1
The panic was like a lead weight on her chest.
An attack loomed. Her hands shook, her stomach rolled over nauseously.
Can’t breathe. Can’t breathe.
Larry paced back and forth, oblivious to the fact she was falling apart. That was Larry.
All about himself. The prick.
She instantly felt bad for thinking that. But Larry wasn’t her favorite person in the world right now. Actually, he never was.
I don’t want to do it.
The words hovered on the tip of her tongue.
I won’t do it!
She could just imagine herself telling him that. It would never happen because she was a wimp who couldn’t stand up to her own agent.
People are depending on you, Arianna. You need to be stronger than this. You cannot disappoint them.
So she sat there, barely listening as Larry harped on about the charity concert looming on the horizon. About how she needed to get into the recording studio. Appearances, meetings, promotion.
Enough!
She forced his voice to become background noise. Because if she listened to him, she knew she’d lose complete control.
Breathe in. One. Two. Three. Four. Breathe out. One. Two. Three. Four.
Tears stung her eyes. She blinked them back. Her hands continued to shake, and she twisted them together.
You can do this. Just breathe, Arianna. Just breathe.
“Arianna are you listening to me?” he finally snapped.
Crap. Damn. She raised her gaze to meet his. She knew a lot of people considered her agent a handsome man.
She didn’t see it.
He was too slick. His suit was tailored perfect. His hair was never out of place. His face was unlined and he was tanned year-round.
It was unnatural. She’d known him for four years and never once had she seen a bit of spinach between his teeth or his fly down or a hair poking out of his nose. Not that she actually wanted to see that, of course.
But any of those things might have made him more relatable. Friendly. Approachable.
Larry was none of those things. Larry was a shark.
Which is why her parents had hired him. Yep, she hadn’t even hired her own agent. They’d gotten rid of her last agent, Gordy, because he hadn’t been making her enough money.
What did she need with more money? She didn’t want the flashy cars and exorbitant mansions. But her family did. Larry did. And they all relied on her to perform.
She hated it. She detested what her life had become. And now this. . .
I can’t breathe. Can’t breathe.