Page 67 of Blue Moon

“I’d rather wait tables at McDonald’s than be tied to you for another five years.”

Good girl. There was that backbone she’d been growing. Whitlow’s gaze flicked toward Ryder, and Ryder realised that this was why he’d wanted the room to themselves. He couldn’t pressure Luna with an audience.

“Nobody waits tables at McDonald’s, my darling.”

“Whatever. You get my point.”

“Take a breath and think this through.”

“Oh, I’ve thought things through. After this show finishes, I’m taking six months off. And either you make a deal that doesn’t involve extending the contract between us, or you don’t make one at all.”

“If we part company, people will want to know why, especially after I made you a star.”

This time, it was Luna’s turn to glance at Ryder. He offered a tiny smile, and she straightened. Leaned forward an inch. Locked her gaze on Whitlow.

“You think they’ll ask why? Then maybe I’ll fucking tell them.”

The man flinched, and so did Ryder. That was the first time he’d heard Luna swear, and also the first time he’d heard her speak with such cold fury. Even when she’d been yelling at him in San Gallicano, her anger had been fiery.

She got to her feet and headed for the door, but Whitlow snagged her wrist as she passed.

“Luna, wait. We can talk about this.”

Motherfucker. Ryder ran across the room and grabbed his arm, squeezing until the asshole yelped.

“Get off me, you Neanderthal!”

“Not until you release my client.” He added a “sir” at the end, but made it sound more like “fuck you.”

The man let her go, but Ryder held on for another second, squeezing tighter just because he could, taking satisfaction in the way Whitlow’s eyes began to water.

“Ryder, it’s okay,” Luna said. “He’s leaving.”

“You’re a psycho,” Whitlow spat when he had his arm back, complete with white marks where the blood supply had been cut off. “That was assault.”

“I hired him to protect me,” Luna told her agent. “That includes from you.”

Then it clicked.

Whitlow had been with Luna her whole career. She’d known him when she was sixteen.

He scared her.

She wouldn’t meet with him alone.

And she held a secret big enough to make him flinch.

Luna had said her rapist was a big shot in the music industry, but Ryder had assumed she meant a producer or an artist that she bumped into on the showbiz circuit. He’d never dreamed the man was her fucking agent. The growl that rose in Ryder’s throat wasn’t human, and Whitlow must have sensed the danger because he bolted from the room. Ryder would have followed, but Luna grabbed his hand and hung on.

“Don’t go after him. Don’t. He’s not worth it.”

Ryder kicked the door shut. “It was him, wasn’t it? Julius Whitlow was the man who raped you.”

Luna’s tears were all the answer he needed. He picked her up and held her, and she clung on tight as she cried against his shoulder.

“I’ll fucking kill him.”

“No!” She leaned back and cupped his cheeks with both hands. “Why do you think I didn’t tell you? I can cope with what he did—I’ve been coping with it for the past ten years—but I couldn’t cope if you ended up in jail.”

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