Page 137 of The Encore’s Crown

Something in it finally reaches me. I step back. Julian folds forward, coughing, one hand at his throat. Rithy pushes me several feet away.

“That’s it. We’re done.”

Julian drags in a breath. Then another. He looks up at me with hatred burning through his face.

“You’re risking your entire career for what?” His voice is shredded. “Some easy influencer pussy?”

Natalia flinches. The room goes silent around the words. Julian laughs again, still trying to breathe.

“There’s cheap cunt like hers on every street corner in L.A.”

I hit him.

There’s no warning.

No thought.

One second he’s standing there. The next, my fist connects cleanly with his jaw.

His eyes go empty before his body does. Julian drops straight to the floor. A woman screams. Then the room explodes and Stefan shouts my name.

Elise says, “Oh my fucking God,” with the despair of someone watching several months of crisis management materialize in real time.

Security rushes forward. Someone yells for a medic. Stefan says he's calling Dawn. Phones rise everywhere. Rithy grabs the back of my jacket and hauls me away from Julian’s unconscious body.

“You had to knock him out?”

“He was still talking.”

Rafe steps in front of security.

“Our manager is handling it.”

“Your bassist assaulted a label executive.”

“Our bassist stopped a label executive from drugging a guest.”

Kasia still has the drink. She holds it up.

“This needs to be secured and tested.”

That changes the security supervisor’s expression. Stefan hears it too. His anger slides into something colder. He points toward a side corridor.

“Everyone involved. Move. Now.”

We retreat through a service door before the whole party can close around us. Elise follows while speaking rapidly into her phone. Stefan remains behind to deal with security, the label executives gathering like vultures around fresh meat. The service corridor is bright, narrow, and completely silent once the door shuts.

My hand throbs. Blood beads along one knuckle.

Natalia stands beside Kasia with both arms wrapped around herself. I look at her.

“I’m sorry.”

She lets out a shaky laugh, then crosses the space between us and takes my hand in both of hers. Her eyes move over the split skin and the swelling already rising beneath it.

“That’s going to bruise.”

“Probably.”