Page 67 of Movers and Shakers

“Not me, but a celebrity in my family does. He’s pretty good, actually. He’s going against many powerful people. What’s one more?”

“You’re bluffing,” Mia said.

“Not really. I don’t know if you’ve looked up my family, but you should. My sister’s dating one of the smartest people on the planet. Behind her, of course. And my brother’s currently dethroning our father of a billion-dollar business through a very public legal process. Usually, I wouldn’t throw my family into it like this, but I would forher.Walk away. Now.”

“This all is out of nowhere. I didn’t do anything.” Mia’s eyes were on the camera as if she were pleading to a jury.

“Here’s the truth,” I began, “you fucked Blaze Matthews for years behind her back and used your dad’s name to become Lila’s PR agent, and then did more than you should have to control every aspect of her life. You forced her to produce empty pop albums for years and came here planning to take heragainsther will to a different city. Is that right?”

“It’s right from my perspective,” Lila said. “I don’t want to go with you.”

Her face went beet red and her nostrils flared. “You littlebi—‍”

“And remember, everything you say is on record.”

Her mouth snapped shut.

“I wonder what her fans would say about everything I just accused you of. It certainly would hurt your reputation.”

“I underestimated you.”

“And it’ll be thelasttime you ever do that. Now, get thefuckout of my bar.”

Chapter Thirteen

Lila

My heart was pounding, but not with fear. Watching Barry stand up for me in front of Mia was doing unfair things to my body. He’d used his connection to his family forme.

“Thank you,” I said. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I think I did. She wasn’t going to take no for an answer, was she?”

I bit my lip. I’d never seen her like that, but I’d also never pissed her off before. I’d heard from other artists that she would stop at nothing to get what she wanted, but seeing it for myself was entirely different.

“You beat her at her own game. You said that was your sister’s move?”

A smile crossed his face. “Yes.”

“When did she use that?”

“I think we have bigger problems than my family,” he said, shaking his head.

I deflated. I wanted to know more about this man who dominated my mind. He would give a little, but he wasn’t entirely opening up to me.

But all in all, he wasn’t wrong. Ididhave bigger problems, such as figuring out how to separate myself from Mia as soon as possible.

I let out a long sigh. “I need to contact my lawyer and see if I can get out of this contract.”

“Do you need help with it? I wasn’t kidding when I said I had connections.”

“No, I’ll be okay. I have someone I can ask first.”

He nodded. “When do you need to leave?”

As much as I wanted to say never, I was worried about how Mia seemed so certain that she couldn’t be fired. I’d signed my working contract with her when we were all grieving Rick’s death, so maybe I’d overlooked some things.

Mia wouldn’t delay anything. She was probably heading to a lawyer right at this very moment.

---