Julie crossed her arms. “I’m okay. I’m not sure about you.”
He took a step back. “What do you mean?”
Julie’s eyes glittered, and her face was cold and hard. “Meghna and I were talking earlier. Comparing notes. About your songs.”
Seth paled.
“It seems like the two of us may have accidentally co-written a song or two,” Julie continued. “Maybe more.”
Seth let out a weak laugh, his eyes bouncing between Meghna and Julie. “I think that’s overstating things. I mean, you and Meg have both helped me. A lot. But I hardly think—”
“You want to know what I think?” Julie interrupted. “I think if we look back through your emails, we’ll find that many of your words came from one of us.” She lifted a shoulder casually. “And maybe some other people too.”
Guilt flashed across Seth’s face, and Meghna realized Julie’s guess had been right on the mark.
Julie wilted, her hard expression fading away. “You know, I was going to try to give you the benefit of the doubt. Iwantedto give youthe benefit of the doubt. But—” She shook her head, watching him with a sad, resigned expression.
“Are you…” Seth stopped, swallowing nervously. “Are you calling off the wedding?”
Julie laughed, but the sound was hollow. “No, my whole family is here. And my career just started taking off. I can’t afford a scandal.”
“Oh, thank God. Julie, I love you and—”
Meghna resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Maybe he did love Julie. Maybe he really had meant it when he said Meghna was his best friend. But he had a funny way of showing it.
“I’ve just been under so much pressure,” Seth continued. “Under so much stress. You wouldn’t believe it. My agent and the label…They expect a lot from me. They basically told me that if I don’t send out a song a month, people will forget who I am. And I tried at first. I really tried to keep up, but I couldn’t, and then…Well, you both were there for me. Supporting me. And…you have to understand the position I was in. But it all stops now. I promise. It was just a temporary thing, and—”
Julie held up her hand, stopping him mid-sentence. “I called my lawyer. Here’s what’s going to happen.” She took a deep breath. “You’re going to marry me. With a smile on your face. And then you’re going to give me and Meghna songwriting credit on every song we contributed to.”
“And back pay,” Meghna added. “We deserve to be paid retroactively. For all the time we didn’t have credit.”
Julie nodded in her direction. “Yes. And back pay. Thenafteryou’ve done all that, maybe I won’t divorce you.”
Seth’s eyes widened.
“But we’ll have to see,” Julie continued. “And if you don’t make things right, I’m going public with this story. I’ll sue. A divorce may land me in the tabloids and get me some negative press, but suing a man for stealing my words? I think fans will understand that. And stand by me. After all, they stood by Taylor Swift.”
Seth’s eyebrows knit. “Actually, that’s not exactly what happened with her—”
“Close enough,” Julie interrupted, and Seth’s mouth snapped closed. “Meghna, anything else you want to add?”
Meghna turned toward Seth. He looked at the floor, unable to meet her eyes.
There was so much she wanted to say. That she’d trusted him. Opened herself up. Shared her words and her time and her attention and her love. And he hadn’t deserved a single second of it. She’d put him first over and over. Believed him when he belittled her. And he’d barely given anything in return. Instead, he’d taken from her. Even now, he wasn’t sorry. He hadn’t apologized once.
But she struggled for a moment, unsure how to phrase it. How to put it all into words. At her silence, Seth darted a glance her way. A bit of hope was etched across his face. As if he expected her to back down. To forgive him. To take his side. Again.
Pure rage, all fiery and hot and fierce, swept through her. “You’re a dick, Seth. You’re a liar and a fraud and I only wish I’d realized it sooner.”
“Meg—”
“No. That’s not my name and that’s the last time you ever call me that.” She shook her head. “I should have told you that a long time ago. Back when we were actually friends. Back when you were actually there for me. Back when you valued what I thought and felt and said. But that hasn’t been true for a long time. After tonight, I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to hear from you. No more texts or emails or phone calls. We’re not writing partners. We’re not friends. We’re nothing.”
Seth’s face fell, and Julie clapped her hands together, watching Meghna with approval. “Well said. So, Seth, just to confirm, you agree to our terms?”
He nodded slowly, reluctantly, just as Julie’s phone beeped. She glanced down, then grimaced. “It’s the wedding planner. It’s time to go.”
They left for the venue, and though Seth seemed subdued, no one commented. The rest of the wedding party probably thought it was normal for the groom to have some nerves right about now. Eric clapped him once on the back, then they all separated as the wedding planner lined them up, pairing them off just as she had the night before.
