She didn’t remember falling asleep, but she awoke early in the morning. Pink and yellow rays of light were slipping into the room. Her mouth was dry and her chest and jaw ached from crying. She was in bed, Blue’s arms still wrapped around her. But she couldn’t enjoy it. Her first thought was of Jamie and then it was all she could think about. Chelsea slipped out of Blue’s arms and numbly walked towards the door. She headed to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. There were a few moments of silence and then she heard the mattress move as Blue woke up. But there were no footfalls. For the moment he was still in bed, giving her a moment alone.
She drank the entire glass and looked out onto the frost-covered front lawn. She had made it through the night. Now there were only three nights left. But how could she get through it? Each second that passed was painful and she didn’t think she could stand another night like the last one.
No, she couldn’t keep crying in bed, that much was true. Doing nothing and waiting would drive her mad. Her sister was in trouble and Chelsea needed to do something. She needed to get her back no matter what it took, no matter what the cost.
The cost. As the realization came to her Chelsea almost dropped the glass of water. She caught herself and placed in gently into the sink before hurrying to her phone in the living room.
“Chels,” Blue asked from behind her. He had finally got up when she had failed to return to bed. He was trying to hide the worry in his voice, but it wasn’t working. “What are you doing?”
“Money,” she said looking up at him as she pulled up her manager’s number. “I can get money and then we can offer it for Jamie. I can tell my manager I need an advance. I’m going to be worth millions in a few months; they have to be able to offer me some kind of advance.”
“What if she says no?”
Chelsea shrugged as she dialed the number. She walked past him and into the bedroom closing the door behind her. She needed to be alone for this. She needed to try and be LA Chelsea for just a minute. She forced herself to breath normally. She focused on calming her sobs, she reminded herself to be strong for her sister.
“Chelsea, I heard you and Ryan had a great talk the other day. He is definitely good to go on the relationship if you are,” came Lauren’s breezy voice from the other end of the line.
“Lauren, I have a family emergency,” Chelsea said, keeping her voice even.
“No, you don’t,” Lauren said her voice going from sweet to icy and cold in mere seconds.
“Yes, I do,” Chelsea answered and her voice was firm and confident. “There is a legitimate emergency and you will make accommodations for that. Let’s get one things straight: my family comes first and they always will. I don’t care what you have to pay or who you have to bribe, but you need to move everything back indefinitely.”
“Indefinitely!? I can’t do that, Chelsea. You’re an unknown. It’s never going to happen. If we start cancelling gigs, you’re going to get a reputation as a flake or, worse, someone who doesn’t care. It’s bad press, Chelsea, and you’re not famous enough for anything but good press. This launch sets the stage for your entire career. Are you telling me it’s not a priority anymore?”
“I have an emergency, Lauren. I’m sorry, but the nature of emergencies is that they’re rarely predicted. You’re my manager; it’s your job to deal with stuff like this when it comes up. It’s your job to schmooze producers and book for me shows. Do I need to explain to you how to do your job, because I don’t think I would have a problem getting a new manager?”
“Are you threatening me?” Lauren demanded.
“No, I’m asking you to do your job and warning you that if you can’t I will find someone who can,” Chelsea waited with baited breath for Lauren’s reply. She wasn’t sure how serious she was about getting a new manager. She didn’t want to lose Lauren, but if she had to pick between her manager and her sister, she was going to pick her sister every time.
“Fine,” Lauren said. “But if you want indefinite standing spots on these shows you need to give me that relationship with Ryan Baron. You’re not famous enough for that kind of pull, but a relationship with Ryan could get you there.”
“Fine, whatever. Ryan and I are in love and I’m having his babies, tell the press whatever you want,” Chelsea said, throwing her hands in the air. “Now you need to tell me how much I’m worth.”
“What?” Lauren asked. “No, Chelsea. Whatever it is, whatever this emergency is, the answer is no. Whoever needs money from you, you need to say no. You don’t owe anyone anything, Chelsea, and you need to focus on making money before you start give it away.”
“I’m just asking for a number, Lauren, that’s all. You are my manager and I do have a right to know these things.”
“Now you have to remember you haven’t sold any actual records yet, or any ticket to concerts, so this is all a projection. But, right now, conservatively I would put you at ten million dollars.”
“Okay,” Chelsea said. Her head was swimming. That was a big number, a very big number. She and Lauren had agreed not to try and guess at what her value would be. They were waiting for money in the bank, not some estimate. But Chelsea hadn’t really thought about it and the number made her feel a little faint. Ten million dollars was a lot of money; it was more money than she could imagine. “Okay, thanks, Lauren. Look, if it’s any help, this family thing should be done in a couple of days, maybe a couple of weeks. Maybe not even that long. We can do that, right?”
“I guess a couple of weeks isn’t too bad. We can cut some rehearsal time. But you will need to be here in LA all day every day once this emergency is resolved. Once it’s fixed I own you and spend every moment exactly how I tell you to.”
“I understand,” Chelsea said.
“Great, we’ve given the scoop to US Weekly about you and Ryan; they are posting it to Twitter as we speak. We’ve given them an extra hour over the rest of the weeklies, so they’ll owe us a favor down the line.”
“You sent something already?” Chelsea asked.
“Publicists have confirmed the long standing rumors that Chelsea Riley and Ryan Baron are a couple,” Lauren said and Chelsea could tell from her tone that she was reading from something. “The leading man and the all-American girl have just confirmed rumors that they are dating and have been for a few weeks. The couple said that while they’ve enjoyed their privacy, keeping their news from the world was just becoming too much of a hassle. ‘We wanted to announce it to the public before the paparazzi started snapping pictures,’ Ryan Baron announced. ‘We’re just really happy and having a good time together,’ Chelsea added. ‘Ryan has really helped me keep sane as I’ve been finishing my album, it’s been so stressful and hectic and he’s really been there for me.’”
“What?” Chelsea demanded. “You just had that ready to go?”
“Yeah, and there’s more. Chelsea Riley’s new album Wild at Love premiers in two months on December first. If you need a little more for your Chelsea Riley fix you can watch the stunning video for her hit single Love Be True- and then the link goes there,” Lauren finished. Her voice had this air of boredom as if Chelsea should have anticipated all of this.
“That is so many lies packed into one press release,” Chelsea said shaking her head.
“Welcome to the business, babe,” Lauren said. “I know I gave you that number, but don’t come to me for money. Not yet. You need to make the money before you can spend it. Don’t borrow against your future, Chelsea. It’s your future and no one else’s, don’t sell it.”
“I have to go, Lauren.”
“Keep in touch. The second you know something about when this family emergency is over, you pick up the phone and you call me,” Lauren said and then she hung up the phone.
Chelsea dropped her phone onto the bed and then sat down next to it. Ten million dollars, it was more money that she could imagine. Why hadn’t they kidnapped her instead of Jamie? Were they going to try and ransom Jamie to Chelsea? Did the sponsors of the fights need a little bit more money to entice good fighters? Maybe that was their plan, kidnap Jamie and ransom her to Chelsea for money. Well, Chelsea had the money, but the kidnappers hadn’t called her; what was she supposed to do now.
Ten million dollars. Chelsea had no idea how she would get ten million dollars to whoever had her sister, but she knew that she would. She would have paid anything for her sister. She would gamble her future a thousand times over if it would keep Jamie safe.
Blue knocked twice and then opened the door. He saw Chelsea on the bed, but he waited in the doorway, as if he needed permission to come in.
“I called my manager and asked her how much I could get if I needed it right now.”
“This isn’t a money thing,” Blue said shaking his head.
“Ten million dollars. I could get that right now if I wanted to.”
“Whoa,” Blue said and Chelsea suddenly felt very naked under his gaze.
It felt wrong to be reduced to a number and it felt wrong that she was proud of how high it was. “I’ll give it all to them if they’ll give me Jamie back,” Chelsea said.
“You can’t do that, Chels. They’ll just come back to you over and over again for more money. You’ll never be done.”
“What’s your idea, then?” she asked, standing up. She was suddenly screaming at him and she didn’t know why. “Every time I think of something you say, no it won’t work and then we’re stuck with waiting. I can’t just sit around and wait any longer. How about you come up with an idea instead of shooting all of mine down!”
“I’m not shooting you down. I’m just being honest with you. Your ideas are just as likely to get you killed as they are to save Jamie. You need better odds than that. You just have to trust me, Chelsea. I can get Jamie out of this.”
“How?” Chelsea demanded.
“I’ll figure something out,” Blue shouted, throwing his hands in the air.
Chelsea opened her mouth, but just as she did the doorbell rang and she and Blue froze where they were standing.