Later, after she advanced, he stopped her on the way out, told her she had sung beautifully, and handed her a business card in case she ever needed help. Emma accepted it politely, not understanding why her mother would later go pale just from seeing his name.
Because years earlier, before Emma had ever been born, Grace had loved a musician named Daniel. He had promised her music, a future, a new life in the city—and then vanished when she became pregnant. She had been left to carry the child alone.
Now that same name had returned as the powerful man standing beside her daughter’s one chance.
Not long after, someone tried to force Emma out of the competition. A woman claiming to be a lawyer cornered her and accused her of violating copyright by singing her chosen song without permission. She strongly suggested that if Emma withdrew quietly, the problem would disappear. Emma did not understand every legal phrase, but she understood humiliation and threat.
That night Grace listened, realized that adults were trying to crush her daughter for reasons that had nothing to do with fairness, and finally did something she had avoided for years: she called Daniel.