Of Course, It's You

Chapter 7

CARMEN

It was finally time.

The first public step toward proving she wasn't just the overlooked daughter Robert Mills barely saw when he looked up from his empire. To prove to not only everybody – not just her father – but herself, that she was capable of handling the business. No, this was her step forward.

This move wasn't just about legacy. It wasn't even just about the label.

It was about her. And what she could build.

This consolidation, this expansion into an entirely new branch of Mills Record Label– it was bold. It was smart. A step forward that would improve business tenfold. She'd scouted the location, researched the numbers, wrote the pitch, and compiled every spreadsheet herself. And the math didn't lie. But who didn't love a good spreadsheet? Especially one where the numbers showed her such a positive outcome.

She'd found this small label tucked away in the corner of Nashville's music scene, too confined to one genre, but brimming with potential. A handful of their new artists had already started to pull the label into wider waters. And whoever the talent scout was behind those new signings, Carmen silently vowed to thank them personally. If it hadn't been for their eye, their vision, she might have missed the label entirely.

Now, she couldn't stop thinking about what it could become under her guidance. She could already see the end result, and it thrilled her.

Of course, her father hadn't seen it that way.

*****

"Nashville, Carmen? You're kidding, right?" Robert Mills didn't even glance up from the stack of quarterly reports in front of him.

She didn't answer right away. Just let her eyes fall on the skyline outside his massive windows. Toward the city they both grew up in, the one that shaped them so differently. They were in his office in New York. Carmen figured, if he couldn't even take the time to look at her and see how serious she was, well, then looking out above the New York skyline was a far better view for herself.

"You want to add a bunch of hillbilly bullshit to this label?"

There it was. That tone. Like she was pitching a lemonade stand instead of a multi-million dollar expansion. If she could spin gold from vinyl itself, the pitch coming from her wouldn't mean anything to him.

She crossed her arms as she took in the city she grew up in. Hell, she practically grew up in this building, on this floor alone. She thought of the many nights she and her brother had camped in an empty office while their father continued to work far into the night. He opted to work rather than acknowledge the fact that he was a father and his children were running amok in the company he cared more about.

"I'm serious." she said finally. "I ran the numbers. The location is a gold mine. Or at least, it could be. Especially once we step in."

"You ran the numbers?" He repeated, incredulous.

She didn't turn to see the look, she could feel it from where she stood. The same one he gave her when she'd broken the tail light on his Benz when she was eleven. That look that said, you'll never measure up to your brother.

It had always been a given fact that her brother would take his seat – more like a throne – once Robert Mills decided to retire. But, ever since Viktor's death, she doubted that retirement was anywhere on his mind. Her father had never seen her as a serious player in this world. Not like he saw Viktor. Viktor, with the easy charm and confidence, had always been the heir apparent.