Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
Sometimes I can see why I was so easily led, why I let myself fall into the many traps they’d set for me. Lyon was right once again. No one had taught me how to play the game, and the man who had brought me into this life had taken advantage of my naivety in the worst way. “I want him to pay and pay dearly for everything. I’m going to take him for everything he has if he tries to play me on this. But first, let’s get those girls back home.”
***
*Scott*
‘You played me. How did you do it?’ There was no point in beating around the bush. From the moment I saw that document with my signature on it, I knew that it had been done deliberately; I just had no idea why or how. I also knew that I was being watched because the text came in almost as soon as Ryder left my place.
I’d been sweating for days over the deal that I had no real authority to sign without his okay, but since I’d done pretty much whatever I saw fit where he and his career were concerned, I didn’t see a problem. I’d been able to talk him around about the fifty-million-dollar deal with the promise that he still held some control and stood to make even more money if he didn’t sell outright, but I didn’t know that this monster was going to crawfish the deal.
‘How is not important; it’s the why you should be worried about.’
‘Okay, why then? What have I ever done to you?’
‘To me, nothing, but to others, plenty, as we both know. If you’re thinking of not paying up, remember what I know about you.’
‘Hey, I kept up my end of the bargain. You said fifty million, and that’s what I signed up for. That’s all I got.’
‘There’s a new deal on the table, and I still haven’t told you why in this particular instance. You screwed your wife in the divorce; now I’m screwing you. You have two days before those lawyers get to work. You don’t want them looking too deep into your business or personal practices now, do you, Scott?’ I threw the phone over the rail in a fit of anger and screamed at the sunset.
The stupid thing started going crazy, and I had to run down to the sand to pick it up. It was just some stupid social media alert that I had on my phone, which I was about to ignore until I saw the headline.
‘Big news, everyone. Mary Hudson, the business maven and always busily working matriarch of the Hudson family, seems to have gone into the music business. Sources say that she just bought Ryder Sumner’s entire catalog for two hundred million dollars.
There’s a story there, I bet. Like, where did she get that kind of money?
“As we all know, she and her daughters have not been faring too well in the last couple of weeks, and business has not been doing as well as they claimed, what with their stocks falling like dead birds in the Midwest skies in winter.”
‘Sources have reported that the self-made millionaire has been selling off her assets secretly in the last couple of days. Now we know why, but the question is why? Why now? And why Ryder Sumner’s catalog? What’s the connection, folks? As we all know, her two youngest daughters have been facing backlash for weeks ever since that ill-informed skit they posted on social media dissing everyone’s sweetheart Elena Gianni a few weeks ago. Do you smell the same stench in the air that I do?’
‘Is the money-hungry mom-enator trying to find a way to control the narrative? If so, she’s going a long way and spending a lot of money just to clear up what her kids claim was a minor misunderstanding. Let’s get to digging, peeps; happy hunting.’
“That bitch! That conniving bitch.” I looked down at the document Ryder had left and, for the first time, read the other party’s signature, which I’d missed earlier in my confusion.
“What the fuck? Isn’t that…?” Is she threatening me? Why would she use that name as her umbrella company? It’s been her all along? I’ll kill her, her, and those fucking cartoon daughters of hers. I was on my way out the door when I got the call. Only Chad Saunders could have lawyers on tap who worked this fast.
“Listen, I can’t talk right now.”
“You may want to. You wouldn’t want this getting out to the public; no one would work with you, the authorities would get involved, and your life would be a mess. Better to pay up now. Since Mr. Sumner seems to have a soft spot for you as his long-term manager, he’s decided to give you a few days to make the deposit. Anything beyond that, and we’ll be taking matters into our own hands. Do the right thing, and everyone comes out in the clear. You’re still making ten-mil on the deal, after all.”