Page 108 of Of Heartbreak and Harmony
“No. My mom was after.”
When his confused expression doesn’t lighten, I scoff in disbelief.
The lengths he’ll go to use me...
My eyes start to sting with tears. I don’t want to cry, but this hurts. Uncovering it all. Remembering it. Forcing myself to reckon with the fact that the man I’ve been spending time with for the last few weeks, the man who has been slowly charming away my pent-up anger, is still the man who fucked me over.
Tattoo or not, he’s still Torren King.
“You have to be kidding me,” I rasp, peering at him through watery eyes. “You can’t possibly expect me to believe that any of it happened without your knowledge.”
He takes a step closer to me, reaches for me, but I back away.
“Any ofwhat? Explain. Please, Callie. Explain.”
I suck in a slow, shaky breath through my teeth, then blow it out. I glare at him, searching his face for a lie, but there’s nothing but genuine confusion.
“Yourlabel threatened to suemyband and the label that signed us. You accused us of stealing music and branding. You claimed we were guilty of copyright infringement.”
His face pales and his mouth gapes, but he says nothing.
“We didn’t steal anything. Our manager said that we could probably fight you in court and win, but we didn’t have the money to pay for all the legal fees, and our label didn’t want to try to go up against yours. I found out after that you were rumored to do this to smaller bands to kill any kind of competition, but our label was small, and they just couldn’t risk a fight with you... So they fucking dropped us. They dropped us, Torren, because of The Hometown Heartless, and then no one else would touch us. We tried. We kept trying, but we were pariahs. Then my mom got sick and...” I shrug. “And we just had to admit defeat. Heartless attacked and won. You all got what you wanted. One more band out of the way.”
Silence envelops us as Torren stares at me with shock, and I watch as his expression morphs quickly into rage. He clenches his jaw, grinding his teeth as he dials someone on his phone. They must answer quickly, because he barks out an order.
“Band meeting in the girls’ suite. Now.” He hangs up and looks at me. “You too.”
Then he turns and walks out.
I take ten deep inhales and exhales before I follow, and when I step into the suite, Mabel, Sav, and Levi are already there. When I glance around the room, I find the security details on the perimeter.
“You guys can leave,” Torren says to the security, but Sav interrupts.
“Red stays.”
Torren nods. As all the security guards except Sav’s file into the hall, Hammond walks into the room with Jonah in tow.
“This better be fucking good,” Jonah grumbles as he throws himself into a recliner. “I was busy.”
I catch Sav as she rolls her eyes, and Mabel tosses a small throw pillow at Jonah’s head. It hits him and falls to the floor, and he never even flinches. Then Torren cuts to the chase, his voice shaking with barely restrained anger.
“Ham. Did our label threaten to sue Callie’s band?”
I flick my eyes from Torren’s murderous expression to Hammond’s blank one. He studies Torren before speaking.
“Probably.”
Mabel and Sav both shout, shock evident in their tones.
“What the fuck? Why?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
Torren remains silent, nostrils flaring, glare still stuck on Hammond. “What the fuck doesprobablymean?”
“I don’t know the specifics. I only discovered it when I renegotiated the contract last year, but they had done it more than once. If Callie claims her band was one of them, I believe her. I demanded they stop, and as far as I know, it hasn’t happened since.”
Sav shoots to her feet, fury emanating from her. Her body practically quakes with it.
