Page 31 of Blue Moon

And thirty minutes later…

Mom

Don’t you realise how much I gave up for the sake of your career? I put everything into your pageants, your music, and this is how you repay me? By turning your back?

Oh, yes, she had put everything into my pageants. I’d been through two pageant systems, lived the nightmare for most of my childhood. You’d think after the Miss American Splendor pageant got raided by the FBI and the owner was arrested for child porn, maybe she’d have taken a step back, but no. Right away, she’d entered me in Miss American Radiance, and the circus continued.

Mom

You think you can make it on your own? You’re nothing without my backing, child. If it hadn’t been for me, you’d be waiting tables at Arby’s.

Mom

Sorry, my darling. I didn’t mean what I said. Your leaving has made life very difficult.

Today’s message?

Unknown

Luna, I’m worried about you. Without a manager, people will take advantage. Everyone wants a piece of you—money, sex, a shortcut to fame… Don’t give them a thing.

Mom had hired the accountant who cleaned out my bank account, and now she was concerned about people taking advantage? Sheesh.

Three dots. She was typing.

Unknown

Dr. Adamson says he can find a space for you at Whispering Pines. Nothing is more important than your mental health right now.

Arrrgh!

She was trying every trick in the book to get me to talk to her, and the worst part? I knew I’d cave eventually. How could I not? She held all the cards. Ryder might be able to get my car back, but Mom had everything else. My lawyer said she’d been sneaky. I’d thought my money was mine, but it hadn’t been, not legally anyway. My earnings had been paid to a company, Stargirl Media, Inc., and I didn’t understand the fancy jargon, but the upshot was that Mom owned most of the shares, so she had control of the company. Stargirl contracted my services and paid me a monthly allowance, or at least it had until I walked away. The house, the house I’d chosen after my first album went platinum, had somehow ended up in Mom’s name.

Julius had modified our contract to work with me directly rather than via Stargirl, but he’d refused to change the clause that meant I was stuck with the creep for two more years. Even if I wanted to pay the hefty penalty to ditch him, I couldn’t afford it. I had a reputation for being difficult—thanks, Mom—so most record labels wouldn’t touch me, and I had no idea how to negotiate a contract in any case.

In that moment, I felt a rare scrap of sympathy for my father. We’d both been royally screwed by Amethyst Puckett.

At least I had breathing space. The apartment lease still had four months to run, so I could leave Mom to stew for a while. After that, who knew? Frank Serafini was paying me good money, but do you know how much lawyers cost? Neither did I until I needed to hire one for myself, and it was a lot. Mom undoubtedly had a bunch of my money squirrelled away someplace Ron hadn’t been able to touch it, and she wouldn’t be happy until she’d bankrupted both of us. Another reason to stop fighting her… Caro said that if I took a break from work, then based on my current spending patterns, I could afford to maintain my lifestyle for six more months after the show. Honestly, going back to the turtle sanctuary in San Gallicano was starting to look appealing.

I shoved the phone into my pocket as Ryder walked out of the bathroom, but he still knew something was wrong.

“What’s up?”

“Just Mom. Apparently, you’re using me for money and sex. Or maybe fame.”

“Moon, I would never?—”

“Relax, I know. Sometimes, I think she smokes crack before breakfast.”

“She knows I’m here?”

“Not yet. She was talking about people in general, trying to make me un-fire her.”

Ryder sighed and did that thing where he reached toward me and then caught himself. His hand dropped back to his side. If Mom found out I was associating with a man who lent me strength, she’d double down on her efforts to worm her way back into my life.

“Good, that’s good. Not that I think you should rehire her, but that she doesn’t know I’m here. I’d prefer to keep a low profile.” He shrugged. “Work.”

Of course he wanted to stay out of the limelight. Ryder did all kinds of hush-hush stuff he wasn’t allowed to talk about, and now I was ruining his career as well as my own. When I was small, I’d watched a cartoon where the evil overlord destroyed everything he touched. A brush of his fingers and rivers dried up, plants withered, and people turned into desiccated husks. Now I was the overlord. Everything I touched died.

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