The ugly honesty takes over like it tends to do around Taio. “But I still want to. I want to be the girl that everyone likes. That everyone approves of. I want other people to treat me the way I’d treat them—with respect and grace, not like a glittery, soulless mascot, stuffed to the brim with confetti and bullshit. Is that really too much to ask?”
“If you only live to ensure everyone likes you, you’ll never find the people who love you. But people have to know you to love you, Charlie.”
He renders me speechless, his advice seeping into my bones like they are the last, secret commandment.That’s the key? Let people in? See who stays?
Taio is quiet for a moment. Then he moves closer, settling onto the couch across from me. He pats the cushion next to him, inviting me closer. I sit and his hand finds the small of my back. The warmth of his palm seeps through the thin fabric of my costume, grounding me in a way the paper hearts couldn’t tonight.
“You know what I think?” His voice is low, meant only for me. “I think you’ve spent so long performing for everyone else that you forgot the performance is for you too.”
“For me?”
“Yeah.” His hand moves in slow circles against my spine, soothing the tension I didn’t realize I was carrying. “Twenty thousand people in the crowd tonight, and you belong to yourself more than you belong to them. More than you belong to the label, or the brand, or the internet, or any of it.” He tugs gently on a tendril of my hair. “Give yourself permission to perform for yourself. Not just for the crowd. Find one moment up there that’s just yours, just a baby step toward remembering why you love this again.”
Tears prickle at the corners of my eyes, threatening to ruin two hours of professional makeup work. “How?” I whisper. “How am I supposed to?—”
The door bursts open.
Sage strides in first, tablet clutched to her chest, her expression carefully neutral. I know that look—it means she’s about to deliver bad news. Marcus follows closely behind wearing his default expression of “calculating profit margins.”
“Charlie.” Marcus’s eyes flick to Taio, then back to me. “Can we talk?Privately.”
Taio’s hand stills on my back. I feel him tense, protective instincts kicking in, but he doesn’t argue. He just squeezes my shoulder once and rises.
“I’ll be right outside,” he says quietly, like a promise.
The door clicks shut behind him.
Marcus pulls up a chair across from me, close enough that our knees almost touch. Sage hovers behind him like an impeccably dressed shadow.
“What’s going on?” I ask, even though I can already feel it. That sick twist in my gut that means something bad is coming.
Marcus takes a breath. The kind of breath people take before they say something they know you won’t want to hear.
“We’ve been talking—me, Sage, the label, the tour producers—and we think it’s best if tonight’s performance is…modified. To make it easier on you and on everyone.”
My voice is calm over the thunderous beating in my chest. “Modified how?”
“We want you to lip-sync tonight.”
The suggestion doesn’t compute at first, just floats there, nonsensical, like he’s speaking a language I don’t understand.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Your mic will be off. We’ll have the usual back tracks, and the main vocals will be piped in from the studio recordings. All you have to do is move your mouth and hit your marks. The audience won’t know the difference.”
I look at Sage. She won’t meet my gaze.
“You’re joking.”
“You’ve missed four shows, Charlie. You collapsed on stage in New York. The label is terrified of another incident, and frankly, so am I.” Marcus leans forward, his tone softening into something that’s probably supposed to be paternal. “This is toprotect you. If something happens up there…if you freeze, if you panic, if your voice gives out—no one will know. You can just get through it. Fake it until it’s over.”
“Fake it,” I echo robotically.
“Yes.”
“You want me to fake my own concert.”
“I want you to survive your concert.” His jaw tightens. “Charlie, do you understand what’s at stake here? The tour insurance alone is not enough. If you have another public breakdown, we’re looking at lawsuits, canceled dates, sponsors pulling out. Your career can’t take another hit right now. Not with the scandal, not with the press circling like sharks. We need tonight to go smoothly. We need you to be okay.”
