Perfect Harmony (12 page)

I stop suddenly.

What the hell did I just do?

I was so concerned with allaying Melody’s fears and worry
that I blurted out about the Taiwan deal.  That deal is beyond secret.  It’s
only known by me and my board of directors.  I’d lied and told the current
owner Shan Tsung that I’d keep his current workers on at the current pay, in
order to smooth over the deal, but I couldn’t help shake the feeling that he
didn’t trust me.  I needed that deal to corner the CD buying market is Asia,
but if Tsung didn’t sell, I’d be screwed.  Or worse, if the workers found out
the truth, I could have a riot on my hands.

Melody stares at me intently, waiting for the rest of the
sentence.

“...Of how much I’m willing to undercut the competition. 
Can’t have my enemies think I’m desperate,” I say.

Melody nods, believing my bullshit.  And I feel sick to my
stomach.

But at least she is unaware of how near I came to imparting
such sensitive information.

Melody raises her hand to my head and traces my temple with
her fingertips.

“It’s always so busy up there,” she says.  “Is that how you
got to be where you are?”

“It helps,” I say.  “And sometimes it’s a curse.”

She smiles wanly.  “I wish I listened less to my brain.  Maybe
then I’d be actually be somebody.”

I take her fingers and kiss them.  “You are somebody, my
princess.”

“A failure maybe.”

“How can you think such things?”

“Because I am.  I came here to do the whole big singing
career thing - a life in the stars.  I’ve got the talent - I know I do.  At
least, I think I do.  But when push comes to shove, I listen to that brain of
mine and bottle it.  Every time.  Hell, maybe I listen to my heart too much as
well.”

“Don’t say that,” I say.  “You’re heart is a wonderful thing
- it’s why you’re so open and willing to accept others.”

“Maybe.  But I wish I was more like you.”

I frown.  “No.  You do not.”

“But at least then I wouldn’t be so scared of...”  She looks
over her body.  “...Of excuses to not sing.  No one would want me on their label,
anyway.”

“I would,” I say.  “If my label suited your classical
talents.  But I’m afraid your voice is...”

“What?” she asks.

“...Too beautiful.  Like yourself.  Not to mention, it would
make my starlets envious and unwilling to co-operate.  Some of them might even
leave for my competition.”

“I understand,” she says, her face crestfallen.

“But one day, you’ll find the right person for your
talents.  When the time is right, the world will be yours.  And you won’t run
away because it’ll be everything you ever dreamed.”

“You really think so?” she asks.

“I went through a lot of failures before I became a
success.  But with every one, I strived harder to succeed.  I grew up poor and
alone, an ill mother to take care of and a dead asshole father whose only
inheritance was debt.  But I wasn’t going to let life screw me over like that
anymore.  I wasn’t going to let it make me feel so powerless.  So when I saw an
opportunity, I took it.  And no matter how many times I fell to my knees, I
picked myself back up and tried again.”

“What did you do?”

“I dropped out of college, for a start.  I took menial jobs
but the medical bills kept piling higher and higher.  So rather than pay them,
I took the meager sums I’d made and invested it in managing some brain-numbingly
awful band.  They failed, but others liked what I did.  So I managed another. 
Then another.”

“And then you became the billionaire CEO of one of the
largest record companies in the US?”

I chuckle.  “Not quite as simple as that.  But every time I
failed, I tried again.  And eventually it worked.  You’ll find out the same is
true for yourself, I have no doubt.”

She sighs.

I stroke her head with my palm and bring her face to look at
me.  “Nothing worth having in life comes easy.”

She nods.  “I just get so afraid.  I guess that’s why my
father thinks so little of me.”

“Your father?”

“Yeah, before I left Iowa, he wanted me to marry one of his
senior managers.  Some old guy, seriously, like three times my age.  He said he
was going to disinherit me if I didn’t.”

“Disinherit you?” I ask, incredulously.  “You come from a
wealthy family?”

Melody bites her lip.  Her eyes dart away.  “No, not at
all.  I say
inherit
, but it’s nothing more than a couple of music shops
in the surrounding towns.”

“I see.”

“After my mom died, the things I wanted in life suddenly
became clearer.  I said to my father that I didn’t want his business; I wanted
to move to New York and be a singer.  That was a big mistake.”

“He wasn’t supportive?” I ask.

“He told me point blank that I’d never be a singer because I
wasn’t pretty enough.”

A pang of anger rushes through me.

The bastard.  How could he say that?  And to his own
daughter?

“I know the pain of fathers,” I say, trying to comfort her.

She glances at me with those large eyes, expecting me to
continue.  But I can’t.

How can I tell her about my father, William Strong?  A
desperate gambler who married a dying woman for her life insurance.  It makes
me sick how he treated her; how he left his terminally ill wife and infant son
when he was struck off as a beneficiary.  And then came crawling back with
sorrow in his eyes and empty promises, a month later forgotten as he beat me
and shout at me and got drunk and knocked my mother around.  And then leaving
again when he discovered the insurance company wouldn’t pay out.

He was a disgusting pig; a lothario who spent he time preying
on innocent virgin girls like it was a sport.  Fucking them knowing they’d fall
in love with him, and then getting them knocked up and giving me all manner of
bastard siblings.  A few have come out of the woodwork since I became a
successful businessman, but I find it funny that I heard from no brother or
sister before I was worth billions.

They deserve nothing.  I built my business with my own two
hands, and these bastards think they’re entitled to handouts?  The apple didn’t
fall far from that tree.

“
Ah son
,
one day you’ll realise you and your old
man are one and the same.  My father was a violent prick, and now looks at me. 
Sins of the father, my boy.  Sins of the father.
”

His last words still haunt me.

I will never become like him.  Never.  I’d rather die first.

Melody strokes my cheek, almost as if sensing my inner
anguish.

“But none of that stuff matters, anymore,” she says. 
“You’re here with me, and that makes me feel like there’s nothing to be afraid
of.  You make me feel like I can do anything.”

A wave of deep guilt lurches through my stomach.

She’s falling in love with me.  Even already, after one
night.  I never should have taken her virginity - I knew it was wrong, but I
couldn’t help myself.  I had to have her.

Maybe my father was right.

I’m a hypocrite, and a monster.

A cool breeze pours in through the open window and my skin
prickles.  The sun peeks its head over the horizon and floods the room in a
dull light.

It’s almost dawn.

Time is up.

I must cut Melody loose, like I promised.  Better she leave
here thinking I’m a heartless bastard than become an empty vessel poisoned by
my darkness.  I can’t do that to her.  She deserves so much better.

It’s the right thing to do.

“God,” she says, teary eyed.  “This has been the happiest
moment of my life.  And though you’ll move on and forget me, I’ll never forget
you.”

I shake my head.  “My princess.... Melody, I could never
forget you.”

She grins from cheek to cheek.  But there’s a sign of somberness. 
“It’s almost over,” she says.

I nod.

“I want you to know something,” she says.  “Being here with
you... it sounds silly to say, but I have to say something or I’ll hate myself. 
Chase... I think I’m...”

I can see in her face what she’s about to say.  I lean in to
kiss her, to stop her from saying those words that will damn us both.

“Shhh,” I whisper.  I cup her face and we kiss with passion
and tenderness.  Her lips taste so sweet, her scent like roses.  I want to burn
it into my mind - I want to never forget the taste and smell of her body; the
feel of her skin against my own; the beautiful sound of her voice as she calls
my name.

She looks at me with such joy and longing and hope, a look
that screams of her delusion that I’m a good man.

A look that will haunt me forever.

“Let us enjoy the dawn,” I say.

And we make love for the final time.

––––––––

––––––––

M
y stomach lurches as I sit in the empty conference room. 
Through the four transparent glass walls, I can see the rest of the workers
busying themselves, probably trying to ignore me.  Instead, I look around to
the adjacent window.  The view up here on the 22
^nd
floor is breathtaking, almost rivalling the view from
Chase’s office upstairs.

I feel sick again.

It’s been over five weeks since we slept together and I
haven’t heard a word from him.  Not even a peep in one of the three moments
we’ve actually been in the same corridor at the same time.

It’s understandable - I woke up to an empty bed later that
morning.  I shouldn’t be surprised that Chase did exactly as he promised and
never contacted me again.  I’m a fool for entertaining the possibility that
something might happen between us, that he felt the same way about me as I feel
for him.

I dry swallow and feel the hard plastic of the chair dig
into my back like an old war wound.

Why summon me to this conference room if I was going to be
left alone with my own desperate thoughts?  My manager read a memo and then
told me it was of the utmost importance I leave my filing duties that minute
and head upstairs, but refused to tell me why.

The dread is killing me.

What if something terrible has happened?  Maybe something
has happened to my brother.  Or my father.  A death?

No.  Impossible.  No one here at Harmony Records knows my true
identity.  And even if my father were to die, I’d be the last one to hear about
it.

Screw him.

The door swings open and a line of six smartly dressed men
and woman in designer suits file into the room and take the chairs opposite
me.  They open their file folders and peruse the thick clump of documents held
within.

The one in the centre adjusts his reading glasses and looks
up at me.

“Right, Miss Watts.  I’m glad to see you’re here.  We’ve
been reviewing the paperwork and we can assure you of our gratitude for your
open co-operation.”

I feel light headed.

What the hell is he talking about?  Did I miss a memo?

“Uh...” I mutter.

He ignores me and flips through the pages.  “Ah yes.  This
here, now this clause is a contractual obligation, but we’re willing to wave it
for any of the unseen circumstances found in 2B, which I think you’ll find is
very generous.”

“Excuse me,” I say.

Again, he doesn’t hear my squeak.  “Of course, any
remuneration and recommendation is the least we can do, but I’d like to stress
that it is entirely a gesture of goodwill and has no bearing on our decision as
Harmony Record’s legal department, of course, if you wish to bring your own
legal representative...”

“
Excuse me
,” I say, louder than I expected.  They
shush.  “This may sound silly, but what are we actually talking about?”

The man in the glasses looks at me quizzically.  “You’re not
aware?”

I shake my head.

“Miss Watts, we’re discussing the terms of your voluntary
resignation.”

A shudder of nausea rushes through me.  “You’re... you’re firing
me?”

“
Voluntary resignation
.  It’s come to the attention
of the company that your skill set isn’t an appropriate match for what we
desire as a business due to the trending marketplace.”

This is insane.  He’s firing me.  Chase is actually firing
me.

I knew the women gossiped about me for the last few weeks,
rumours and here-say on how I was Chase’s new mistress.  But it was all lies. 
We hadn’t spent another second together - but he must want to quash the rumours
completely.  He must want to sweep his silly mistake under the carpet.

And I knew it would happen.  Damn it.  I knew all along.

“Think of it more as redundancy,” the man says.

He’s right - I am redundant.  To my job and to Chase.

“I’m sure you’ll find our compensatory package very
generous.  And, of course, a very positive reference will be given to any
future employer that desires it.”

“How much compensation?” I ask.

The man flips some pages over.  “Ten thousand dollars is the
suggested sum.”

Ten thousand dollars.

He reads off the form.  “Payable on the condition of the
recipient’s signature on this legal release form.”

“Legal release?”

“It’s nothing really, it just prevents you from engaging a
lawsuit against Harmony Records or any of its subsidiaries for matters suffered
whilst under its employee, such as wrongful dismissal or sexual harassment.”

He’s buying me off.

I feel like I’m going to vomit.

“Please,” I say.  “I need this job.  There must be something
I can do?”

Everything feels like a daze.  Chase doesn’t want me.  He
needs to get rid of me.  No one here likes me.  But I need this job - I need
something or I’m going to go mad with the grief.  I feel like I’m being ripped
apart.

The man pushes a sheet of paper towards me with a pen. 
“Just sign at the bottom.”