“Oh my gosh, Rae’s here!”
The green room exploded with screams, other artists squealing like fangirls instead of competitors.
Nobody even looked at Maeve anymore.
They hadn’t even cared that Maeve their once-favorite artist was seated in the same room with them because of her scandal.
All eyes were on Rae.
She stood at the doorway in a dramatic red veil that hid her face like some goddess descending from the sky.
The cloth shimmered under the backstage lights, thick enough to keep her identity a secret.
In her last life, Maeve had tried once to figure out who she was, but she couldn’t.
Rae had been hidden, so why was she ready to show herself to the world now?
And of course, she wasn’t alone.
Beside her was Mr.
Martin, Maeve’s ex-manager, his gaze landed on her and Becky for the briefest second before he looked away, pretending not to care.
Craig, the label’s star stylist, hovered over Rae’s other side like a shadow.
Rae’s eyes locked on mine through the veil.
Then she lifted a hand and waved.
All the other girls in the room frowned as she waved at Maeve, jealousy written all over their faces.
“Maeve,” she rushed towards me.
“Hi, I’m a huge fan.” She said.
“Hmph, how can Rae be a fan of that whore?
Did she not hear what she did?” one of the girls among the others murmured, loud enough for Maeve to hear.
But Maeve ignored them.
She was too hellbent on exposing Rae tonight.
Rae had done this in the past too.
Maeve had always assumed it was because she was Fred’s wife.
Fred had even asked her to sing backstage for Rae once, and when she refused, he had allowed the entire world to ridicule her.
“It’s alright if you don’t want to speak to me.
I just wanted to let you know that you’ve always been an inspiration to me musically,” Rae added.
“Rae, come this way.
It’s time for your performance,” Martin said.
He led Rae out of the green room, but before leaving, he flashed Maeve a frown before walking away.
Staring at Rae walk away, Maeve realized something, Rae walked just like Ama.
Could it be that the person who destroyed her in the past was Ama?
But she had heard her speak, that girl does not sound like Ama.
But people could use a voice changer anyway.
“Becky, I think I know who she is,” Maeve said to her assistant.
“Who’s she?”
“I think she’s Ama.
Those eyes…
and the way she walks…”
There was no way an outsider could have easily gotten her song while she was producing it inside the studio.
The thief had to be someone close to her.
Someone she knew.
Unless…
Someone had been selling her out.
And the only person who came to mind was Martin.
Maeve had sent him every song and all her plans.
He knew everything about her music.
He had been the one who betrayed her.
But before she accused anyone, there was one thing she needed to be certain of.
The person behind the red mask…
She needs to find out who they are.
According to Fred, tonight is supposed to be her big reveal.
They have set Rae to perform now and by the end of the show.
Maeve immediately stepped out of the green room and headed toward the audience.
She carefully peeked through the backstage area and spotted Ama sitting among the crowd.
Ama was smiling as Rae stepped onto the stage.
Maeve’s heart sank.
If Ama wasn’t the thief, then who was?
“Did you find her?” Becky asked from behind her.
Maeve nodded.
“She’s seated in the audience.”
“Did you find Mirabelle?” Maeve asked.
Becky nodded.
“She’s with Mr.
Orchard.”
She hesitated before continuing.
“It seems we picked the wrong people, Miss Maeve.
What will you do now?
She might steal your songs again.
It’s no wonder she greeted you and called you her inspiration.”
Becky spoke through gritted teeth.
Maeve was completely confused.
Every clue she thought she had uncovered had turned out to be a lie.
She still hadn’t found the person who had destroyed her life in the past and stolen her music.
Just as she was about to return to the green room, Rae’s voice suddenly echoed through the venue.
“This song is for my parents.
I lost them when I was little.”
A familiar sound began playing in the background.
Maeve froze.
She knew that melody.
She knew it better than anyone.
It was a song she had written and sung long before Ama could have possibly known about it.
She wrote that song when she was 16.
Her eyes widened.
No.
No, no, no…
This couldn’t be happening.
Rae was stealing her song and her life too.
Then Rae began to sing.
Shadows in the hallway,
Photographs that never aged,
A lullaby still lingers
In a frame that time erased.
I was small when silence grew,
The night they both slipped through,
And every echo of their names
Still bruises me like new.
Empty house, no one to call,
I learned to dance with ghosts against the wall.
Mama’s voice is thunder in the rain,
Daddy’s eyes are burning in the flame.
I’m a child who never found her way,
But I keep singing, just to make them stay…
Maeve’s blood ran cold.
It was her song.
Rae had stolen everything.
And the worst part was that Rae hadn’t even been there when Maeve recorded it.
Which meant one thing.
Maeve had been looking in the wrong direction all along.
The thief wasn’t Ama.
Neither was it, Mirabel.
Someone else had been stealing her songs.
And whoever it was had been close enough to know exactly what she was creating.