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“Hello, former owner of a record label that would have disappeared into ashes if Damian hadn’t bought you out,” Jackson replied, tripling the venom that Kurt threw our way. “How does it feel to go from earning a majority of profits to just two percent?”
I never appreciated Jackson more than I did right in that moment. He was usually so friendly and warm. I realized I wouldneverwant to get on his bad side if it brought out this kind of reaction. But seeing him turn that energy toward Kurt was very satisfying.
Kurt seemed mostly unfazed by Jackson’s words, but it led me to believe that this wasn’t the first time that they had this venomous conversation. He then diverted all of his attention to me. “Was that your daughter I saw playing with ourbelovedDamian Apollo?” he asked me rather nonchalantly. I was fully aware of how dangerous of a question this was.
For one, Kurt knew that the reason I left the music industry was because I was pregnant, and I was only really with Damian the whole time back in the day. However, after I left, I never really maintained contact with Kurt anymore, so there was no need for me to confirm or deny anything. I could play this safe… for the safety of my family. Kurt might not be as powerful as he used to be, but I still didn’t want him up in my business.
Besides, Jackson's response to him gave me a little more backbone. “I’m not sure what you're talking about,” I responded, but his unfazed expression only morphed into a wicked smile.
Kurt didn’t push forward, however, and simply hummed and walked toward the other door that led to the other side of the building.
“I could have sworn you and the child he was playing with had a striking resemblance. Well, must be my imagination, then,” he declared, walking away and not giving me a chance to reply.
Oh, I did not like that man… and I didn’t like that look on his face. I had a feeling deep in the pit of my stomach that there was going to be trouble.
Chapter 24
Damian
“Areyousureaboutthis?” Jackson asked me, very wary about what I just told him. “It just seems very unprecedented for you, you know?” I simply nodded as I finished typing the email that I was about to send to all key personnel.
I looked at the wall for a minute, contemplating my decision. It was very early in the morning, and if we were being truthful, Jackson and I hadn’t gone home since last night. We were in such a creative frenzy and we could see the finish line with this album, so we put every ounce of energy we had into actually finishing it. And after a long night filled with acoustic instruments and orchestrations, not to mention large coffees, we finally finished the last track of the album after almost three nonstop weeks of work.
Thalia wanted to stay behind with us, but I whispered into her ear that Luna was probably waiting for her to come home, and she eventually left. I saw how much she wanted to stay in the studio and assist us because she was so invested in my success. I had a plan to make it up to her eventually, but for now, my finger was hovering over the send button as I was weighing all the pros and cons of what I wanted to do.
“I’m proud of this album,” I declared, really just thinking out loud. “It was great to experiment with pop for the past two albums, but now is the perfect time to come back to my roots. So much has happened to me this year that's pointed me back to this.”
Jackson hummed. “Yeah, man, I totally see your vision.” Afterward, he yawned, but being the best friend a guy could ask for, he still stayed and patiently waited for me to make a choice.
“And…” I stumbled for a few seconds, genuinely afraid of the words I was about to say. “I… I honestly wouldn’t care if this was the first album that wasn’t going to perform well,” I confessed, standing up from the chair and pacing around the room that was littered with scratch paper of discarded lyrics and chord progressions. “...I just want to put out something that completely reflects how I feel at this point in my life."
Jackson leaned back, the exhaustion clearly etched on his face. He was usually vibrant and colorful, but he was just hanging on, waiting for me to make the final decision.
“So, what’s it going to be?”
My finger continued to hover over the send button and with one last deep breath…
Okay, it was easy to see that a lot of my senior staff weren’t happy with me whatsoever as they gathered around the meeting room from an emergency meeting I called. Really, I was sure that the only person who wasn’t pissed at me in the room was Sadie. If I hadn’t sent Jackson home, then I would have had extra support, but I wasn’t worried. I was ready to face everything they were about to throw at me. Honestly, I was just waiting for Thalia to walk in. I wanted to see the expression on her face from what I had just done.
Eventually, everyone had finally settled in, all looking at me either wearily or with a scowl. The most fierce of the latter in the room was none other than Kurt Harvey himself. He wasn’t the first one to show me that same exact expression, however. While, yes, I had fans all around the world, I also had a lot of haters. But the good thing was, I had been overexposed in this industry enough to know exactly how to handle this kind of situation.
I was just swiveling around my chair as people continued to file in. I was still specifically waiting for my studio assistant. I wasn’t unaware of how my playful antics were probably rubbing some people the wrong way, but again, I just didn’t care.
After a couple more minutes of waiting and tense silence, finally, the meeting door opened for the last time for this gathering, and Thalia walked in with a mortified expression, making a grin spread across my face. I thought she’d be excited or ecstatic, but this was even better. Even after all this time, I still liked pushing her buttons. Hopefully, she wouldn’t kill me after this though, but judging by her slight piercing look, my life might be on the line. Still worth it, though.
Clearing my throat, I finally stopped spinning in my chair and addressed everyone.
“Since everybody’s here, I think we can get started.” I stood up, carefully scanning the crowd of mostly displeased expressions. “As I stated in my email, I am set to release my fifth studio album tomorrow, and that decision is final,” I declared. The silence was full of tension. After a minute, the room immediately broke out into chaos. I would have chuckled, but I was sure there was enough salt in the wound.
“Mr. Apollo, please reconsider your decision,” a marketing director pleaded.
“This isn’t the best course of action for us. Did you forget that you’re still touring your fourth studio album? This would cause a disconnect,” another said, like I hadn’t considered that factor a million times.
“Tomorrow is also the worst day of the week to release an entire album, sir. Your chances of charting at number one will be significantly decreased.” Again, they kept saying things that I already knew. After all, there was a reason why I was the one in charge of the music I would release.
“Not to mention that there was an unprecedented risk of releasing an album without any prior announcement. It would likely decrease your overall sales.”
And there we had it. We finally had them admit that this was all about money, and that was the one moment I couldn’t stifle my laughter anymore.
