The Butterfly Effect

𝖝𝖛𝖎 | 𝔞𝔠𝔱𝔢 𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔦𝔰: 𝔰𝔠𝔢𝔫𝔢 𝔰𝔢𝔦𝔷𝔢

July 1st, 2020

 10:32 P.M

Andrew's Mansion, Toronto, Canada

"Get off me!" Zaire shouted. "Let me go!"

"The both of you stop! You're going to get the cops called on us," Beth yelled. "A little help, please?" She handed Kian over to Miguel.

Nathan stood at the door with his hands in his pocket. The man he'd been waiting to see for weeks was now in front of his face. He had the speech all planned out in his head. But the preplanned words he crafted in his mind couldn't find their way out of his mouth.

Perhaps he'd already gone through all five stages of grief in those short weeks. Now on the last stage of acceptance, Nate could only shake his head at the man before him.

There was definitely some love and an immense amount of respect lost as well. Andrew, the manager he thought would protect him from managers like himself. The greedy, money-hungry kinds. But this hurt a bit more.

Andrew was more than a manager to the band. He was the elder brother figure that they all looked up to. It pained him to see how everything took a turn in such a short time.

How can I ever trust this man again? He lied to my face for seven months for his personal gain, Nathan thought.

He wanted to be vexed so badly. He wished Andrew had returned just a couple of days earlier so he could channel all his fury and do all the violent things he thought of doing while Andrew was away. But Nathan knew being furious would get him nowhere. He would never get back the time with his mother that Andrew stole from him. Being angry wouldn't make his mother's cancer go away.

He could only feel pained and heavy disgust for Andrew's actions. Someone he put his complete trust in to make sure they were treated well in the cutthroat industry they worked in betrayed that trust.

Nathan spent so long in his head that he couldn't hear his name being called.

Beth shook his shoulder with furrowed eyebrows. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he got a clear look at Andrew once Kian was fully restrained by Miguel. The room fell silent as if they were all waiting to hear the most important news of their lives. As Kelis said, you could never truly anticipate Nathan's next move because of his unpredictability. This was the showdown everybody was waiting for.

"I wish I were more angry with you," he started, "'I wish you'd seen us the way we saw you—like family. From the Javier situation to the Zaire protest to the cancer situation, you have not treated us like family."

"Now, because of the cancer situation, I can't trust you personally, and because of the Javier situation, I can't trust you professionally. I don't know how I can continue with you with such a lack of trust. So, by next year when this contract expires, our professional relationship will cease to exist."

As Nathan's piercing gaze bore into him, Andrew cleared his throat.

"And I understand why you did it now. You're a businessman. That's what you need to do to satisfy the label and put money in your pockets. After all, you're just doing your job, which is to advance your career regardless of personal factors. I get it, Andrew. I just wish you weren't like everybody else."

He looked Andrew up and down once more with a scoff. "Goodnight guys," he said before walking out.

"We stuck our necks out for you, Andrew. Remember that." Zaire pointed and turned to leave, with Jordan, Javier, Kian, and Madison following behind.