The whole thing is plush carpets and soft, buttery leather in shades of silvery, pale gray. It looks like something out of a movie.
“Huck’s friend is some bigshot and loaned it to us. He met them at some entrepreneur convention or something. I don’t know. But it just shows that coffee brings people together.” She bumps shoulders with me and winks.
“Sure does.” I rest my head on her shoulder, and she puts hers on top of mine, letting out a happy sigh.
“I’m so happy you’re coming home.”
“Me too,” I agree.
“Were you really sick before every show?”
“And after,” I confess quietly. My father doesn’t know about the after as well.
“Damn,” Ashley mumbles.
“Did you…” I lift my head and check my father and Huck are out of earshot. “Did you ask Huck about Liberty Records?”
“I did.” Ashley pulls her lower lip into her mouth, and I can tell from the way her shoulders drop that I’m not going to like what she has to tell me. Huck knows a lot of people in business, so I hoped he’d know someone who could answer some questions for me.
“Was it Brandon? Did he somehow?—?”
“No, he had nothing to do with it.”
She reaches into her purse and pulls out a folded piece of paper, handing it to me.
I stare at it, heat flaring across the back of my neck.
Everything about that meeting with Kyle Drayton at Liberty Records felt off. It was too easy to get time with him. He was too quick to admit their mistake. And far too eager to offer me a deal on the spot in order to make it all right.
An offer that was way out of line with what an unknown artist could ever hope to receive as their firstoffer.
I may be naïve at times, but I’m not completely stupid. Something didn’t add up. I ignored it at first. But the feeling has only grown.
“A company bought it. The sale finalized the day before we went to the head office together. It was rushed through. They paid well above what it was worth in order to obtain it.”
“A company bought it?” I echo, nausea climbing up my windpipe.
“Yeah.” Ashley nods. “Huck said his friend was able to pull some strings and get hold of a copy of that.” She gestures to the document in my hands.
I unfold the piece of paper and hold my breath as I scan it. It’s the first page of a contract.
One between Liberty Records and their new owner—a company called Slade Investments.
My eyes snag on the name listed alongside the company name.
Miss Molly Beaufort.
42
TATE
“I think that’s my favorite.”
I come to the closing bars of the song and shake my head at my father with a soft smile.
“That’s what you said about the last one I played.”
“True.” His eyes crinkle at the corners and he chuckles. “I’m just happy to see you playing again without getting sick.”
