From A Producer To A Global Superstar

The evening moved forward without giving anyone a reason to stop.

At the house, Bella was still with Luna and Jennifer. The baby had been asleep for some time, and Luna had been sitting nearby with her phone in hand while going through some of the information Amanda had sent about the proposed collaboration.

Bella’s phone rang.

She glanced at the screen before answering. The voice on the other end was familiar enough to make her sit up straight.

"What happened?"

She listened for several seconds, her expression changing as the person explained that her brother had been involved in an accident and that the family needed her to come immediately.

"Where are you now?" Bella asked.

Another location was given.

She stood and reached for her bag. "All right. I’m coming."

Luna looked up from her phone. "Everything okay?"

"My brother had an accident. They said I should come there now." Bella was already checking that she had everything she needed. "I don’t know how serious it is. I’m going to find out."

Luna put her phone down. "Do you want someone to take you?"

"No, I’ll manage. I don’t want to waste time waiting for a car."

Bella picked up her phone again and stepped a little away from the room before calling Dayo. He answered after the second ring.

"Hey, Bella."

"Sorry to disturb you. I just got a call that my brother was involved in an accident. They said I need to come immediately."

Dayo was still at the office, finishing the last things on his schedule. He glanced at the time while listening to her.

"Are you sure you know where you’re going?"

"Yes. They gave me the address. I’m leaving now."

"Go," Dayo said without hesitation. "Don’t worry about here. I’ll be home soon anyway."

"I’ll call when I get there."

"Do that. And if you need anything, call me."

Bella thanked him and ended the call.

She returned to Luna and explained that Dayo had told her to go. Luna understood. There was no reason to keep Bella there when someone in her family had supposedly been injured.

"Go and check on him," Luna said. "I’ll be fine."

Bella gave her a quick look toward Jennifer’s room. "I’ll call you when I know what’s happening."

"You better."

Bella left.

There was no hesitation once she reached the car. Her thoughts were already on her brother and what she might find when she arrived.

The location she had been given was not a hospital.

That did not immediately concern her.

When Bella arrived, she got out and looked around the area. It was quieter than she had expected, with only a few people moving around nearby. She checked the address again on her phone before walking toward a small building.

A man standing near the entrance looked over when she approached.

"Excuse me," Bella said. "I’m looking for my brother. I was told he was brought here."

The man looked at her for a moment.

"What’s his name?"

Bella gave him the name.

"Let me check."

He turned toward the entrance.

Bella waited.

She had no idea that the call she had received had never come from her family.

She only knew that her brother was supposed to be somewhere inside or nearby, and she needed to find him.

The man disappeared through the doorway.

Bella remained outside, waiting for him to return.

****

At almost the same time, Luna was having a very different kind of conversation.

Amanda had been on a call with the representatives behind the proposed collaboration, and Luna had listened carefully as they went through the details.

"They’re serious about the money," Amanda said, looking through the documents on her tablet. "They’re not offering a small feature fee."

Luna leaned back on the sofa. "How much?"

"They’re talking about five million dollars for the full arrangement."

Luna looked at her.

"Five?"

"That’s the opening figure. There are conditions attached, of course. They want you to be the only featured female artist on the project, and the main artist would be involved throughout the recording."

Luna picked up the tablet and went through the figures herself.

"Who is the artist?"

Amanda gave her the name.

Luna knew him.

She had listened to some of his previous work, although she had never worked with him. He had a strong international audience and was preparing a major album that the label behind him had already spent a considerable amount of money developing.

"That’s a big project," Luna said.

"It is."

"What exactly do they want from me?"

Amanda explained the proposed song, the recording schedule, the number of studio sessions, promotional expectations and the rights attached to the feature.

Luna listened without interrupting.

Once Amanda finished, she looked back at the tablet.

"They’re willing to spend a lot of money, but I’m not sure they have the quality yet."

Amanda gave a small smile. "That’s what I was thinking."

"I don’t mean the artist is bad. He’s not. I’m talking about the material. If the song isn’t good, the money doesn’t fix that."

"That’s why they’re asking you to hear it before anything is signed."

Luna considered that.

The offer was too large to dismiss without hearing the music.

She had no problem listening to what they had prepared, especially if the project really was as serious as they claimed.

"Then let’s hear it," she said. "If the song is good, we can talk. If it isn’t, we walk away."

Amanda agreed.

The meeting was arranged for that evening.

Luna checked the time and looked toward Jennifer’s room.

"How long do they expect the meeting to take?"

"They said about an hour at first. If everything goes well, they want to play the full material and discuss the recording."

Luna picked up her phone.

"I’ll tell Dayo."

She called him.

He answered while walking through the office toward another room.

"What’s up?"

"They’ve confirmed the meeting. I’m going to hear the project tonight."

Dayo stopped for a moment.

"Tonight?"

"Yes. It sounds serious. They’re talking about a major album and a lot of money. Amanda thinks we should at least hear them out."

"How long?"

"They said an hour or so."

Dayo looked at the work still waiting for him.

"All right. Go and listen. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to agree to anything."

"I know."

"And don’t let them rush you."

"I won’t."

Luna smiled slightly. "I’ll see you later."

"Yeah. I’ll be home soon."

The call ended.

Luna went to check on Jennifer before leaving. The baby was still asleep.

She stood beside the crib for a few moments, then left the room and prepared to go.

Nothing about the meeting seemed unusual.

The representatives had provided real information, real contracts, real numbers and the name of a real artist.

There was nothing for Luna to question.

She left the house later that evening, believing she was simply going to listen to a very expensive proposal.

****

Dayo was still at JD Records when the evening started getting late.

Most of the work on his desk had already been cleared. He checked the last few documents, answered two messages and spoke briefly with Sharon about the following day’s schedule.

Wayne was in his own office working on a music session.

The building had quieted down compared with earlier in the day.

Dayo finally closed the last file on his computer.

"I’m heading out," he told Sharon as he picked up his keys.

She looked up from her tablet. "You finally finished?"

"Almost."

"You’ve been saying that for the last hour."

"This time I mean it."

Sharon smiled and returned to her schedule.

Dayo left the office.

Outside, the night traffic had already picked up. He got into his car and started the drive home.

Several cars behind him, another vehicle moved into the same lane.

The driver kept enough distance to avoid attracting attention.

Dayo did not notice.

His thoughts were on home, on Jennifer, and on how quickly he wanted the day to end.

The other vehicle followed.

At a predetermined point along the route, the driver checked the location and sent a message.

He’s here.

The confirmation reached the people waiting for it.

A few seconds later, another action began.

Dayo’s phone vibrated.

He glanced at the screen.

The message had come from Wayne.

Dayo, I need your attention ASAP. It’s extremely urgent!

Dayo frowned.

Wayne rarely sent messages like that.

He had just seen him in the office, and nothing had suggested that something was wrong.

Dayo called him.

There was no answer.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

"Come on, Wayne pick up!!."

The call went unanswered again.

Dayo looked at the road ahead and considered continuing home. He was already close enough that he could deal with Wayne first thing in the morning if it was something that could wait.

But Wayne had used the word urgent.

Dayo called again.

Nothing.

He finally made the decision to turn around.

Whatever had happened, he would deal with it quickly and then go home.

The drive back to JD Records felt longer than it had on the way out.

When he entered the building, he was already looking around for Wayne.

"Where’s Wayne?" he asked one of the staff members nearby.

"In his office."

Dayo did not stop to explain.

He walked straight down the corridor and pushed open Wayne’s office door.

Wayne was sitting behind his desk with headphones around his neck, working on a session.

He looked up in surprise.

"Dayo?"

"What’s going on?"

Wayne stared at him.

"What do you mean, what’s going on?"

"I got your message. You said it was extremely urgent."

Wayne took off the headphones.

"My message?"

Dayo pulled out his phone and showed him the screen.

Wayne leaned forward.

"I didn’t send that."

Dayo looked at him.

"What?"

"I didn’t send you anything."

"The message came from your number."

Wayne took his phone from the desk and checked it himself.

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then he looked back at Dayo.

"Bro, I swear I didn’t send this."

Dayo moved closer to the desk. "I called you four times."

"I didn’t see the calls."

Wayne went through his recent activity.

The message was there.

His phone had sent it.

He looked genuinely confused.

"Wait. What is this?"

"I don’t know."

Wayne turned the phone in his hand.

Dayo watched him scroll through the screen, trying to understand what had happened.

Then Wayne looked up again.

"Are you sure you’re not trying to prank me?"

Dayo stared at him.

"Why would I drive back here for that?"

Wayne shook his head. "I’m serious. I didn’t send it."

Dayo looked at the message again.

The words were simple.

The timing wasn’t.

Something about it bothered him, although he could not yet explain why.

Before he could say anything, Wayne looked down at his phone again.

"Oh my God."

Dayo turned toward him.

Wayne was staring at the screen.

"What?"

"I think somebody got into my phone."

The words came quietly.

Dayo took another look.

Neither man knew yet what that meant.

Neither of them knew that the message had done exactly what it was supposed to do.

It had brought Dayo back to the office.

****

At the house, Jennifer was no longer asleep in her room.

The men who had entered had already completed their part.

They had not stayed longer than necessary.

There had been no reason to.

Jennifer had been taken from the house while Luna was away and Bella was dealing with the emergency she believed was happening to her family.

The vehicle carrying the baby had already left the area.

No one connected to the operation remained behind.

For the moment, everything looked normal from the outside.

The house was quiet.

The room where Jennifer had been sleeping was empty.

And Dayo was still standing inside Wayne’s office, trying to understand how a message from Wayne’s phone had brought him back to JD Records.