Signed In Deception

Chapter 8: The Truth Beneath the Notes

I thought the worst had passed after the showcase. I was wrong.

George had promised to look into Phil’s financial contracts, but things moved slower than expected. Meanwhile, Phil seemed to grow bolder. His smiles became colder, his praise mechanical, like he was reading from a script.

“You’re shining brighter than ever,” he said after a shoot. “But don’t let anyone else light your flame.”

I laughed it off. But something about the way he looked at me made my stomach knot.

That night, I found a message slipped under my dressing room mirror. No name, no number. Just two lines:

He’s watching. He knows. Trust the red file.

At first, I thought it was a prank. But the paranoia set in quickly. Every time I walked down a hallway, I glanced over my shoulder. Every time I spoke with George or with my sister, I felt eyes crawling over me.

Then came the leak.

Photos of me and George meeting in a café surfaced online. The blogs spun it. “Kim’s secret affair with a lawyer.” “Phil betrayed?”

I knew who was behind it. Only Phil would weaponize the media this precisely.

“You look tense,” he whispered during our next session. “Loyalty eases tension.”

I didn’t respond. My voice was caught between fear and fury.

That same week, my sister Ana called me in the middle of the night. “Someone followed me home,” she said, her voice trembling. “They were parked across the street. Lights off.”

The next day, George confirmed my fears.

“He has private investigators on you,” George said. “And Ana. He’s digging.”

“But what can he find?” I asked.

George hesitated. “That depends on what you don’t know.”

I couldn’t sleep. I started tearing through every folder, every drawer my father left behind. I had to find the truth—the red file.

And then I did.

It was tucked inside the lining of an old guitar case. A red folder, no label. My hands trembled as I opened it.

Inside were photos of my mother. With Phil. Years before I ever met him.

“What the hell is this?” I whispered.

Letters. Notes. Confessions.

Phil had known my family long before I ever stepped into a studio. He’d known my father. He was part of the reason my parents split up.

He was part of the reason… My father kept so many secrets.

I couldn’t breathe.

I called Ana. “He was involved with Mom. Before Dad. And he lied.”

She didn’t speak for a long moment.

Then she said, “He’s always been one step ahead.”

George urged me to stay quiet until he could build a case.

But I was done being silent.

I went to the studio that morning ready to confront him.

I didn’t expect what I found.

Phil was there, waiting. A glass of scotch in hand. The room is dim. Music is playing an old demo of mine I’d scrapped years ago.

“You’ve been digging,” he said softly. “I admire that.”

“I know what you did to my mother.”

He smiled faintly. “She was beautiful. A voice like yours. She wanted out too. But the price of freedom...”

“You destroyed her.”

“No. She ran.”

My blood boiled.

“But you’re different, Kim. You have a fight. Fire. I didn’t expect that.”

“I’m not afraid of you anymore.”

He stepped closer. “You should be.”

The door clicked shut behind me. I hadn’t seen the assistant slip out. I was alone with him.

His hand reached into his pocket. My breath caught.

But instead of a weapon, he pulled out a thumb drive.

He set it on the table between us. “You want the truth? Here it is. All of it. Every contract. Every artist I buried. Every voice I silenced.”

“Why?” I asked, frozen.

“Because you’re either going to take this and stay quiet... or I’ll make sure your career dies screaming.”

He turned and walked out.

I stood there, shaking. The thumb drive stared at me like a loaded gun.

Did I take it?

Of course I did.

But what I didn’t know, what I couldn’t know, was that someone else had followed me there. Someone who’d been watching Phil too.

And by taking that drive, I’d just stepped into a game far darker than I’d ever imagined.