Page 33 of The B Side

“Don’t get sappy. We have a show to get to.”

“I can be sappy if I want,” she shot back. “You and I are going to a show together. We’re complementary. And you’re going to fucking sweep.”

Juliet rolled her eyes. “All right, let’s come back down to earth.”

Darcy scoffed; not a fucking chance. She couldn’t help the sap tonight. She was a little nervous; she was a lot excited, and… and it was a big deal. This was a big fucking deal.

And she knew Juliet felt the same, from the way her expression dipped into something a little more vulnerable. Allowing Darcy to see underneath the bravado for a few seconds before she broke away, clearing her throat.

“The car is going to be here in, like, two minutes,” Juliet announced, shaking her head back. “I need to grab my lip gloss in the bathroom. Can you get my phone? It’s on my side of the bed, on the charger.”

Darcy meandered over to Juliet’s side of the bed as Juliet disappeared back into the bathroom.

When she unplugged the charger, the screen lit up, and the latest notification was front and center. Normally, Darcy wouldn’t have paid much mind; it wasn’t her phone.

But this was different. Very different.

Because the email was from Lucía Castillo – not weird, she was Juliet’s lawyer. The weird part was that the subject of the email read: Final payment – Angie Kincaid.

Darcy’s breathing came a little faster, something with a decidedly uglier tone than she’d anticipated from tonight crawling up inside of her. Something she always felt at any reminders of her mother. Thankfully, there had been very few since she’d popped up two years ago from whatever pit she’d settled into prior to that.

When she’d surfaced to regale the masses with stories about Darcy and Blythe, despite having totally abandoned her post as their mother nearly a decade earlier. Darcy couldn’t say for sure, but she felt strongly that took away her mom’s right to make money off of them.

And she hadn’t wanted to do what Blythe – and Eliana – had decided would be the best course of action: ignore her, don’t feed into it, don’t let her know that her arrival back in their lives meant anything. But she’d agreed to it, and soon after, their mom had disappeared again.

She’d assumed that meant the plan of ignoring her had miraculously worked. She’d been amazed, really. Not that Angie gave up; she was, frankly, a huge quitter. She’d quit everything in her life with the exception of getting involved with shitty men. But Darcy had been shocked it had worked so quickly, so seamlessly.

She stared down at the email, her heart thumping faster, harder, as the blood rushed through her ears so loudly that she didn’t even hear Juliet walk to her side.

“Darcy? Are you okay? Our car is–”

Darcy turned, holding the phone up so Juliet could see her own screen.

“Why is Lucía emailing you about my mom?”

Juliet went still, like every muscle in her body was on pause, as her eyes flickered to the screen. Darcy couldn’t help but follow the motion. Just staring because none of this made any sense.

Juliet finally released a breath before she reached out. She didn’t take the phone from Darcy, but unlocked it and gestured, “You can read it.”

Darcy’s eyes were already feasting on the words, trying to make sense of it all.

Juliet, as per the contract, the third and final annual payment under the Settlement Agreement and Release is now due. Before I disburse the funds, please confirm that you have no objection to the release of the payment pursuant to the terms of the agreement.

Darcy looked up, shaking her head. “Third and final annual payment? What does that even mean? What is this?”

“Darcy, I promise I wasn’t trying to keep this from you to – to lie to you. I was never trying to cause you pain. I swear. That’s what I was trying to avoid with this.”

Two years ago, which was when her mom had cropped up. When Juliet had come to see her, when she’d held Darcy as she’d cried about it. As she’d sobbed to Juliet that she just wished her mom was gone.

“You… paid my mother to leave me alone?”

“I paid her to honor the agreement she signed,” Juliet correctly, lightly.

Darcy stared at her, like, come on. She was still trying to wrap her mind around it, though. Trying to slot this into reality. “What was the agreement, then?” She pushed, her throat dry.

“She agreed to never go public again. Never speak to the press about you. Never contact you for money. Never publish anything, sell anything, or make any claims about you or your family. She signed an NDA, a settlement and release. There are financial penalties if she breaches it. As in, she knows my estate will sue her immediately, and shut down anything she tries to get going, and that she’d owe us in restitution for… well, basically her entire life.”

Darcy's lips parted on a ragged breath. “You did that?”