About an hour into her search, Ella discovered a film studio called “Femme Fatale Studios.” After a swift search, she found herself staring into the beautiful blue eyes of a very familiar face.
And a split-second later, Ella’s tongue went completely dry.
“What the heck?” Ella barely squeaked it out.
Both Alana and Julia lifted their heads with surprise.
“Are you okay, Ella?” Julia leaped from her chair and hustled over to Ella, where she peered down at the image on the screen. “Oh my God. What is Marcia Conrad doing on your phone?”
“Are you kidding me?” Alana hustled over and peered over Ella’s opposite shoulder. “Look at that evil face.”
Ella shook her head, absolutely aghast. “I was just looking up the various film studios who’ve purchased the rights to Will and I’s music.”
“And Marcia came up?” Alana’s eyes were wide and panicked.
Ella nodded. “She owns this Femme Fatale Studios. Apparently, they bought the rights to one of our songs as recently as this spring. April, actually.”
“The month Dad got out of prison!” Julia exclaimed.
Ella didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. “I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.”
“Come on,” Alana scoffed. She then tipped her weight onto the tabletop and tied her hair into a messy bun. “Don’t you remember how Marcia bought that painting that Asher made of me?”
Ella did remember that. It was a particularly heinous detail of a particularly heinous portion of Alana’s life.
“I mean, how do you explain that?” Alana demanded fiercely.
Ella shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“I know how,” Alana blared. “The woman made a mockery of our family twenty-five years ago. I’m guessing that it was the greatest pleasure of her life. Then, she used that money to start this very production company…” Alana stabbed her finger directly next to Ella’s phone. “And she’s collecting the rest of our projects like a hunter collecting the heads of animals.”
“Alana, that’s insane,” Ella tried. She turned to catch Julia’s eyes, hoping for a voice of reason.
But Julia just shook her head. “This woman is a master manipulator. I wouldn’t put anything past her.”
“I mean, there were loads of fans of my band,” Ella pointed out. “Maybe she just happened to be one? That, or she wasn’t even in charge of securing the rights of the music.”
Alana and Julia cast one another doubtful looks. Ella saw that she was playing a losing game.
“Maybe you should ask Will about it,” Alana tried.
“Not that we think you should reach out to Will if you don’t want to,” Julia interjected. “I, for one, am much happier without Jackson in my life.”
“Oh, gosh. I only deal with Asher through lawyers,” Alana confirmed.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you about that clause in your divorce paperwork,” Julia began, a finger outstretched.
In a flash, Julia and Alana returned to one of their favorite topics of conversation: their ongoing divorces. Slowly, they moved back to their seats and exchanged stories about the horrific things their exes had done or said over the years.
This left Ella in a whirlwind. In truth, she and Will hadn’t had some kind of volatile breakup. Bit-by-bit, they’d fallen apart.
And she was often left with the question: if they had actually gotten married somewhere along the way, would they have worked harder to stay together? Was their lack of legal binding allowing them to trash what they should have repaired?
It didn’t matter. Not now.
Ella returned her paperwork to its files, X-ed out the website for Marcia Conrad’s production studios, and said goodnight to her sisters. Perhaps that night, she would find a way to sleep.
ChapterTen