Chapter 1 Strip!
Ariel
Milan, Italy,
Luce Arena,
10pm,
The crowd's cheer was loud as I walked off the stage.
“Ari!”
“Ari!!!”
“Ari!!!
My manager, Jonas, handed me a towel and bottle of water the minute I came down the stage ramp. “You did amazing.”
“Really?”
He smiled. “Of course, you’re always amazing.”
“Here, your phone. Your sister called. Kevin and Michael will lead you through the emergency exit once Madison is done taking care of you, and I’ll see you later in the hotel once I'm done here. I've ordered room service for you, which should be in your room by the time you get there, and I've sent your schedule for tomorrow to you. Go through it so you'll have an idea of the itinerary for tomorrow.”
“Okay.” That was a lot of instructions, but at the very least, he had ordered room service. Ugh, I'm so hungry.
"See you then. James..." he called to a crew member as Madison appeared from nowhere to lead me to the dressing room. She was my stylist and handed me a change of clothes once we got in.
"Where is Helen?" I asked Madison. Helen is my makeup artist.
"She went to get something from the van. She should be here any minute."
"Heyyy." We both turned to the door as Helen popped in right at that moment.
"Helen."
"You were so amazing on stage, I forgot that I needed to grab the extra kit from the van."
"Stop it." I said with a smile, acting all coy.
"No, for real. If I didn't know you, I would never believe this is your first tour."
"Exactly," Madison chipped in.
"Well, thank you guys. I'm glad I did well."
"Well, let's touch up your makeup, shall we?"
I sat in my seat and grabbed the cup of coffee Jonas had prepared for me before closing my eyes to let the girls do their work, and once we were done, I followed Kevin and Micheal to the emergency exit at the back, where fans and paparazzi stood waiting.
"Ariel!"
"Oh my God! Ariel!"
"Can you please sign this?"
I waved and smiled politely to everyone as we moved to the car, and once we were in, I dropped the smile and sighed. God, I was exhausted. I needed a bath, a meal and sleep.
If only I had known that was a dream that would, in fact, not come true.
"See you tomorrow." I said to Kevin and Michael as we got out on the sixth floor of the hotel i was lodged in.
"See you."
They watched as i walked to my room and safely locked myself in.
Phew.
Now the —
I stopped dead in my tracks as I turned the lights on and turned to see two men in my room. Richard and Louise, the owner of the entertainment agency I was signed with and his assistant, respectively.
"Well, well, well, see who is back, if it isn't the upcoming rising star Ariel Bennett." I felt a chill crawl up my spine at Richard's words.
"Richard..."
"You didn't think I'd come find you myself?"
"I..." I sucked in a breath as he picked up an apple from the room service tray that was already in the room and stood up to approach me.
"What? You have something to say?"
I stood my ground despite the dread rising within me with each step he took towards me, and I turned my head once he got to me and stretched out his hand to trail his hand down my cheek. He let out a chuckle.
"I guess you actually think you've become something, right? That must be why you've been ignoring my calls.”
"I..." I cleared my throat and straightened my spine. "I refuse to meet clients anymore."
"You refuse?" He let out a loud laugh and bit into the apple. "Why?"
"Because I've done everything you asked of me till now. I'm no longer a rookie artist. I've sold millions of my album, sold out the first leg of my tour and basically raked in a lot of money. That should be enough to pay for everything, no?"
He pursed his lips and paced away from me. "True, but who do you think sponsors these shows you're having? The arenas, the crew, down to the dress and makeup you have on – it's these clients, and till they say you're free from them, you're not. As long as they keep requesting for you, you're going to keep meeting them and satisfying their needs, or do you need me to remind you of everything you have at stake?"
"No!" My throat felt like it was closing up. "No. I refuse to meet anyone. You can't keep doing this. You can't--- ahh!!!" I yelped as something flew across the room to me. It was the apple he had been eating, and I barely managed to dodge before it got to me.
"Ah, this bitch." He ran his hand through his hair and stormed towards me, the amusement and humour gone out of his face. Now he just looked scary, like the man that had shown his true colours to me once I had nowhere else to go.
I let out another yelp as he fisted his hands into my hair. It felt like they were going to fall out with how hard he was pulling. "You must think I came here to bargain with you just because I've been smiling with you, uhn, or have you actually forgotten everything you have at stake? Your mum, your sister, even this career you think you have right now. It could be gone right in the blink of an eye if you piss me off."
He pulled my hair more for a deeper measure and snarled before letting go of my hair. I stumbled into the wall, a tear rolling down my cheek.
Arghhh!!! I screamed internally.
"Now strip. Let's get you ready for Alan, shall we?"
He sat on the couch in the room, crossed his legs and signalled the other guy in the room, who was also his personal assistant, to hand him the box I hadn't noticed on the bed.
He glanced back at me to see me still cowering in the corner and scowled. "What are you waiting for?!"
I stood straight and took off the strap of my top.