A/N: Mature language ahead, in this chapter and probably all of the ones after. You've been warned. Special thanks to my first two reviewers, SaraLyleth and angel422. I love and appreciate hearing what you guys think, so muchas gracias!

Chapter 1

Walking into G-Major, Jude dreaded the beginning of another monotonous day. She didn't even know why she was there. Her sophomore album release party was three days ago and it was way too soon for her to begin working on her third album. And yet she still showed up every day, another obedient slave of Darius.

Jude winked at her sister sitting behind the receptionist's desk. Sadie was looking completely hassled, as usual, more than likely because of Liam. Jude didn't think it was possible to encounter someone worse than Darius. Now she knew better.

Opening the door to Studio B, Jude found Kwest, her new producer, already sitting in his chair next to the soundboard.

"Morning, Kwest."

"Good morning, rockstar." He nodded towards a brown envelope sitting on the table. "That came for you."

She peered at the envelope from across the room as she walked towards it. The only thing written on it was "JUDE HARRISON" in big, black block letters. Shooting a raised eyebrow at Kwest, he simply shrugged in reply and returned back to whatever he was working on.

With a sigh, Jude plopped down in her chair and dragged a pen through the seal of the large envelope to open it. Reaching inside, she gripped a glossy surface and pulled out a stack of photographs. A yellow piece of legal paper fluttered onto her lap.

Glancing at the first photo, she realized with a shock that it was of her. As Jude flipped through the rest of them, she recognized them from the night of her release party, when she got drunk with that random guy at Mason's concert.

Tired and disgusted of looking at her incapacitated self, Jude moved her attention to the yellow note. She wasn't surprised at all by what it said. She knew the photos were coming, it was just a question of where, when, and how much.

$50,000

Or these go to the press.

Great. Just great. Still, it could be worse. Fifty grand wasn't too bad, right? Except for the fact that she didn't have that much. Well, she did, but she couldn't access it until she turned 18. And that was still quite a way away.

"Shit," she muttered.

Kwest glanced up and looked her way. "What?"

Realizing that he was also in the room, Jude quickly tried to cover up her error. "Oh, nothing, I think I just forgot to turn off the coffee pot this morning at my house."

Did he buy it?

"You and your caffeine addiction," Kwest joked as he shook his head at her.

Phew, that was a close one.

For once, she was incredibly glad that Kwest was her producer. He wasn't nosy and didn't pry into her business. If Tommy had been there, he would've wanted to know what was in the envelope, and there was no way she could let anyone know about these pictures. Ever.

So, the ominous question was: What do you do when you're being blackmailed?