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Cas led her to an empty conference room with a long table, chairs around it, and different coffee makers and accoutrements against one wall. She looked to her security for the next steps when someone she didn’t know entered the room.
She took in his black suit, shaved head, and the glimpse of neck tattoos that peeked out of the top of his buttoned-up collar.
“Oh good. You’re here,” he greeted Cas in a thick Boston accent. “That woman is a real fucking piece of work. What a mouth on her. And that’s coming from me.” His gaze flicked to Zara and he blinked. “Whoa. You’re right there.”
Zara’s face grew hot. What did he mean by that?
“Sorry,” he went on with a short shake of his head. “I’m usually in Boston. There’s a huge billboard with your face on it. I drive past it every day. Seeing you in real life is…different.” He cleared his throat and shrugged. “Do you want me to bring her in here now? Or wait for Quinn and Alex?”
Was he talking about Shelby? And who were Quinn and Alex?
“Let’s wait,” Cas said. “Zara, this is Dan O’Malley. He’s head of Cipher Security and helped us track down Shelby.”
Dan nodded and rock back on his heels. “She wasn’t hard to find. She’s got a loud mouth. Getting her here was like wrestling a feral cat into a bath though.” He made a face. “She’s mean.”
Zara snorted at his delivery. “Thank you for your help,” she said.
He shrugged like it was no big deal and she wondered how Cas knew him. He’d brought her Gregor, had taken care of Kramer and now there was this Dan O’Malley guy with the neck tattoos. He was this never-ending cornucopia of interesting revelations.
Needing to busy herself, she wandered over to the coffee station and started making coffee for everyone in the room.
She checked her phone and wondered if Asa was awake yet.
Her stomach threatened to cramp at the thought of him not being there when she got back. She wasn’t as upset with him asshe’d been last night. But they definitely needed to talk. And it needed to be the kind of talk where big decisions were made.
The bubble was gone and it was time to find out if this thing was as real and scary as she hoped it was.
“Hey, Dan, big guy, Devan, right?”
Zara slowly turned towards the doorway to see Hannah Lee James entering the conference room and greeting the bodyguards.
What was she doing here?
Zara’s brain paused.
Of course.Of course!Why hadn’t she thought about Hannah until then? Hannah had left the industry, had found peace and love and happiness. If anyone could give Zara any kind of helpful advice or hard-earned wisdom, it would be her.
“I need to talk to you,” Zara blurted as the former reigning queen of pop approached her.
Hannah arched an eyebrow, her mouth tilting into a small smile. “I know you do.” She gestured to the table. “Let’s have a chat.”
Zara grabbed her coffee and took a seat. Hannah made herself a coffee and joined her. They turned their chairs to face one another.
Several years ago, Zara had won Best New Artist at the NMAs. Hannah had presented her with the award. It was the same night Hannah got arrested for assaulting a producer backstage and then subsequently disappeared from the industry. It wasn’t until Zara had started recording at XY Records with Sunshine Capone that she’d “re-met” Hannah in her new life.
She was settled. Happy. Still living mostly off-grid and adamant on keeping it that way.
Zara thought of the people outside XY Records that day and sighed. “I’m sorry about what’s happened.”
Hannah chuckled. “Babe. I saw this coming months ago. It’s fine. It’s all been prepared for.”
“How?”
Hannah hummed as she drummed her nails lightly on the table. “I’m so intensely paranoid when it comes to protecting the people I love that I make plans I hope never have to be used. And I happen to have…people that are even more paranoid than I am. The first time you showed up in the studio I knew this was a possibility. We started building contingencies at that time. And then after you and Asa made headlines last October, we had a direction.”
“You didn’t say anything,” Zara replied, throat dry.
“We spoke to Asa about it. Created a false business address in Miami where we listed him as an employee just to throw off anyone snooping too closely.” Hannah’s gaze lost focus and her lips tilted up on one side. “But when we asked him about his relationship with you, he lied.”
