I can’t be selfish.
Not with Ross.
He’s already been through so much.
I’m not going to be the reason he does something he doesn’t want to do.
Even if it makes my own life harder.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ross
I had no idea word had somehow been leaked about the offer from Hart Records, but I wake up to a fuck ton of texts from friends in the industry asking questions. Offering advice. A counter-offer from a label I’ve never heard of. Not to mention a voice mail from someone at my old record label.
What the fuck?
I slipped out while Wynter was still sleeping because I needed to get a handle on things before I talked to her, and my first call is to Sasha.
“Hey.” She sounds busy, and I can hear her kids babbling in the background.
“I have forty-seven texts about my deal with Hart Records,” I say without preamble. “What’s going on?”
She hesitates. “Hang on—Marina, can you take the baby? Thanks.”
There’s the sound of rustling, a door closing, and then silence.
“Okay. I’m back.” Her voice is calm and patient. “We decided to test the waters. If there’s really interest from both the industry and the public, it gives us a better idea of what we do next.”
“Without running it by me.”
“That’s on me,” she says diplomatically. “I had a busy day and by the time I got the kids to bed, you were on stage. I fell asleep before I could reach out. I apologize.”
“Come on, Sasha.” I run a hand through my hair in annoyance. “You don’t let things happen accidentally. You’re extremely competent and organized. You didn’t tell me because you knew I’d protest.”
She sighs. “I honestly fell asleep before you got off stage. But I had the time to text you before. And yes, I knew you wouldn’t be happy.”
“So why do it?”
“My job is to do the hard things. The things no one else wants to do. In this case, we had to gauge interest. Not your interest, but public interest. Beyond the crowds who’ve been seeing you live with Onyx Knight. As you’ve mentioned, it’s hard to know if their excitement is genuinely for you or if it’s simply your proximity to the band.”
This pisses me off.
What pisses me off even more is that she’s right.
This isn’t my first day in the music business. I’ve been in and around it for most of my adult life. I know how this works. And Hart Records would be fronting a lot of money to make this happen. They reserve the right to do market research ahead of this kind of investment.
I just wish it hadn’t caught me off-guard.
“You mad?” she asks quietly when I don’t respond for a while.
“Yeah. But mostly I’m frustrated. Because now my decision becomes public. When it was just us, I could say no and no one would be the wiser. Now if I say no, there’s going to be a whole campaign in the media speculating on the real reason.”
“We can handle that,” she says immediately. “How ever you want to do it. Our PR people can spin the narrative.”
“I don’t know what to do,” I admit. “And this just makes my decision harder.”
“Well, I don’t know if this will help or not, but public reaction to the news is better than we expected. A lot better. People are genuinely excited. I can send you some screen shots of posts and comments. There are a lot of people who are excited to hear new music from you.”
