Arianna Smith's Arc

Chapter 23 of 23

The morning after the live broadcast, the label called. Not a text this time. A video call. Arianna sat at the kitchen table with Kylie beside her. The rep's face filled the phone screen. He did not say good morning. "You blindsided us," he said. "You married on camera. No clearance. No plan." He leaned close. "Fix this, Arianna, or we drop Kylie. Her contract. Her tour. Gone." Arianna's hands went cold. She looked at Kylie. This was the thing Kylie had built her whole life. One wrong word could cost her everything. "That's not a conversation," Arianna said. "That's a threat." "Call it what you want," the rep said. "You stole our announcement. The press is laughing at us. You owe us a clean story." Kylie opened her mouth. Arianna touched her wrist. "Let me," she said quietly. Kylie nodded and sat back. Arianna breathed. She thought about every letter she had sent into silence. She thought about standing at the chapel and choosing the truth. "You want a clean story," she said. "Here's one. The fans already love it. Check your numbers." The rep paused. "What numbers?" "The broadcast," Arianna said. "Millions watched it. People are sharing it right now. Not the gossip account. Us." She turned her phone. The comment count climbed as he watched. "You can't launch something that already won. But you can ride it." The rep's jaw tightened. "Go on." "Kylie's next record," Arianna said. "We built this audience ourselves. Honest. No stage tricks. That's the story. The label that let two people tell the truth. You take credit for being smart enough to stay out of the way." Kylie laughed under her breath. The rep did not laugh. But he stopped frowning. "You'd do press?" he asked. "Real press. On our schedule?" "One interview," Arianna said. "Our words. Not a script. You get the credit. You keep Kylie." She held his eyes through the screen. "Or you drop her, and the whole internet watches you punish the couple they just fell in love with. Your call." The rep was silent a long time. Then he said, "Send me the interview terms by tonight." The screen went black. Kylie grabbed Arianna's face with both hands. "You just saved my contract," she said. "You turned their threat into a deal." "I turned it into a trade," Arianna said. Her hands were still shaking. "We give them one interview. On our terms." Kylie kissed her. "You're scary good at this." Then Arianna's phone buzzed again. A new message from the label, already longer than the last. Interview terms. A date. A list of questions they wanted answered. And one line at the bottom: a producer would "sit in" to guide the conversation. Arianna read it twice. The threat was gone. But the label still wanted a hand on their story. The deal had only moved the fight somewhere new.