Page 19

“The one thing they haven’t conquered is our country. Our market.”

Who is he talking about?

“You’re trying to destroy an old version of yourself,” Zymon says. “They’re trying to introduce themselves to a new audience.”

I cross my arms.

“And Junie thinks we should merge both.”

“Exactly.”

Fashion.

Music.

Branding.

A global collision.

I hate how much sense it makes.

“What about the album?”

“The album stays.”

I look at him.

“It becomes the backbone and not the headline.”

I stare at the cracked snowflake on the glass.

The fracture running through the center catches the city lights.

“I don’t know, man.” My voice comes out rough. “One of the reasons I left HADEX was because of shit like this.”

Zymon stays quiet.

“I didn’t leave one cage just to walk into another.”

For a moment, only the hum of the studio fills the room.

“You won’t.”

I look at him.

“You left because they controlled your voice.” His expression remains calm. “They controlled your music, image and future.”

A pause.

His eyes lock onto mine.

“You’re not seventeen anymore and you don’t need permission to exist.”

I look away.

Because somewhere along the way, I stopped seeing myself as a person.

I became a story.