Chapter 177
“Angel is drunk and making a scene, singing on a street corner?”
Liana’s face tightened with anger as she listened to Joanna on the phone. “Get her home, now! Don’t let her embarrass the family!”
Joanna glanced back at Angel, who was now the center of a growing, adoring crowd. A bitter jealousy twisted in her gut. The applause for Angel felt like a personal insult.
“I tried, Liana,” she said, her voice a mask of helplessness. “I tried to get her to come home, but she won’t listen to me.”
Ever since Angel had grown close to Sylvia, Joanna’s resentment had festered. This was the perfect opportunity to drive a wedge between mother and daughter.
Liana’s voice grew sharp. “That girl is getting completely out of hand! Where is she? I’m on my way.”
After giving Liana the location, Joanna added, “You have to do something to stop her. Everyone’s filming her, she’s becoming a laughingstock!”
She was seething with envy at the sight of Angel’s success, wishing she could smash the sound system herself.
“Then what should I do?” Liana asked, her voice laced with panic.
A sly idea formed in Joanna’s mind. “Liana, the song she’s singing… it’s an old one. The artist is an old friend of yours, isn’t he? You could call him… I’m sure he wouldn’t be happy about her performing his song without permission.”
Liana understood immediately. “I know exactly who you mean. I’ll call him right now.”
Onstage, Angel was hitting her stride, her voice soaring. Suddenly, the organizer, who had just taken a call, rushed over and cut the music.
“Miss, I’m so sorry, but you can’t sing that song anymore,” he said apologetically. “We just got a copyright complaint from the original artist’s publisher.”
Angel froze, bewildered. How had she managed to anger the original artist?
She looked around at the sea of phones pointed at her, all recording and live–streaming. ‘They must have posted it online,‘ she thought, the complaint suddenly making sense.
“Fine, I’ll stop,” she mumbled.
The adrenaline had worn off, and the alcohol was fading, leaving a flush of embarrassment in its wake. Angel turned to leave.
But the crowd groaned in disappointment, begging her to keep singing.
Angel gave them a weak, apologetic smile. “I’d better not. I don’t want you to post it online and get the original artist even more upset.”
Just then, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned to find Sylvia standing behind her.
“How about an original?” Sylvia asked, an intrigued look in her eyes.
She had been in the crowd, impressed by Angel’s raw talent and vocal control. This was a test.
A huge smile broke across Angel’s face. “Absolutely,” she said, her confidence returning. “If I have the music and lyrics, I can sing anything.”
Sylvia smiled and handed her a small notebook. “This is a book of original songs. Pick one.”
Angel flipped through the pages, her eyes wide. “Sylvia, where did you get all of these?”
“You can perform one now,” Sylvia said, ignoring the question. “But you’ll have to sing it a cappella. There’s no backing track.
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Chapter 177
“Deal,” Angel grinned. She quickly chose a song, spending about ten minutes humming the melody and memorizing the first verse before stepping back to the microphone.
“I’d like to perform an original song for you all,” she announced. “It’s called ‘Adrift on the Wind.“”
Holding the small notebook, Angel began to sing.
The melody was hauntingly beautiful, a powerful, soaring tune that captivated everyone.
The crowd stood in stunned silence, completely mesmerized by a song none of them had ever heard before.
Because the song was unreleased, Angel only sang a portion of it.
When she finished, the street erupted in thunderous applause, with people shouting for her to sing the rest.
Angel just laughed, and using the commotion as a cover, she slipped away from the stage.
She waited for Sylvia under a streetlight, her mind buzzing with curiosity about the notebook. The song had been incredible.
But before she could even open it again, the book was snatched from her hands.
“Angel, was that the song from this book? It was amazing! Let me see!”
It was Joanna, her eyes gleaming with a mixture of jealousy and excitement.
She knew how valuable these songs were and immediately began flipping through the pages.
“Joanna, what are you doing? Give that back!” Angel snapped.
“Oh, come on, Angel, just let me look,” Joanna cooed, pulling out her phone and starting to snap pictures of the sheet music.
If she could get her hands on these songs, she knew she could become a superstar. “You know how much I love music, and these are just… perfect.”
“Give it back to Angel.” Sylvia’s cool voice cut through the air. She strode over and swatted the phone from Joanna’s hand, sending it clattering to the pavement. “Were those your songs to photograph?”
Joanna flinched, retrieving her phone with a scowl. “Sylvia, this is between me and Angel. It has nothing to do with you.”
“You tried to steal from Angel,” Sylvia said, taking the notebook from Joanna and handing it back to its rightful owner. “That makes it
Joanna, intimidated by Sylvia’s cold fury, fell silent.
But then she spotted a figure hurrying toward them, and her eyes lit up.
my business.”
Her expression immediately crumpled into one of hurt. “I’m sorry, Angel,” she whimpered. “I just… I loved the songs so much. If you don’t want me to see them, I understand.”
The approaching figure was Liana. She heard Joanna’s apology and immediately rounded on her daughter. “Angel, what is wrong with you? Joanna is your best friend. Why can’t you let her look?”
Angel felt a wave of helpless frustration. She couldn’t understand how her mother could be so completely fooled by this woman.
Angel looked up at her mother and said, “Mom, these songs belong to Sylvia. I don’t have the right to show them to anyone.”
“It was in your hands,” Liana dismissed her explanation.
She strode forward, snatched the notebook from Angel’s grasp, and thrust it at Joanna.
Joanna’s face lit up with triumph. She clutched the notebook to her chest, ready to rush home and study her prize, when an icy voice stopped her cold.
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Chapter 177
“Joanna, if you walk away with that, I’m calling the cops. Right now.”
Joanna froze, looking up to see Sylvia approaching, her expression deadly serious.
Liana scoffed beside them. “Sylvia, you’re way out of line. I gave my daughter’s things to Joanna. This is a family matter, and it is none of your business.”
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