Hk
He absentmindedly refreshed his notifications when a DM popped up. The username was odd—something generic that looked like a bot account. Arell wouldn't usually bother with these, but the subject line of the message made him pause.
"Yo, Freestyle is fire."
Arell's heart skipped a beat. His eyes narrowed as he clicked the message.
"I got some of your tracks. Freestyle and your throwaways file. You might want to handle this before it gets out."
Panic washed over him as he re-read the message. Freestyle was the intro track to the mixtape. It was meant to set the tone, to hit people with that raw energy right off the bat. If that got leaked before its official release, it could throw off the entire rollout. And if the hacker had more than that? Everything could be compromised.
Immediately, Arell switched over to his files, pulling up the project folders. He scrolled through the directories, scanning every file, checking for anything unusual. His heart was pounding in his chest now, hands moving faster as he scanned through the folders. Nothing seemed out of place.
He went back to Instagram and opened the message again. This time, there was a follow-up:
"$10k or I leak everything. You got 24 hours. Send it to my PayPal, or it's over."
Arell dropped his phone on the desk, staring at the message in disbelief. His mind raced, trying to figure out how the hell this happened. The studio setup was secure—hard drives, backups, cloud storage all handled properly. His work with Pharrell was locked down, too. How did someone get in?
Arell quickly grabbed his phone again and fired off a message: Bro, I need your advice—someone hacked my stuff. They got Freestyle and some other tracks.
He paced the room, waiting for a reply, mentally running through all the possibilities. He checked his backup drives, looking for any trace of tampering. If the hacker only got Freestyle, it meant they somehow missed the other files, but that didn't guarantee the safety of everything else.
Then, his phone buzzed. It was Pharrell.
P: First, disconnect everything. No Wi-Fi. No cloud storage. Pull everything off any hard drives and store it offline.
Without hesitation, Arell grabbed his external drives, unplugging them from his computer. He disabled the Wi-Fi on all devices, disconnected the system from the internet entirely. He grabbed another external hard drive, one that had never been connected online, and began transferring everything—projects, stems, completed tracks—onto it. His fingers moved quickly, tapping commands into the keyboard, but his mind was still racing.
As he watched the files move, he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't adding up. If the hacker had all the files, why ask for only $10k? He sat back in his chair, staring at the screen. They clearly didn't have the full project. If they did, the ransom would've been higher. Much higher.
Arell leaned forward, focusing now. Okay, so they've got a partial leak. But what now?
His phone buzzed again, a new message from the hacker: Tick tock, 24 hours.
Arell sat back, his frustration boiling over. "Bro, you're out of your mind if you think I'm paying for my own music," he muttered to himself. He stared at the message, weighing his options. He could try to negotiate or buy time, but that wasn't his style. He wasn't about to let some random hacker control his moves.
Instead, an idea sparked.
He quickly shot off another message to Pharrell: They only got Freestyle. I'm thinking we drop it now. What do you think?
Pharrell's response came quickly: It'll mess up your the rollout, but it's better than getting blackmailed. Get ahead of it before they do. You sure you're ready to push it early?
Arell stared at the screen for a long moment, weighing his options. Sure, this wasn't how they'd planned it. The release schedule was tight, and the promo was specific and had began on the day of the Billboard music awards. But if he handled this right, he could turn the situation into an opportunity—flip the narrative, take control before the hacker had a chance to.
Yeah. I'll do it.
Immediately, he opened up his messaging app and texted Geoffrey: Hacker got Freestyle. We need to drop the mixtape earlier than planned. Let's get the rollout moving. Get Nick down here faster as well.
Geoffrey's reply was fast, calm, as always: Okay. I'll alert the team. Any other tracks compromised?
Arell typed back: No, just Freestyle and some throwaways.
Geoffrey: Good. Then we move. Aisha's on designs for the mixtape cover.
Arell quickly sent a message to Kamila: Get the Infinity design team working on mixtape artwork ASAP. Tell Aisha I need designs in 24 hours.
Kamila's reply: On it.
The room was buzzing now with notifications, messages flying back and forth. Arell shot another message to Geoffrey: We need to shoot a video for Freestyle now. Today. We'll do it at the mansion and the Infinity office.
Geoffrey: We won't have time to edit it properly. Tight turnaround.
Arell ran a hand through his hair, pacing the room. "We won't need much editing," he muttered to himself before typing: Let's keep it raw, simple. Just make sure it's clean enough for release.
Geoffrey: Got it. I'll have the crew ready.
With everything set in motion, Arell sat back down at his workstation. The panic that had surged through him moments ago had settled into a laser-focused clarity.
He checked the progress of the file transfers to the offline hard drive. Everything was nearly done. As the last file transferred over, Arell disconnected the drives and tucked them away safely, out of reach.
His phone buzzed again—another message from the hacker.
Hacker: Clock's ticking. You don't want this to get out.
Arell ignored it, pulling up the Freestyle on his computer. He gave it one last listen, his head nodding to the hard-hitting beat. The song was clean, polished, and ready to go. He took a deep breath, then sent the file over to Geoffrey.
After a beat, he texted back: Freestyle is ready for upload. We'll release it within 12 hours. Get the PR machine moving.
Standing up from his studio desk, Arell stretched, letting out a long exhale. His mind was already shifting from problem-solving mode to game-time mode. He walked out of the studio, heading towards his room to get dressed.
He grabbed a black fitted t-shirt from his closet, paired it with some clean jeans, and slid into his pair of black-and-gold Pumas, one of his very own colour way. Grabbing a durag from his nightstand, he placed it over his head without tying it, letting the fabric hang loose. The look was effortless but he liked it.
Before heading out, Arell glanced over at Ares, 14-weeks-old now, he was lying down lazily on his bed, chewing on one of his favorite toys. Ares glanced up at him with those sharp blue eyes, tail thumping against the floor.
"You good, boy?" Arell asked, giving Ares a quick scratch behind the ears. Ares licked his hand before flopping back down, clearly not interested in moving from his spot.
Arell smiled. "Keep holding it down."
With that, Arell headed downstairs. Geoffrey was already on top of things, and Kamila was handling the media and PR spin. They needed something strong to create buzz for the sudden release. The usual rollout strategy had to be thrown out the window. But luckily he had a group of skilled quick thinkers who knew how to improvise on the spot.
Kamila had spread word to the blogs, hinting at the altercation between Arell and The Game in Florida. It wasn't a secret at this point, but they could push a version that made it clear—The Game had rolled up on Arell, and things got heated. It was all part of the buildup, and the blogs were already starting to pick up the chatter.
Stepping out of the house, Arell got into his BMW waiting outside. Cam was behind the wheel, ready to take him to the Infinity warehouse where the team was gathering.
"Everything good?" Cam asked as Arell slid into passenger.
"Yeah," Arell replied, adjusting his phone.
Cam nodded, pulling out of the driveway and onto the road. "You need anything from me?"
"Nah, just get me there. Geoffrey's handling most of the planning."
When they arrived at the Infinity warehouse, the place was already buzzing with activity. The warehouse, which was more of a creative studio and workspace than anything, had been transformed over the last few months into a hub for all things Infinity. The brand was growing fast, and the energy in the building was always on a hundred.
Arell stepped out of the SUV and walked inside. The team was gathered around a large table, discussing ideas for the cover art.
"Arell," Geoffrey called out. "We're thinking of keeping the cover simple. No faces, no extras. Just the Infinity logo in a unique font, something clean and powerful. Since it's the intro, we want it to feel like the brand is coming at you first."
Arell nodded, liking the idea. "Yeah, that works. Less is more for this one."
Kamila tilted the tablet toward him. "I've got a few mockups here. What do you think about this one?" The screen displayed the Infinity logo in a sleek, old-style font, set against a black background.
"That's the one," Arell said, pointing to the design. "Keep it simple. Let the name speak for itself."
Kamila smiled, making a note on her tablet.
As they moved through the warehouse, Arell caught sight of Darius setting up some gear. He walked over, dapping him up.
"Darius, good to see you bro. How you been holding up."
Darius shot him a sharp grin. "Great, absolutely great, ya'll done put me on and I'm working with Cole and really and truly thank you from the bottom of my heart."
Arell smiled. "No problem at all, when Cole told me he needed a bigger team I recommended you straight away, but hey listen, for the video right I want it to feel natural, like we just caught a moment. Nothing too crazy."
Darius nodded, adjusting one of the cameras. "I got you. We'll keep the edits tight, but nothing too polished. Just tell me where you want the shots, and I'll make it happen."
Arell appreciated how everyone was in sync, on the same page.
As they gathered around the table to finalize the plan, the release date for the mixtape was shifted. Originally, it was supposed to drop toward the end of the summer, but with everything going on, they decided to push it to between the 10th and 20th of June. The performances and public appearances were also being reshuffled. Arell would need to hit the ground running to keep the momentum going, especially after the Freestyle drop.
All the while he was already strategizing about how to handle the real estate side of things, which had been taking up a lot of their focus. Arell wasn't about to let the business slip, so he turned to Geoffrey.
"I guess Nick and Codie will have to work with you on the real estate for now," Arell said. "I'll focus on getting this mixtape out so you won't have to bother. When it's done, I'll link up with you to make sure we can close everything off before it's time to go on tour."
Geoffrey gave a sharp nod. "I'll make sure everything runs smoothly on the business end. Bit of a hit as we don't want others to overly involved in our business but I'm sure I can lean on Jamal and Tariq some more so we should be good."
"Cool. We don't have a choice either way, not like we can slow down on either side," Arell said, already shifting his focus back to the music.
The team began throwing out ideas for the video. Arell knew it didn't need to be over-the-top. Just some clean shots, it was going to be chill, just a day in the life.
He grabbed his phone and made a few quick calls, reaching out to Kenny, Devon, and Malik.
"Yo, we're shooting a video right now," Arell said when Kenny picked up. "If ya'll are free can you come down to the warehouse?"
Kenny's voice came through the line, hyped as ever. "Bet, I'll be there in 20. You already know we're about to shut it down."