Page 69 of Movers and Shakers

“Yeah, yeah. NDA and all of that.” Audrey waved her hand. “When does it come out?”

“A single was dropped a few hours ago.”

“What?”Audrey pulled out her phone. “Why is it called ‘Goodbye, Good Riddance’?”

“Let me see that,” Liam said. “Holy shit, it is.”

“Is this about Blaze? Is that why Mia was so mad?”

I shrugged.

“I’ve got to listen to this.” She pushed play on the song I was hoping to listen to in the comfort of my apartment where I could fully get lost in her music.

But the second her song played, I knew I wouldn’t stop it.

I was dying to hear what she’d written about him, after all.

Harsh electric guitar was the first thing I heard, then her voice—but this wasn’t the commercial sound of in-love Lila Wilde, rather a fast-paced, lyrical middle finger.

What was even more interesting was that she didn’t pullanypunches. She called him out for cheating on her, saying it was in her own home with someone she thought was a friend. It was like it was her mission to make everyone hate Blaze.

And it was going to work.

“Holy shit,” Audrey muttered. “Has she ever released anything like this?”

“No,” I said. “Never.”

“The guitar, that wasyou,wasn’t it?” Liam asked.

“How do you know it was me?”

“One, it’s a lower pitch, and two, you play like that, even if it’s on your acoustic.”

“I may have contributed alittle.”

I just didn’t know Lila would use it in the end. She never ceased to surprise me.

And I doubted she ever would. I knew I needed to go listen to this a hundred times until I had every note memorized.

This new version of Lila was more addictive than I could ever imagine.

And I could only hope I got to spend more time with her now that the album was done and she was finally free of Blaze.

Chapter Fourteen

Lila

Ididn’t get to see what people were saying about the last twenty-four hours of my life because I was too busy trying to get away from Mia to even worry about it.

When I’d signed with her after Rick’s death, I’d trusted her not to screw me over and that was my mistake. Her contract was ironclad, just as she had said, giving her more permissions thanshe deserved. My lawyer blanched when reading it over and then advised me never to sign anything else without consulting with them again.

I had to get Barry’s recording of her inappropriate behavior to build a case to break the contract. I’d be able to with a large settlement, which I paid out immediately, but it was so high it made me wince.

All of that to say that I was agentless right when my new song was out. Mia had done most of my outreach as well, and her services carried over far more than most. I hadn’t posted about it, but I knew my fans had to be freaking out.

After my meeting, I turned on my phone to a million messages, but most notably, a call from Sasha.

I returned that first.

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