Barry lead Tommy and Billy into a side room, taking a seat at a large oak desk. Pulling out some glasses and a bottle of scotch, he offered them a drink, before pouring himself a glass.

"So what gives Barry." Tommy snapped with an accusatory tone in his voice. "Did you set this up?"

Barry loaded a CD into the stereo on the desk, playing the all-too-familiar sound of Aftershock's disastrous performance. "A boy in the offices of Aftershock's record company sent me this about four weeks ago." Barry began his confession, taking a sip.

"Right before you set up this gig." Tommy shot back.

"Exactly." Barry answered him. "The kid offered to send me a pre-release copy of their single in exchange for three hundred bucks. After listening to it once, I knew it was a sure-fire bomb. People would buy it on the 21st, unwrap it on the 25th and toss it in the trash on the 26th."

"So you intentionally hired Aftershock knowing that their popularity would attract a large audience." Billy stated, pacing the room. "But also knowing that they were doomed to failure thus artificially boosting Kira's launch-night image."

"You catch on quick professor." Barry complimented him. "Knowing how many people would come to buy their single, I set Kira up as their support act, and instructed the manager to open the registers directly after her performance." He quickly threw back the rest of his scotch. "The rest, Kira did on her own. I knew there was no WAY Aftershock could outshine her performance with the content of that single."

Billy and Tommy looked at each other uneasily for a second as Barry got out of his chair. "I won't deny that what I did was a little in the ethically grey area. But those guys were doomed to screw up their own launch with or without my help. I just chose to make at least ONE winner out of the situation."

"How do you think Kira would feel if she found out you did this Barry?" Tommy yelled. "How do you think she'd feel knowing you deliberately publicly embarrassed them just to sell a few more records?"

"I don't imagine she'd be thrilled." Barry admitted, striding over to the window and pointing to the signing table. "But look at her." Tommy and Billy looked out to where Kira was shaking hands, posing for pictures and signing records. The way she cradled her right hand across her lap when not signing, Tommy could clearly see she was already suffering from a major case of writer's cramp. "See how happy she is now? Do you really want to take that away from her because I skirted the rules or decency a little?"

Tommy sighed deeply, having to concede that Barry had made a point. There was no way he could take that feeling away from her. "Don't expect me to like this Barry." He shot back. "You better not keep pulling stunts like this!"

"First and only time. I swear." He replied. "It's like I said. The biggest hurdle's getting the first album out. Once you've done that, people come back. I've helped put Kira on the map. Now I have every confidence she can keep herself there."

"You always seemed so straightforward." Tommy mused. "How could you do this to someone? Where did you come up with such an underhanded idea?"

"My old manager did the exact same thing to me." Barry shot back. "I learned from the best."

Thinking back, Barry poured himself another scotch. "Remember I told you I retired because I stopped getting inspiration to write songs?" Tommy nodded. "That's only half the story."

He leaned over the desk for support. "About seven years ago I was struggling to write. The market was saturated with our music and people wanted fresh material. I just couldn't provide it." He breathed, playing with his whisky glass. "My manager knew that I was coming to the end, but he kept plugging me, kept promoting my next single."

"So what happened?" Billy asked, sitting on the edge of the desk.

"I was booked to headline a show at the MGM Grand." He recalled. "My producer booked some plastic, disposable boyband to support me. But, inevitably, my own performance went down like Tyson against Lewis." He looked out of the window over the sales floor again. "As soon as I got off stage, my manager tore up our contract. My lawyer failed to find the release clause in it that prevented me getting any form of notice or compensation. After that, my career was over, and they went on to have four gold singles before they split up six months later."

"So given what happened to you, how could you do that to anyone else?" Tommy asked.

Barry turned to him, looking him in the eye. "If Aftershock are meant to make it, they'll get past this. They wrote one duff song it happens all the time." He poured himself another scotch. "You say you don't like what I did. How do you think I feel? It's practices like that which ended my career." He crossed the room, throwing back the contents of his glass. "There's two reasons producers get paid 10. The first is to promote their acts, and get them as much exposure as possible."

"And the second?" Tommy asked.

"To protect their acts from people who'll do things like this." He placed his glass on a filing cabinet, turning to face Tommy and Billy. "This business is full of sharks. I know, not only was I bitten by them, but I get paid to smile through my teeth at them and pretend to like them for the sake of my clients." He crossed over to the door. "You may not like me much right now, but trust me. There's a lot worse than me in this business. As long as I'm in the picture though, Kira's safe. I know most of these two-faced rats on a first-name basis." He tripped the door handle, opening the door to leave. "Merry Christmas Tommy." He breathed.