Chapter 574
Felice spotted her at once and stood, a polite smile lighting her face. In the same courteous tone her husband often used, she greeted, “Dr. Owen.”
“Zander?” Rylie recognized the man arguing with Felice instantly, then asked, “Is this your company? Perfect. I can check your throat while I’m here.”
Felice’s eyes widened at Rylie’s familiarity with him. She waved for the guards to let him go. “You two know each other?”
Pointing at his throat, Rylie said, “I did his surgery. He works for you?”
Felice gave a small nod. “Uh… yes.”
Without pausing, Rylie reached out and held Zander’s jaw. “Lower your head. Open your mouth.”
He leaned forward without protest.
She took a penlight from her pocket and peered inside his throat. “Your post-op healing looks good. Nothing serious to worry about.”
Zander turned to Felice almost at once. “Miss Owen says I’m fine. I can still sing!”
Felice’s gaze shifted between them until Rylie said coolly, “He once helped me. I’ll be needing him again. What’s your opinion, Mrs. Crawford?”
Felice smiled faintly. “He still has a loyal fanbase. If his voice recovers, we’d keep him. But his agent has already lined up temporary replacements.”
Rylie arched a brow. “Oh? Would you mind if I had a look?”
Though unsure of her reasons, Felice passed her the file.
Rylie leafed through the papers until one photo caught her attention. Holding it toward Zander, she asked, “Do you know this person?”
The moment his eyes landed on the model’s face, his features tightened in shock. “Beal!”
Understanding flashed across Rylie’s face. “So that’s the truth.”
Zander’s expression said enough — there was a history between them that wasn’t ordinary.
His voice came low and rough. “We trained together back then. Debuted the same year. We were friends for a while, but his group fell apart after poor results. He asked me for help a few times, but I was swamped and couldn’t manage it. After that, we drifted apart.”
Rylie flipped through the files, her attention catching on one in particular. Beal’s profile stood out from the rest, confirming the suspicion she’d felt about him back at the teahouse.
She lifted her eyes to Felice. “Is this the audition schedule for the boy group’s new member?”
“Yes.” Felice didn’t bother hiding the truth. “NovaRush is our biggest act right now, one of the pillars of the company. We can’t stop everything just because they’ve lost their lead singer. And with Zander’s injury, we had to cancel a lot of his contracts. We even covered all the penalties for him. We’ve done more than enough.”
From a business perspective, she wasn’t wrong. The company had paid Zander’s medical bills, cleared his contract debts, and made sure those at fault were held accountable. They were still a business, not a charity.
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