Chapter 191: Sarah Found Us Quick

"Wait," Ruby said, frowning as she looked between me and Emiliana. "Do you really think she can perform at the diner tonight? The other girls in the band won’t allow it. They were already glaring daggers at her yesterday."

I turned to Emiliana, my head tilting slightly. "How much do they even pay you guys for those diner gigs?" I asked, already pulling out my mental calculator to see how much I’d need to throw at the diner owner to buy out the stage for a solo set.

Emiliana looked down at her boots, awkwardly kicking a stray pebble into the dirt. "Oh... I don’t get paid."

"What?" I blinked. "The other girls get paid, don’t they?"

"Yeah, they split the house fee and tips," she mumbled, crossing her arms defensively. "It’s not really a job for me. I just... I really like singing, so I was just happy to be on stage."

Ruby let out a sharp, dramatic gasp, her hands flying to her hips as her eyes went wide with pure disbelief.

"Wait, hold on," Ruby said, shaking her head in complete disgust. "You sing background for free, you out-sing all of them without even trying, and they’re still jealous of you? The audacity!"

I couldn’t help but chuckle at Ruby’s reaction, but she wasn’t wrong. The setup was absurd—and it made taking over that stage tonight all the more satisfying.

"Well," I smirked, tossing a gaze back toward the diner in the distance. "Looks like we don’t even need to negotiate with a band. We’re just going straight to the boss."

Emiliana looked Ruby up and down, squinting with a sudden mix of pity and genuine concern. "Wait... if we’re going to the diner tonight... miss, do you only have that one outfit?"

Ruby froze mid-sentence, looking down at her casual clothes. "Excuse me? No! I have hundreds of clothes back home!"

Emiliana gave her a soft, sympathetic look, completely unbothered by Ruby’s defensiveness. "It’s okay, you don’t have to pretend. I actually have an extra dress at my house I can lend you for tonight so you don’t have to repeat clothes."

I bit my lip, shaking my head in pure amusement as I watched a world-famous pop star—whose wardrobe could probably buy the entire town—get offered charity hand-me-downs by a local farm girl.

Ruby stood there completely defenseless, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. "I—it’s custom designer... I..." She sputtered out, throwing a helpless, desperate look in my direction as if begging me to clear her name.

"Just take the dress, Ruby," I wheezed with a laugh, leaning against the fence. "It’s a very generous offer."

Ruby headed off with Emiliana to check out the dress, leaving me with a new mission: find a proper wireless microphone.

I strolled down the town’s quiet main street, taking in the small-town air, when I noticed a sudden commotion up ahead. A thick crowd of locals had gathered on the sidewalk, craning their necks, whispering excitedly, and pointing down the road.

"Who is that?" someone in the crowd asked. "Is that a film crew?"

Curious, I squeezed through the bystanders and peeked over a tall guy’s shoulder.

A sleek convoy of dark, tinted SUVs was rolling slowly down the dusty asphalt, engine hums cutting through the quiet countryside atmosphere. The lead vehicle pulled up right near where I was standing, and out stepped a tall, sharp woman in an immaculate tailored suit, adjusting her sunglasses as her eyes scanned the street.

My jaw nearly dropped. Sarah.

"What the hell...?" I muttered under my breath, instinctively taking a step back into the shadow of a shop awning.

When we left the city, I specifically had the old man set up a fake trail pointing in the complete opposite direction to keep her and her team off our backs. How on earth did she track us down to this middle-of-nowhere farm town so fast?

I knew if she kept driving down this road, she’d head straight for the farm and spot Ruby within minutes. And if Sarah knew where Ruby was, her entire security team, the media, and hordes of obsessed fans wouldn’t be far behind. This quiet little town would turn into a chaotic tourist circus in a heartbeat.

I had to cut her off right here.

As her security detail began fanning out to search the nearby shops, I calmly stepped out from the edge of the crowd, hands shoved into my pockets, and walked right up to her.

Sarah stopped dead in her tracks. The moment her eyes locked onto me, her tense shoulders visibly dropped, and she let out a long, exhausted exhale.

"It seems my suspicions were right after all, sir," Sarah said, pushing her sunglasses up onto her head and giving me a sharp, exasperated look. "Did you really think a decoy trail would hold off my team for long?"

The crowd gasped around us, whispering like crazy.

"Who is that guy?"

"Is he some billionaire’s kid? The president’s son?"

I ignored the murmurings of the locals and crossed my arms, looking Sarah dead in the eye. "How did you find us so fast?"

Sarah sighed, crossing her arms with a knowing smidge of victory. "When a old man wearing your UncuT designer suit and claimed you headed south, I knew instantly it was a decoy. But seriously, sir... why did you run off like this? With Ruby too. Your family are worried."

I didn’t bother answering her question. "Turn the convoy back, Sarah. Cancel the search teams in the other towns right now."

"Sir, before I do that, there are urgent matters that require your attention," she said, pulling a leather folder from under her arm. "I need to give you a quick briefing on—"

"Nope," I cut her off instantly, holding up a hand. "Don’t want to hear it. Not a single word."

Sarah stared at me, completely speechless, holding the open folder in mid-air as I gave her a firm, unyielding look.

"Actually," I said, pausing as a thought hit me, "I do have something for you to do."

I reached into my wallet, pulled out my sleek Black Card, and slapped it right into her hand.

"I need a top-of-the-line wireless microphone—studio quality—and a set of heavy-duty portable concert speakers," I ordered smoothly. "Get them delivered directly to me before tonight’s show. And make sure you aren’t traced while doing it... or you’re fired."

Sarah stared down at the black titanium card in her hand, her professional composure holding by a thread. She raised an eyebrow, her voice cool and perfectly level. "Is this a joke, sir?"

"We’ll see," I smirked, turning on my heel.

I didn’t wait around for her reply. The crowd automatically parted for me as I strolled back down the sidewalk, whispers following in my wake. Behind me, I heard Sarah immediately click her radio on and snap orders into her earpiece, her team springing into action like a well-oiled military machine.

When you give a corporate fixer an impossible deadline with unlimited funds, she doesn’t waste time asking questions—she just delivers.