9. Chapter Six
Chapter Six
Lila
“ Y ou’ve been busy,” my producer, Sasha, said over our video call.
And I had been. Over the last two weeks, I’d written many songs. The lyrics weren’t changed yet, but it was easier to get the song on paper to record rather than force myself to change it. I could rerecord singular lines to be better.
Or at least that was what I was telling myself.
“What do you think of what I’ve given you?”
“These are good. It reminds me of the stuff you used to write when we first met.”
“They do?”
“Yeah. And Mia approved all of these?”
“Not . . . exactly. She’s more worried about me making progress than the content of the songs.”
“So that’s why they’re good.”
I didn’t know why, but I felt the need to defend both myself and Mia. “What I was writing before wasn’t bad . . .?”
“It just wasn’t you. For one, you sound like you’re actually in love here.”
“Um, yeah. Rekindling a flame and all.”
“Rekindling? More like finding a new one. There’s no way these songs are about Blaze.”
Sasha had always been perceptive. She was the first to tell me some of my fans might not like my dance-pop hits. She’d been right, but Mia had vetoed her. And then I’d broken records.
“Nothing is going on. He told me to get inspiration from other places.”
“He told you?” Her dark eyebrows were near her hairline. “I thought he wanted to be your only inspiration.”
“He usually does, but these are different circumstances.”
Sasha hummed and looked back at the screen, which presumably had the songs I’d sent her. “Do you want me to work on these as is?”
“Yes,” I said. “We can change them later.”
“If we do . . .?” It was almost muttered.
“We have to. You know how the fans are and—?”
“Okay, okay,” Sasha said, holding up her hands. “We’ll see how it goes. But I like this. I like your sound here. Except for this one .”
“Which one?”
“It’s titled ‘the revenge track.’”
My eyes widened. Did I forget to take that out? “I wasn’t supposed to send that.”
“I’m going to call this a happy accident,” Sasha said.
“Happy accident? You said you liked all of them but this one.”
“Because I love this one.”
“Oh.”
“And by the way? Fuck Blaze.”
“I . . . It was supposed to be for me only.”
“Why?”
“It’s not a huge deal.”
“Is it not? Because from the sound of this, he cheated on you.”
“He did.”
“And you’re still with him?”
“I have to be,” I said. “My fame is rooted in my love for him.”
“Or it’s your talent. You didn’t get to where you are just because of your relationship.”
“Sasha, it’s the music business. People have to have something to root for. That’s what Rick and Mia believed, and unfortunately, I can’t deny it’s worked.”
“Are you happy with how it’s worked?”
I opened my mouth to say I was, but the words wouldn’t come out. “Others are,” I managed to say. “That’s what matters.”
Her eyes narrowed, and it felt like she was seeing right through me.
“So we don’t release this track,” she said after a moment. “But can I at least add some stuff to it? Only for your ears, of course.”
That was a bad idea, but I could admit that hearing my revenge song as an actual song would feel good. “Fine. If you want to.”
“It would be my pleasure.”
Barry
Monday night rolled around, but things had been off in my family.
Ruth had been going through it, and it all started when her former rival returned to town.
Knox Price was a genius inventor who graduated with her at our old high school. He was the smartest kid in class, and Ruth always tried to knock him out of his number-one spot. She’d hated him because she never could manage to beat him consistently.
Mom and Dad quickly figured out that comparing Ruth to him was far more effective than comparing Ruth to Tom, who was in college. They mentioned him at every turn while she was in high school, shoving his success in her face to give her a reason to push herself impossibly harder.
And it continued into adulthood. Knox was now a billionaire and the head of some company he’d started. Whenever his name was anywhere in the news, Mom brought it up to Ruth.
It felt like Mom loved Knox more than her own daughter. Even I saw it.
So when Ruth was in the news with Knox last week, I knew she would face many questions. And she had from the very second she’d walked in the door.
And in a twist of events, Ruth said no. She didn’t tell them anything .
Our parents were mad—furious, even. But she’d managed to escape relatively unscathed since she’d left early. Now, it was a week later, and our parents had seven days to think of ways to break her.
I dreaded it.
Though I was prouder of Ruth than I ever had been, I didn’t expect her rebellious streak to last long.
When I saw her at dinner, on time as always, I readied myself to be disappointed again.
But then she leaned over to me and cracked a joke , of all things, which I couldn’t help but return, and I wondered if I’d gotten my sister wrong.
Mom and Dad questioned her as expected, but she held to what she said last week. She wasn’t talking about Knox. Instead, she was brave enough to try to talk business with Tom and Dad.
But he wasn’t having any of it, especially not when she managed to call him out on being money-hungry.
“And that is why you’re unmarried,” he said, shaking his head. “That attitude of yours.”
For a second, I wasn’t sure that I heard him right. Why was he bringing up marriage? He didn’t care about our social lives, only our professional ones.
“Unmarried?” she replied. “Since when do you care about my marital status?”
“Since you crossed over twenty-eight with no prospects in sight.”
“Todd,” Mom hissed. “We agreed not to talk about this.”
“She’s almost thirty!”
“What are you saying?” I asked him. I had an idea, but surely our parents wouldn’t be this cruel.
I should have known not to underestimate them.
“I’m saying that your sister is nearly too old to have kids. She should be worried about that.”
“I have more to worry about than children, Dad,” Ruth cut in.
He scoffed. “Not in my books.”
“Todd,” Mom pleaded, “we agreed to let her try to have a career.”
“And what has she made of herself? She’s refusing to talk about the one man who can make her into something, and she’s a menial director of a shitty banking company.”
Ruth argued back, but I was too busy trying to deal with the fact that Dad was also a sexist piece of shit as well as a god-awful father.
Well, he did always want to exceed expectations.
When I finally tuned back in, Dad was confirming that he thought Ruth was only meant to be a housewife, that Mom had pushed for her to be treated equally to us, and that she was some evil, man-hating feminist.
Ruth hated many men, but mainly the ones who talked to her exactly like Dad did.
Even though I knew she was angry, I wouldn’t have blamed Ruth if she backed down. After all, she’d just found out that all she’d worked for was for nothing.
But then again, this was Ruth Murray.
Dad ordered Mom to sit and be quiet. Then he tried to turn the same energy to Ruth. But she only glared at him and said, “Fuck you.”
“You will do as I say!” Dad snapped in an ear-splitting yell, one designed to strike fear into anyone it was directed at.
I became numb to it long ago, but I wasn’t sure when Ruth did the same.
Her jaw only tightened. “Why should I? You’re more of a failure than I am. I believe you were a director at thirty, Dad. You didn’t become a CEO until Grandpa died and handed you the company. You didn’t do shit to get where you are. Everything was handed to you.”
That was an absolutely badass line and I almost wanted to clap for her because she was exactly right.
“I will not tolerate this from you!”
Impossibly, his anger was escalating and now his fists were clenched. These weren’t good signs.
“What are you going to do?” Ruth asked. “You gonna scream? Slam things around? I’m not scared of you.”
“And if you touch her,” I added, “you’ll have me to answer to.”
Dad wasn’t a dumb man. He knew he couldn’t go against us both. So, he tried to hurt us in different ways.
“You two are the biggest disappointments in this family.”
It wasn’t news, so it rolled off my back like water.
“Fuck this,” she snapped. “I’m leaving.”
“Excuse me?” he bellowed. “Ruth Murray, you do not get to leave—?”
“I don’t know if you know this”—she spun around to look at him again—“but I’m a grown-ass woman. I don’t listen to people like you.”
I only had a second to feel proud of my sister finally throwing her snark at our parents before she ran out the door. I saw her face drop as she did and I knew her bravery was waning.
I turned my glare at Dad. Ruth had given her all to make him proud. She’d studied. She’d worked her ass off. She was better than anything he could be.
And none of it mattered to him.
I couldn’t even feel joy that Ruth had finally seen Dad for what he was. All I could feel was rage.
“You’re an asshole,” I said.
“I speak the truth.”
“That Ruth isn’t good enough because she’s a girl? She’s better than all of us.” I looked to Tom, hopeful for backup, but his lips were pursed.
I don’t know why I even had hope for him.
Maybe Ruth was the only one who would see this fucked-up family for what it was. I should cut my losses and be grateful that she even realized what was wrong.
See? that voice said. She was always going to see it.
“No, she isn’t.” Dad’s voice pulled me back into the present moment. “She needs to learn her place.” He went for the door.
“Dad, don’t—?” Tom began, but I stood in his way.
“You leave her out of it,” I said. “She’s had enough of you.”
“I’m her father.”
“I wish you weren’t.”
“Move,” he demanded, eyes narrowing at me. “Or I will move you.”
“Try it.”
The moment his hand landed firmly on my shoulder, I punched him in the face.
Chaos ensued, and I decided to take one from Ruth’s book and run out the door. It was a cowardly move, but it was the only thing that kept me from laughing at Dad’s flabbergasted face.
I wasted no time getting into my car and pulling out onto the road.
But then I heard a truck rumbling behind me. In my rearview mirror, I saw it was Tom.
I pulled over onto the shoulder, unwilling to let my asshole brother follow me all the way home. I got out of the car to face him. “I don’t regret it, and you won’t make me.”
Tom got out too. “Are you going to check on Ruth?”
The thought hadn’t occurred to me. All I wanted to do was go home and pretend I didn’t even have a family.
And find a lawyer.
“Do we need to? Ruth isn’t the kind of person to have her mental breakdowns in front of her brothers.”
“She was just told that everything she worked for was for nothing. Why wouldn’t we at least be sure she’s okay?”
“It’s Ruth .”
“Barry,” Tom snapped. “She’s our sister.”
“Oh, and you care so much? You didn’t even stand up for her.”
“I have reasons I didn’t.”
“Like what?”
“Come with me to check on Ruth and I’ll tell you.”
I narrowed my eyes, wondering why Tom, of all people, was here instead of back at the house stroking Dad’s ego. I should have told him no so I could return to the safety of my bar and be alone.
But, damn it, I was curious , of all things.
“Fine,” I groaned. “We’ll go check on her. But you better have a good fucking explanation for staying silent. And for suddenly changing your tune the second you were out of Dad’s sight.”
Ruth wasn’t at her downtown apartment. Tom let us in with a key that she had apparently given him some time ago. I’d never been inside it, but it reminded me of our parents’ house. Cold, undecorated, and boring as hell. When we saw the place empty, Tom texted. She didn’t answer until he threatened to hunt her down and she finally said she was fine.
I knew for a fact she was lying.
Eventually, she agreed to a sibling meeting. When the front door to her apartment finally opened, I expected to see the same woman who had stormed out of dinner.
Instead, I saw one with red-rimmed eyes and a sad expression. Her hair was down, making her look younger.
And Knox Price was in tow.
I had a million questions, but we didn’t get long to talk about this significant change in Ruth’s life because Tom steered us right to the topic at hand.
“We need to talk about what happened with Dad.” Tom glanced over at me and I knew he was probably mad about me throwing that punch.
“I’m not apologizing for what I did.” And I wouldn’t.
“What did he do?” Ruth asked. She didn’t look like herself. She didn’t look like my fearless sister anymore. She was just Ruth . I could tell she had been crying, and with the way she’d come in with Knox, of all people, I figured he’d been there for her.
Which was what she had needed.
“He punched Dad in the face when he tried to follow you.”
“What?”
“Nice,” Knox remarked. I smiled at him.
“No, no,” Ruth snapped. “Not nice. Why?”
“He said he wanted to knock some sense into you,” I replied. “So, I decided to do it to him first.”
Knox reacted in the way I would have: pure anger. I didn’t know when he’d gotten so close to Ruth, but I was happy for her. She hadn’t been alone through this. While it would have been my preferred way to deal with my family drama, I didn’t think it suited her.
“It’s what he deserved,” I muttered.
“He could press charges,” Ruth said.
Tom shook his head. “He won’t. He’s going to be tied up with something else very soon.”
“I don’t think there is enough revenue in the world to make Dad not go after Barry,” she replied.
She was right. I was about to be in big trouble and no one was out there to save me.
Still, I didn’t regret it.
“It’s not revenue,” Tom replied. “It’s a lawsuit making him take a leave of absence as CEO. I left the papers HR drafted on his desk tonight.”
“You what ?” Ruth and I asked at the same time.
Tom left it on his desk? Tom, the perfect child?
Knox said something, but I drowned it out as I processed what I’d just heard.
There was no way this was happening. I didn’t think Tom would ever do anything out of line. He was the favorite, so why would he?
“What did he do to get put on leave?” I asked.
“He sexually harassed multiple women. I found the emails when digging in our archive system.”
Jesus. I had always had low opinions of Dad, but this was low, even for him.
“ You found this?” I asked. “You went looking for it?”
“I did. Ever since I stopped drinking and doing whatever he says, I’ve seen him do very illegal things. This is why I wanted us to wait a week. I needed to get everything together.”
“Oh my God. You played a double agent.” Ruth’s voice was quiet.
This couldn’t be real. I’d gotten him all wrong. I thought the boy who’d protected us from that storm was gone. That he only did the bare minimum out of duty.
But he would be the one to take Dad down.
“He’s not going to take this lying down,” Tom said. “He has access to the greatest lawyers. I have a feeling he will find a way around it.”
Knox chimed in, saying he had a few lawyers that might help. I didn’t listen. I was too busy coming to terms with what Tom had done. The world was tilting and everything I knew was wrong.
See? You’re glad you came, aren’t you?
And somehow, I really was.