Page 61 of Not Your Golden Boy

Albion glared at Harry.

“Oh, so I’m the bad guy here?” Harry scoffed, livid beyond anything he’d felt before.

“You started this,” Holberg laughed. “You’re the one who decided to record yourself fucking your little boy toy.”

Harry clenched his jaw again. There was no way he would so much as whisper that the video had been Nikky’s idea.

It didn’t matter anyhow. The only thing he cared about was stopping Holberg and Albion from destroying Nikky’s life.

“I’ve already told you that if you leak the video, we’ll say it was AI,” he said. “People love Nikky way more than either of you. We’ve got a thousand ways to manage whatever shit you throw at us, but all you’ve got is your one nasty trick.”

Holberg’s expression tightened subtly, but Albion didn’t seem to care. “You think I’m the bad guy, but I’m just trying to protect my investment,” he said. “Do you think I stand to benefit if that video gets out? With everything I’m trying to do to make Nikky an even bigger star than he is?”

Harry winced. He had a point. A shitty point, but still a point. “And you think paying this arsehole off will end your problems?”

“Yes,” Albion said with eerie confidence. “If he knows what’s good for him.”

Harry took no joy in the way Holberg nearly tripped over his own feet. Just because he now knew who the bigger enemy was didn’t mean Nikky was safer.

“For you,” Holberg said, “I’ll lower my price back down to six hundred thousand.”

Albion stopped and stared at the man with a blank expression. Harry couldn’t tell if his look was contemptuous or calculating. He ignored the man entirely for a moment and turned to Harry to say, “I only want Nikky to behave. Tell him to stop acting up. Tell him to record the songs I want recorded and to trust my vision for what his music career should be.”

“You want to infantilize him and turn him into something he’s not,” Harry seethed.

At the same time, he knew he had to keep his own emotions in check. This wasn’t about him. It couldn’t be. He couldn’t let Nikky walk down the same shitty path Albion had led him down all those years ago. Nikky was better than him, more talented than him, had more potential than he’d ever had. He couldn’t let history repeat itself.

“I want him to achieve his full potential,” Albion argued.

“His full potential as your cash cow,” Harry snapped back.

Albion shrugged. “Artists are assets,” he said. “It’s cute that they think they’re all visionary and noble, but at the end of the day, they’re just another line on a ledger. I’m not the only one who will benefit. Nikky will earn enough in royalties off this album and any others we make for the rest of his life. Sound familiar?”

“A little too familiar,” Harry muttered.

“And he’ll have his acting career, too,” Albion went on like Harry hadn’t said anything. “Although he’ll need to make better choices about the films he signs onto. None of this dark, artsy-fartsy shit. I’ve spoken to his team and told them he needs to book blockbusters and crowd favorites. Cast him as a superhero or the lead in a romantic comedy. Get him into a fucking Disney film.”

Nikky would hate that. He would achieve superstar status, but he would be miserable. He loved the work, not the celebrity, and Harry knew enough to know that the best and most challenging work in the entertainment industry came from smaller studios and meatier roles.

“It isn’t what he wants,” he argued.

“Who cares what he wants?” Albion snorted.

“I do,” Harry practically spat at the man. “Nikky does.”

“This is wasting my time,” Albion huffed. He zeroed in on Harry and said, “Tell Nikky to play along with what people who know more than him are telling him he should do. You have influence over him, so use it for his own good. Get him to step in line by Monday or the whole world will see a lot more of him than they saw on their small screens last fall.”

“Monday is too long,” Holberg said, shaking his head.

Albion stared at him like he was a worm under his foot. “You get nothing if you’re impatient.”

“But—”

“This discussion is over,” Albion said. He met Harry’s eyes one last time, then turned to march off.

Harry seethed as he watched the man go. Albion was and always had been a snake, but this was a whole new low.

“There’s still time for you to deal with this situation yourself,” Holberg said. The man’s confidence was gone, though.