LILA
Voice Memo #47
Recorded: Wednesday, March 15th, 11:43 PM
"Okay. Okay, I'm doing this. I'm actually doing this."
[Sound of breathing, close to the microphone. Traffic noise in the background.]
"I just got back to the condo. Wade dropped me off. He wanted to come up, but I told him I was exhausted. Which is true, but also... I needed to be alone. To process."
[Pause. The click of a door closing.]
"The showcase went well. Better than well. I could feel it in the room, you know? That shift when people stop being polite and start listening. I sang 'Hollow Sound' first, and I swear to God, I thought Wade was going to have a heart attack. He specifically told me not to perform that one. Said it was 'too dark' for an industry showcase, that I needed to lead with something 'more accessible.’
[Bitter laugh.]
"But I did it anyway. Because fuck him. Fuck all of them. That song is mine. I wrote it about him, and he knows it, and I wanted everyone in that room to hear it. I wanted them to know."
[Sound of footsteps. A refrigerator opening.]
"Three labels approached me after. Three. Wade was smiling, playing the proud mentor, but I could see it in his eyes. He's scared. He knows I'm leaving. He knows I'm done being his perfect little protégé."
[Pause. The sound of liquid being poured.]
"I met Sarah from Meridian Records in the bathroom. Can you believe that? We literally hid in the bathroom like teenagers so Wade wouldn't see us talking. She said they want to make an offer. A real offer. Not the bullshit contract Wade has me locked into, where he owns everything I write and gets final say on every decision. Sarah said I could have creative control. My own team. My own voice."
[Long pause. When she speaks again, her voice is quieter.]
"I'm scared. I know I shouldn't be. This is what I've been working toward for three years. But Wade... he's not going to let me go easily. You don't understand what he's like when he feels threatened. I've seen him destroy people. Quietly, carefully, so it looks like they destroyed themselves."
[Sound of movement. A window opening.]
"I'm standing on the balcony right now. Sixteenth floor. You can see all of downtown from here, the lights, the bars, the tourists stumbling between honky-tonks. This city is so beautiful and so ugly at the same time. It gives you everything and takes everything, and you're supposed to smile and say thank you."
[Pause.]
"I've been documenting everything. All of it. The contracts, the emails, the other girls who came before me. The ones who 'quit' or 'couldn't handle the pressure' or 'had personal issues.' I know what really happened to them. I know what Wade did."
[Her voice drops to almost a whisper.]
"There was this singer five years ago. Melissa Crane. She was going to be huge. Wade's last big project before me. Then suddenly she wasn't. The official story was that she had a breakdown, checked into rehab, and decided music wasn't for her. But I found the emails. I found the NDAs. I know about the assault. I know Wade covered it up. I know she tried to speak out, and he buried her."
[Sound of wind against the microphone.]
"And then she killed herself. Two years after I left Nashville. Overdose in a motel room in Oklahoma. Nobody connected it to Wade. Nobody even remembered her name."
[Long silence.]
"I'm not going to let that happen to me. I'm not going to disappear. I've made copies of everything, the contracts, the recordings, the evidence. I've hidden them where Wade can't find them. And if anything happens to me..."
[She stops. Takes a shaky breath.]
"God, listen to me. I sound paranoid. Maybe I am. Maybe I've been in this city too long, seen too much. Maybe Wade is just a controlling asshole and not actually dangerous."
[Pause.]
"But I don't think so. I think he's capable of anything if it means protecting his legacy. And I'm the biggest threat he's ever faced."
[Sound of the window closing. Footsteps.]
"Okay. I need to sleep. Big day tomorrow, meeting with Sarah to go over the contract details. Wade doesn't know about it yet. I'm going to tell him this weekend. I'm going to tell him I'm leaving, and I'm going to walk away, and I'm going to be free."
[Her voice brightens slightly, almost hopeful.]
"I'm going to be free."
[Pause.]
"End recording."
[The memo continues for another three seconds—the sound of Lila setting down her phone, then silence. Then, barely audible, a knock at the door.]
[Lila's voice, distant: "Just a second!"]
[The recording ends.]