Page 52 of Never Sleep with the Enemy

“Please. Thank you. Respecting your elders. That kind of thing.”

I hum, unamused. “You expect me to respect you after what you put us through this summer?”

“Oh,please. Don’t be so dramatic. What I putyouthrough? What I did was put your band on the map! Without me, you’d still be strumming your guitar for tips in Central Park. And I’d keep that slander behind your teeth if I were you. I’m in no mood for another lawsuit, but I’ve got nothing but free time. I’ll fit you in.”

“What do you want?” I ask again. “How did you even get in here?”

“I’m cash-strapped. Not broke.” He snorts as he turns to lean against the table by the window currently covered in yellow sticky notes and various colored pens. “And I came here to find out the status of our mission.”

“What mission?”

Monroe blinks twice at me as if the answer were obvious. “Taking down Criminal Records, of course.”

I shake my head. “No, that’s done. We’re done. I’m not working with you anymore.”

He takes a deep breath, letting it linger for as long as possible. “Yes. You’re right. You don’t work with me. You workforme. And you and I have unfinished business, Logan.”

“What business? You’re done, Monroe. No new executive contract. No fancy office in New York City. Taking down Criminal Records won’t help you get that back.”

“No, it won’t,” he agrees. “It’ll make me feel a lot better, though.”

“Well, whatever unfinished business you have is with them. Not me.”

Monroe chuckles. “You think shitty pop music is my business? No, my business isinformation.”

“That doesn’t concern me.” I point at the door. “Get out.”

“Oh, I think it should,” he says, ignoring my outstretched hand. “I think it should concern you very much. Dirt is dirt no matter where you track it in from. Las Vegas. New York.” He smiles. “Or how about...Atlanta?”

I lower my hand to my side.

“Or maybe you’re right,” he continues. “Maybe my business isn’t with you at all. Maybe it’s with Ms. Tesla Kyle down the hall. Or should I call her by her real name? Ms. Silvia Hampton?”

I stand straight up. “You don’t want to threaten her,” I say, my voice laced in warning.

“You’re right. I don’t.” Monroe turns up his hands. “I don’twantto do any of this, but you’re leaving me no choice here. I want nothing more than to forget the details of Tesla’s unsavory misdeeds, but...”

He releases a heavy sigh, leaving the rest up to me.

I bite down hard. “What do you want?”

“I want you to finish what we started. Destroy Criminal Records.”

“Why?” I ask, Katrina’s taste still lingering on my tongue. “Sugar Sound is done with you. It won’t get you your contract back.”

“This has nothing to do with Sugar Sound. Or Midnite Music,” Monroe says, his voice darker now. More dangerous. “This ispersonal. Knox Benton and his band of morons ruined my life. I want to return the favor. I want them done, Logan. Gone. Broken beyond repair. And I want it done before the Battle of the Bands.”

“No,” I say.

Monroe tips to the side in surprise. “No? I thought you’d be all for it. I mean, if Criminal Records doesn’t compete, then you win by default.”

“That’s no victory.”

He rolls his eyes. “This isn’t the Colosseum in Rome, kid. It’s a music competition in Las Vegas, for fuck’s sake. Spare me the melodrama.”

“I could say the same to you. Even if I agreed to this, the Battle of the Bands is less than two weeks away. How would I even break them up before then?”

“You know, I wondered the same thing,” he says as he withdraws his phone from his pocket. “But then, earlier tonight, I saw this...”

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