Wife by Day, Boss by Night by Thalia Quillspeak

Chapter 58
“No way! I have to confront that Annika and at the very least get her song pulled from the charts!” The agent fumed, immediately
scouring the internet for Annika’s contact. “She’s got some nerve, using her email as her cell number!”
Muttering under her breath, the agent dialed the number.
Two seconds later, Natalie’s phone sitting on her dresser buzzed to life.
Madelyn glanced at Natalie’s phone, but couldn’t make out the caller due to the glare from the makeup mirror.
“Excuse me.” Natalie offered a polite smile, grabbed her phone, stealthily pressed the mute button, and slipped it into her pocket.
Madelyn’s agent hung up after the voicemail kicked in, mounting her frustration.
“I’ll try a few more times,” she muttered, redialing the number.
Natalie’s phone vibrated again. With her hand in her pocket, she quickly silenced it once more.
Madelyn thought it was a text notification and said, “You’re pretty busy, huh?”
“Some family drama keeps me on my toes,” Natalie replied with an easy smile, not giving anything away.
With that, she casually took out her phone and switched it to silent mode, right in plain sight.
Madelyn paused for a moment, then said softly, “Your family is going through a lot. Hasn’t he reached out?”
Her mention of “he” pointed at Brian.

“He’s got nothing to do with me. I moved out a while ago,” Natalie said coolly.
Brian wouldn’t be contacting her. After all, he was the instigator behind the Wright family’s
current predicament.
Madelyn, under the impression that Brian was deliberately not helping, looked at Natalie again, “You know, I could talk to him for
you, put in a good word.”
“No need, they can handle their issues,” Natalie replied, indifferent.
Madelyn was rebuffed, her pride stung, and she fell silent.
Meanwhile, the agent, unable to reach Annika, grew more agitated and decided to blast the duet version of Madelyn and
Annika’s song from her phone.
She played Madelyn’s televised performance first, ranting. “Listen for yourselves, who’s the better singer? The online comments
are saying Madelyn can’t even match up to this internet nobody. It’s ludicrous!”
Chapter 56
Natalie was surprised by the sudden play of music, her eyebrows shot up. She wanted to say something to prevent the imminent
embarrassment.
“Can our professional be outdone by an amateur, right? Annika doesn’t even have an agent. without a record deal, just some
nobody doing covers!”
But the agent kept ranting, and Madelyn, with her nose in the air, didn’t seem inclined to stop the agent.

Natalie thought better of it and decided to let it go. After all, she wasn’t the one who’d be humiliated.
After Madelyn’s song ended, the agent quickly played Annika’s version, impatiently dragging the slider to the middle:
“... Set fires to my purpose,
And I let it burn,
You got off on the hurting.
When it wasn’t yours.
We’d always go into it blindly.
I
I needed to lose you to find me.
This dancing was killing me softly.
I needed to hate you to love me...
Η
The lyrics, like a narrative spun by Annika’s voice, were not overtly stunning but resonated with heartbreaking sincerity. The
abrupt cut to the middle of her rendition made it feel even more emotive than Madelyn’s technically precise but emotionally bare
version.
The air in the makeup room was heavy, awkward silence prevailed, and nobody spoke.