrell’s eyes were wide as saucers; he hadn’t expected the Missy whom he thought was ignorant to actually know her way around the zither, and to play it so well, too!

Meeting Noella’s gaze, clear and cool as a spring. Terrell broke out in a cold sweat, “Yes, Miss! We’ll be more careful from now on!”

With a grin, Beckett shared the video to the Schnabel family chat, adding, “No way! Can you believe there are people who haven’t heard this live?!”

The chat went dead silent.

A moment later, Beckett found himself kicked out of the group chat by Tristan.

Beckett was about to say something when he saw himself booted. “What? What’s this supposed to mean?” he frowned and asked.

Was he booted just because they never managed to hear her sister playing music?

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Speechless, Beckett opened his Facebook, and the first thing he saw was a video of Noella playing the zither, posted by Tristan: (Our little girl is growing up. Seeing my treasure play the piano is enough to bring a tear to a father’s eye! How’s my filming, everyone?]

Did you even film this?? Beckett mused.

Now he had to hurry up and buy that zither for Noella. Otherwise, she’d soon be snatched away by their other family members.

Beckett’s mouth twitched as he pocketed his phone and walked over to Noella, “I still got something to handle, so let the manager accompany you to the gallery. Anything you need, just tell me.”

“Alright, you go ahead with your work,” Noella answered.