“Thank you,” Liana whispered, still shocked at Track’s real reason for rejecting her album.
Too old?
She was thirty.
Track stood as well, swore under his breath, then glanced back and forth between Dean and Liana before throwing his hands in the air. “Good riddance, then.”
He swung the boardroom door open so fast it slammed against the wall, and she jumped.
No, it wasn’t that easy, was it?
She turned to look at Karen, who shook her head. “No, not that easy.”
“Did I say that out loud?”
The other woman nodded. “But it’s the start. You’ve got a witness.” She pointed at Dean.
He winced. “Track hardly accepts me as a neutral third party.”
Karen shrugged. “Doubt that would matter to a judge.”
Liana felt faint. “Surely it won’t go that far.”
“Depends on if his label partners want to hang on to you. I’m serious, I’ll buy your contract out from them, but if they don’t want to let you go, then you need to be prepared for a breach of contract fight.”
“I just want to make music. Why would they sue me?” But she knew why. Because it was a business at the end of the day, and that was how cold, ruthless business people dealt with problems like her. “What do I need to give them to avoid that?”
“If they don’t let me buy out your contract, then I think you should give them right of refusal on all the songs you’ve written.”
A frisson of fear skittered down Liana’s spine. “All of them? What if they want them all?”
“That’s not going to happen. So play their game. They didn’t like this album you delivered? Give them another. And another. Be careful that you get it all in writing. So you’ll email your coordinator at the label, someone low level, and let them know you had a meeting with Track today. An unexpected one, and you think he wanted to see more songs. Did he? Can she confirm what he wants? And then worst case scenario, if they backtrack, then tell them you’ve recorded a few more songs than you expected, and can you present some at the originally scheduled meeting, and maybe set up a second one to fill in the gaps of the album based on what they like from the first meeting?”
“So I can control the spin on the second set of songs,” Liana said slowly, the pieces falling into place. She glanced over at Dean. “Sorry. I think we’re going to be here all night now.”
He just shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me. You’re the boss.” He hesitated. “But I need to tell you about something that happened earlier.”
“Something bad?”
He winced. “Depends. Given what just happened, maybe not. But I had a run in with Track before he found you and I lost my cool.”
Her eyebrows hit the roof. She didn’t know that was possible. “What did you do?”
“It may have come to blows.”
“Blows, plural?”
“Nah. I decked him.”
“Oh, honey. No, that’s not a problem in the least.” She hesitated and looked at Karen. “Do you have security cameras?”
The other woman gave her an innocent look. “I don’t think they’re on today.”
— —
By the timethey fell asleep, Liana was seriously blissed out from the possibilities she’d never imagined before, and her dreams reflected that.
But morning brought reality with it. It was back to work later today, with an afternoon into evening drive to Tulsa. She was playing at a festival there the next day, and the soundcheck was first thing in the morning. And since she didn’t like to sleep on the road, they were leaving mid-day.
