Page 59 of Truly

“Perfect.”

“I’ll add it to your calendar,” she says. “But I have to ask—what do you want to talk about?”

My palm sweats against the phone. “I want to make some changes. I want to be more in control of my schedule. I want to see every contract and offer, and I don’t want anyone to have the authority to sign on my behalf. Not right now.”

“Am I hearing you correctly? You want to remove your father from your management team?”

“Yes,” I say, ignoring the pit in my stomach. “That’s precisely what I want. I want him off everything. Is that hard to do?”

“It’s a lot of paperwork, and we need PR to be on the ball, ready to nip any negative press in the bud. How soon do you want to do this, Laina?”

“As soon as possible.”

“Let me get with legal then and have them start the process.” She sighs. “Can you hold on, please?”

“Sure.”

The line shuffles for a few moments until I’m put on speakerphone.

“Laina, you’re on speakerphone. Coy Mason is here.”

“Hey, Laina. How are you?” he asks.

“I’m good, Coy. You?”

“I’m good. Thank you for asking.”

“Laina,” Anjelica says, “may I fill Coy in on our conversation?”

I nod. “Sure,” I say without hesitation.

Coy Mason was the biggest name in country music until a couple of years ago. He still performs under his stage name, Kelvin McCoy, from time to time. But much of his effort is spent running Mason Music. For someone so big in the music world, Coy is as down-to-earth as they get. His boutique label quickly became one of the most powerful labels in music, and I’m honored to be one of their first recording artists.

“What’s going on?” he asks.

“Laina is making a couple of management decisions, namely, firing her current manager.”

Coy pauses. “Your father manages you right now, correct?”

“Yes.”

He blows out a breath. “I won’t act like this isn’t tricky, and many emotions are involved when we work with family. Trust me. I see Boone every day.”

I laugh.

He laughs, too. “How can we help you facilitate this? What do you need from us?”

“Coy, I don’t even know. I’ve just pressed pause long enough to know that I can’t keep doing things as they were.I need to build a team who cares about me.”

“I absolutely agree,” he says. “Do you have any thoughts about who you might bring on as your business manager?”

“No. I probably should have an idea before I fire my father, huh?”

“Not necessarily,” Anjelica says.

“Actually, once you decide something like this, you’re better off executing it immediately. I’ve seen stuff happen where people realize what’s going down and intentionally try to sink the ship, so to speak.”

My heartbeat begins to settle. “What will happen to everything he handled if I don’t have a replacement?”