I don't have to answer because Luke speaks for me.
Always.
"That is completely false. The show will go on."
The show does go on when he wraps an arm around me in a display of support for the cameras.
"Isabella believes her father would want her to continue her life as normally as possible while the authorities handle the investigation."
Lies. Lies. Lies.
It's all that ever drips out of his mouth. He doesn't know what my father would want.
He couldn't possibly since I don't even know myself.
"Isabella!" a man in the back of the crowd yells. "Is it true that you were sent a video of your father's execution?"
My hands tremble, and my eyes seek out an exit. A gap in the crowd. A dark hole. Anything to get away.
Luke gestures for security to remove the man.
"Those rumors are completely false and unsubstantiated," he announces.
"I'm done," I tell him. "Stop this now."
His hand tightens around my arm in warning, locking me in place so that I don’t make a scene.
"Just look at the cameras, baby," he whispers. "Show them how sad you are."
I stare at him, and I am empty.
I don’t know how my life came to this. How any of this happened. It feels like a blur of events I can no longer recall.
All I ever wanted to do was sing. I wanted to create something. I wanted to be an artist. But somewhere along the way, art turned into marketing, and marketing turned into a puppet show with Luke controlling the strings.
That flame inside of me has burnt out.
And the truth is, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to light it again.
Chapter Two
“Omigod, omigod, omigod,” Megan squeals.
I rub my temples and wonder if I play dead if she’ll leave me alone. I’ve been trapped in this hotel suite with her for three days.
She pinches my arm, and I hiss.
“Omigod,” she says again. “Do you even realize who that is?”
She makes a wild gesture across the room, to the guy that Luke is currently schmoozing. It’s another big shot producer I have no interest in meeting.
Megan fluffs her hair and glosses her lips beside me.
“How do I look?”
Truthfully, she looks worse than me.
She’s lost a lot of weight since we left the show. Weight that she didn’t really need to lose in the first place. And the way she’s constantly sniffling and never eats tells me she’s been doing a lot more than drinking every night at the parties.