by Toya Wright
“Desiree!” Madison answered her cell when it rang. Obviously, she had caller I.D.
“Ughhhhh Madison!” the teenager screamed in the phone. “Mama won’t let me go to the movies this weekend with Vic! Can you talk to her? Please! He’s soooo fine and he wants me to go to the movies with him. Mama is trippin’!”
“Hmmm, Hi Madison. How was your day at work? Did you win any cases today?” Madison mocked to show her teenage step-daughter how the call should have gone. “My day went well, thank you. How was your day, Desiree?”
“Fine!” she laughed. “Will you help me puhleeze?”
“Sure, I’ll talk to your mom. But first, tell me a little bit about this boy.” Madison and her step-daughter were close. At 13, Desiree felt like she needed someone to go to bat for her. Luckily, Madison and her mother were mature enough to have a good relationship for the sake of the kids. They weren’t BFF’s, but they were cool. It also helped when her mom felt like she couldn’t reach Desiree to have a go between who she knew had everybody’s best interests at heart.
Madison was tickled at the thought of seeing what a little person mingled with her own DNA looked like. Allowing herself the freedom to see that having a family was a real possibility, she recognized that she did want to have her own kids.
Madison had not previously allowed herself to give much thought to having a family. Opening her eyes, she saw the writing on the wall. She felt like her options were to have a career or have a family. As a woman, it was hard to do both. If she wanted to be successful and have a career, she had to get the ball rolling early to see longevity. It would be too hard to launch a career while trying to have children at the same time. The women she saw around her either had children young and struggled to grasp at the career they dreamt of or they were very successful and clamoring to find a husband and have kids before their clocks ran out.
Now that she was engaged, she had to decide what her choice was going to be. She was already knocking on 30 and had done well so far by staying focused getting her career on track. Madison Taylor was fierce in the courtroom while gaining popularity in her new position. It felt good to have the support of her man behind her. Madison applied to the Fulton County District Attorney’s office and earned a position as a Deputy District Attorney. She was only two steps away from being the District Attorney, although those steps may as well have been giant leaps across mountainous canyons.
Having a fiancée by his side, Robert was living in a dream. He was happy that he found someone who he felt genuinely loved him for who he was, not what he could offer. The security of the commitment made him cling to her even tighter.
That bitch. Out of nowhere, Lady Soul blasted up the scene with news of a tell-all book that she had written. Lady Soul was a widely popular R&B singer/songwriter who did more songwriting than singing. Her style evolved with time and after 20 plus years in the industry, she could still pen a top 10 hit in her sleep! She was known for glorifying natural hair and wore amazing two-strand twists, bantu knots and knot outs.
Lately, she encouraged a healthier lifestyle. In addition to her newfound adoption of a conscious, green lifestyle, she spoke about purging the heart, mind and soul. Part of her purge was to empty her soul into a tell-all book that, according to her publicist, was going to shake the industry. The buzz surrounding it said it would talk about her transition from B-girl to free spirit. She often spoke about higher vibrations and positivity.
Lady Soul was no video vixen telling her side of the music industry, this was coming from a respected veteran dishing about all the sex, drugs and rock n’ roll type shit people dream about when they imagine a life in the industry. The industry held its breath, so to speak, until the first print hit the shelves. Nobody knew what to really expect. Not only was it a tell-all, but she had the nerve to name names!
Lady Soul’s relationship with Robert was front and center; along with other men she had been with. She made accusations that she had been in an abusive relationship and named Robert as her abuser. She even went further to discuss, in detail, how he forced her into threesomes and orgies, while their relationship was plagued with drug use and alcoholism.
Madison and Robert were completely blindsided by the news. Madison was aware that Robert used to date Lady Soul, although the ladies had never actually met. Lady Soul’s anger towards him seemed to stem from news of the engagement when it finally hit.
True or not, it was out there. The public did not see Robert that way. He was well off and had his children with him often, but a womanizer and drug abuser were far from the radar.
It was no military secret that Robert and Lady Soul were in a relationship together. They were both very successful at their crafts and worked together behind the scenes jumpstarting well-known artists careers. Robert was never seen with bum bitches. They all had something going for themselves. But no one had ever seen signs of abuse. Ever.
I, personally, feel like she’s a woman scorned. For whatever reason they broke up, Lady Soul was not over Robert and did not want him walking anyone else down the aisle. Madison was beautiful, obviously smart and had a career to envy. Lady Soul was not having it.
When the news of Robert being named as an abuser broke, his bosses at the record label called him in for an emergency meeting. He booked a last minute flight to L.A. for them to berate him with questions. He walked into a room surrounded by glass that frosted over at the flick of a switch to keep nosey asses out of their business.
“Robert, what the hell is going on?” David spoke first. He was a balding, fat guy who created the label with money his father gave him. His livelihood was immediately at stake.
“I don’t know where this crazy bitch is coming from with this.”
“Well, somebody needs to figure it out. I don’t like it. I don’t like it one fucking bit!”
“How the fuck do you think I feel?”
“I don’t really care how you feel. Did I ask you how you feel?” David spoke pointedly.
“What we need to know is…did you do any of it?” Rosen asked. He was David’s right hand man. They grew up together and were closer than brothers. Rosen was the ‘good cop’.
“NO! I didn’t hit her ass. I never hit her ass…I mean, I hit it. You know, we had sex, but I didn’t abuse her. I don’t know why she’s making this shit up!”
“Is there any proof to back her up anywhere?”
“No!”
“No pictures…no friends who may have seen you two fighting…no police records?”
“Nothing!”
“Apparently she has an ax to grind with you.” Rosen had done his research. His ears had been to the ground since her first social media post about the book coming out. He was so well connected it wasn’t hard to get news. They just didn’t know it was going to be all bad for Robert.
“She doesn’t have to make up lies and shit about me to sell this damn book!”
“She needs a story, something that will stir up fresh interest in her as an author. This is a new side of her. The public knows her as a singer and songwriter, not as an author.”
“Can’t we gag her? Gag…order?” Robert asked, David and Rosen laughed.
“From saying your name? Sure. But the damage is already done and she will just keep saying, ‘my manager’ and it will be implied. Even if we remove every single book from shelves in stores, that won’t take it out of the homes and off the iPads of those who have already purchased it.” Robert and David shook their heads agreeing. The air in the room was thick with frustration as they sat in silence, all of them thinking.
“Robert,” David said standing up with all seriousness, “get in front of this shit. I don’t care who the train hits, as long as it’s not me. Quit gallivanting across the globe with this new girl of yours. Sniffing up her ass is not going to pay your bills. Find me some fresh talent! We need to blow Lady Soul out of the damn water.”
Robert left feeling like he had been threatened. The tone was not what he was expecting. He knew
he needed to come up with a plan. He just hoped that Madison would be behind whatever it was he decided to do.
When he got back to Atlanta, the weight was still heavy on him. He was not expected to be welcomed to the city with blog reporters bombarding him at the airport asking about Lady Soul’s accusations.
This was not at all how he thought this situation was going to affect him. Not to mention the social scene in Atlanta was too small, he knew he would run into Lady Soul eventually. He had to strike, hard and fast to rain on her parade. She could eat without taking food from his plate. There was enough to go around.
He drove straight from the airport to Madison’s condo. They needed to talk. She was happy to see him, although not as excited as usual. This was weighing heavily on her as well. She walked him over to the island in her kitchen.
“I think I have a solution to this whole Lady Soul thing,” he started. Madison shook her head that she was listening. “We just have to talk; have a united front.”
“No.”
“Listen, Baby, I have been in the industry for a long time. I know the ins and outs of how things work. By coming out with it, she’s already given me a platform to clear my name and bring in more artists.”
“You don’t need to do that. We can find another way.”
“Like what?” Robert asked irritated. “You didn’t even give my idea a single thought before you dissed it.”
“I did, but I just don’t think that’s the way to go about handling this. You hopping on those interviews will just continue to feed into this bullshit. It’ll be easy for them to take your words and use them against you. You know that producers air what they want to air for ratings. I sure as hell don’t need to be out there like that. You shouldn’t want your kids exposed to that. Watch, next week, everybody will be on to something else. This shit will die down. Don’t worry about it, Babe. It will be gone after she gets her little fifteen seconds.”
She walked around to the side of the island where he was standing and kissed him. He turned his head so she kissed his cheek. She could see that her man was in pain, but she spoke from her heart believing that things would pass. She wrapped her arms around his waist and continued pecking him on his neck and down to his chest. Madison rubbed up and down his body trying to ease his frustrations.
Robert picked her up and sat her on the island. He looked into her eyes and she could see the enormity of what he was feeling. Without any words, they stared into each other’s eyes, both of them yearning to be understood, aching to be trusted.
They continued to plan their wedding waiting on Madison’s anticipation of the next big thing to ring true. Robert and Madison did the do, in an elaborate intimate setting. There was so much love in the place it was almost unreal. As pictures of the wedding surfaced, Robert and Madison became household names. With the stunt Lady Soul pulled, she only brought attention to the new couple and people began digging into Madison’s life.
The public fell in love with her and were happy for them as a couple. Madison was the type of girl that all the hustlas wanted. She was pretty, very smart and driven. She had a real career and seemed to hold her man down when shit was hitting the fan. The drama was bringing more attention to Madison’s career and stealth legal abilities. As a record exec, Robert was a hustla. The music industry was fickle, the fans had little loyalty to artists until the artists proved themselves. It was Robert’s job to give the fans something to love and hold on to.
Lady Soul put on a huge book launch all around the country. She also engaged in speaking opportunities and used it all to broadcast more fallacies. She took advantage of Robert and Madison’s blissful wedding to concoct more stories of Robert abusing her. She went on and on pointing the finger at him and making accusations of emotional pain.
The spectacle unleashed by Lady Soul seemed to be counterproductive. The more shit that spewed out of her mouth, the more Madison and Robert were able to use it to their benefit. The public really saw it as jealousy. It seemed like Lady Soul was just hating on their happiness.
Then slowly, the tide started to turn. When Lady Soul didn’t let up, people had no choice but to listen. She talked about it on social media, on talk shows, at her half-ass cameos at concerts. Everywhere she had a platform, the topic of Robert abusing her came up. Tears and snot-nose antics seemed to give truth to what she was saying. The public view turned to thinking that if she was still talking about it, it must be true.
Robert’s money was finally becoming affected. People were becoming more hesitant to do business with him because of the notoriety that came with beating women. He wasn’t comfortable just sitting at home doing nothing. They both had seen relationships where men let their women take care of them because they didn’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. Nor did the guys care! Her husband was not that guy. He was used to being a provider, taking care of his children and himself with money to burn. Even before he had record exec money, he grinded hard to provide for his first wife and their kids. Robert talked to Madison again about coming forward to speak against it and she said no.
“I got your back, Robert. We will get through this!”
“Why can’t I defend myself? People are blowing me up to be on TV and radio shows. How hard is it for me to go and speak? You don’t have to say anything. The public loves you! Just be there with me to show support. That would be nice. You are my wife.”
“You don’t need to feed into that. I just think it’s a bad idea for you to get involved.”
“A bad idea? She is publicly bashing my name. The shit didn’t pass like you said it was going to! Now, I’m losing money! People don’t want to work with me. How am I going to take care of you with no money coming in?”
“You still have your job,” Madison tried to use a sensitive tone. “We are in this together, Baby. I’m telling you, she can’t keep up with this shit much longer.”
“Do you have any idea what this feels like? To be alienated, questioned and have niggas steady pointing their fingers at me when I walk around the mall and shit?”
“Nigga, you can miss me with that shit! Don’t think you are in it by yourself! People at the job have slick shit to say to me, especially the black ones making it their business to spread this trash around. My family calling and texting me, Lady Soul this and Lady Soul that. Fools from junior high school hitting me up on Facebook, too! I just don’t let it bother me! You are better than that, Baby. Let’s focus on us, what’s really important. Let’s get to baby-making!” Madison said with a devilish grin.
“Baby-making? That’s what you’re worried about? Get your head in the game, Madison. You always have a plan, you are so strategic when it comes to your career. Now, since you don’t like my plan, come up with one of your own. Maybe you really don’t care because it’s not your career at stake falling through the cracks.”
The next morning, Madison woke up and Robert wasn’t in the bed with her. She never felt him get up out of the bed. She laid there listening to the sounds of an empty house to hear if he was in the shower or downstairs. Silence.
She received a text from British commending Robert for finally breaking his silence. When Madison asked what she meant, British told her to turn to WSIT for the morning show.
“Welcome back to WSIT, The Streets Is Talking!” The lively male voice spoke, “Today we got Robbie Cool in the building! That’s right people, Mr. Robert Wimbley, responds to accusations that he abused Lady Soul in her tell-all book that surfaced last summer. And he does it here first! Call all ya friends and tell them to tune in, they do not want to miss this!”
Madison’s heart sank. She was hurt that he had gone to the radio show to do exactly what she asked him not to. Then on top of that, he did it without even telling her. She felt betrayed and figured he had already made arrangements to talk before they had the conversation the day before.
Tension in the house grew by leaps and bounds. The days of careless fun and endless laughter seemed to be more of a stret
ch. Robert was preoccupied with what was becoming of his public image and financial future. The first interview led to many others. He hit up all the stations in metro Atlanta in one day! Then he began traveling to big cities like L.A. and New York.
Lady Soul finally kicked up enough dust to land an interview on one of the national morning TV shows and used it as a platform to further exploit her version of the relationship that took place between her and Robert. She wasn’t even publicizing the book as much as she was broadcasting her made-up emotional and physical abuse.
The producers of that same national morning TV show approached Robert wanting to use her interview as a chance to let him defend himself to millions of viewers. He was excited, he didn’t have to go to them, the opportunity fell in his lap. He couldn’t wait to present it to Madison.
Robert felt like with the producers coming to him, he would have a more fair chance at representing his side, versus him asking to be on the show. He could finally make an effort to clear his name with millions of people watching. Madison insisted she not be involved.
“Come on, Madison! You gotta give me a break!”
“Robert, I am a Deputy District Attorney for Fulton County. Do you understand what kind of weight that carries? You are already out there doing your thing! It looks like you’re doing it fine without me.” Madison was throwing shade. “I cannot be involved in those kinds of shenanigans. What you do is a direct reflection of me now. That doesn’t mean I have to support it. This can end my career, too. Then where will we be? Who will take care of us and our kids then?”
“We don’t have any kids!”
“We will.”
“Not unless you are going to pay to reverse this vasectomy!” BOOM! That was a blow she was not expecting. In all of their talks about the future, never once did he mention he got a vasectomy when his first marriage ended. He always went right along with her talking. Whenever Madison wanted to get started having a baby was fine with him, he said. He had not planned to tell her that way, but emotionally, he just exploded.