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Priya still believes I can do this.

I wipe beneath my eyes, square my shoulders and head for the library.

I’ve always been good under pressure.

Chapter Forty-One

Cal

Istare at the email in my inbox.

FINAL RECORDING AGREEMENT — ATLAS FALLING.

The thing is forty-eight fucking pages long.

Danny

SIGN BEFORE ELEVEN. THIS IS IT.

I stare at the subject line and feel nothing. Well, not nothing. A small spark of what should be fucking fireworks.

I flew back from a short trip to LA yesterday. Three days of meetings with Apex, Danny, and the boys. I could have stayed another night.

Danny had already booked a private room at some restaurant, but I wanted to get back to Mountain Springs. Which was pointless, because it’s been over a week since I saw Bea, and being in the same town does not mean she wants me anywhere near her.

I open the agreement.

The terms are good. Better than good.

Fucking hell. The advance is bigger than we expected. There’s funding for the album and a really good tour. Apex has agreed that the four of us stay intact, which means no handlers suggesting a session drummer or asking whether Harrison might photograph better if he shaved his head.

Most importantly, there’s actual creative control. Not complete, because apparently, record labels do not hand that out unless you are Beyoncé or dead, but enough that the album will sound like us.

Atlas Falling, intact and funded.

All I need to do is get the Trust to pay the guys back, and it’s everything I promised the boys.

I should be losing my mind.

Instead, I keep scrolling until I reach the release schedule.

Lead Recording: Notes of Attraction—currently circulating version.

My stomach drops.

“No.”

I say it to the empty apartment.

Harrison and I finished the alternate version before the final Apex meeting. It’s got the same melody and hook, but a better second verse and everything that pointed directly at Bea is stripped out of it.

We played both versions in LA and Apex said they liked the rewrite. Their head of marketing even said it would be a good idea to release the new version. We ended up agreeing on discussing it later but I made it clear to Danny that it was a hard no to using the old version.

Apparently, Danny heard yes. Blood roars in my ears.

My phone rings before I can call him.

“There he is,” Danny says when I answer. “You looking at it? You gonna sign it?”