Page 59 of Protect Your Queen

She bit her red-stained lip, letting it pull through her lily-white teeth until she pursed it to one side.

“I don’t like delaying the album. It would be one thing if you were only a year from your last, but when you’re this far out, it’s just losing so much momentum. I can’t, from a financial standpoint, agree to it,” she said with a small tilt of her head. “So be prepared for some long hours in the studio. On release day, we’ll get you on one of those evening shows. The ones that are live, and acoustic. Get you behind a piano, singing. Maybe even just on your own, to show your versatility, stripped down, soto speak.”

I wasn’t keeping up. She was speaking so fast, and I had apparently forgotten how to understand English.

“What are your thoughts on this? Do you agree?” As she tilted her head, that stylish bob tipped with her.

“I-I-I… I think so.”

“Oh dear, I’ve thrown too much at you at once. I’m known for doing that.” She smiled sympathetically as I shook my head to get the cobwebs out. I was stunned.

And frightened.

“I think you have what it takes,” she said, slowing down her tempo. She was probably hoping that I could finally keep up.

Her phone beeped, and her secretary’s voice came over the speaker, “Ms. Stasia, your husband is here to see you.”

She pressed down on the intercom button, and to my utter horror, she gave an agitated sigh and said, “Let him in.”

I froze. I was a deer in headlights. A mouse frozen in fear. I couldsmellthe expensive cologne and feel the way he displaced the air and replaced it with the stale, heaviness of danger and rot.

“Darling,” he said, slowly. “Oh, and who do we have here?”

“You know who Jestiny is.” Mrs. Dryden rolled her eyes. Why did she have to share a last name with that man? I hated it. I hated thinking of her that way. Of what he had done. What he had tried to make me do. What he did over and over again with countless girls, and how he had betrayed her.

I was okay blackmailing him, but to harm her would break me.

Then something fell in the pit of my stomach: a creep of doubt. What if she knew and was in on it? What if she excused his behavior?

“Oh, yes, Jestiny,” he said as if suddenly recognizing me. “What are we talking about here?”

“I’m taking over her career, darling.” She ruffled through papers as if she was too busy to be having a discussion with him at that moment.

“She’s one of my artists, sweetheart,” he said, as if he was chiding her. “We’ve discussed how we’re not going to step on each other’s toes.”

“Youdiscussed it dear, but I launch stronger artists than you do. I see Jestiny’s full potential. It’s not with the has-beens you’ve shackled her to.” She dismissed him with a wave of her hand and flipped a piece of paper over with the other. “It’s good to see you dear, but we are very busy.”

“Sweetheart, really…”

“I’m sorry if I was unclear, Michael,” she said his name like it was a curse word, “but it’s done. Jestiny has been transferred to my books, and there will be no reversing it.”

“We talked about this yesterday…” He gave me a sideways look.

“About dropping her? Yes, we did. I’ve changed my mind. She’s staying, and we’ll be allocating resources into her sophomore album.” She said all this without looking up from the paper she was reading. “Now, please, leave us so we can finish our discussion. Thank you.”

Mr. Dryden gave me an angry scowl, then turned to his wife who refused to look at him. I decided to do what she was doing and looked away as well.

Ignored and irritated, Mr. Dryden walked out with a grumbled, “See you at home dear.”

When the door closed behind him, Stasia looked up, and said, “This is a terrible change of topic, but are you single?”

I balked. I opened and closed my mouth several times, before I finally said, “Yes.”

I was single. Yes, I was. So why did my eyes turn toward the door, as if I could look through the wood and into the lobby where my bodyguard was waiting in his pin-striped suit?

“If you want my two cents, it’s best you keep it that way. Men are only good for one thing, and you don’t need to be in a relationship with them to get it.” I wasn’t so naive as to not understand what she meant. “You’re a rich, powerful woman. Men will line up to tame that power. Take it from me. They’ll get what they want, and only if they diminish you will they ever truly feel like men.”

She looked off to the side, deep in thought for a moment.

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