Chart Toppers (Star Maker Book 3) (4 page)

She
snapped out of her momentary introspection session and could feel her temper rising
again, seeing the industry-wide smear campaign playing out right before her
eyes. She firmly set her coffee down and shook her head.
 
“Assholes!”

Lew nodded
in agreement.
 
“When I came back
from vacation and found out about this whole mess, I wanted Drew Gandalf’s head
on a platter.
 
If I would’ve been in
town, I can assure you this would never have happened.
 
When I got back, I found out Drew had
resigned.
 
Within twenty-four hours
of his resignation, he had cleaned out his desk and made a quick getaway.
 
I’m sorry, Kit.
 
Drew came from Templeton Records.
 
I don’t believe he came here with the
intention of doing anything to screw over KMK.
 
Maybe Blake Templeton got wind of him
working here, made him an attractive offer and the temptation was too great.”

Kit
stared straight ahead again trying to comprehend it all.
 
“I can’t believe this.
 
It’s complete bullshit!”

Pete donned
a regretful smirk.
 
“We’ve seen it
happen before, unfortunately.
 
That’s
why alliances are so important in this biz.
 
Kit, if you decide you want to rebuild,
we’re happy to back you.”

Kit
looked at Pete, and her face melted into relief.
 
“Really?”

He
nodded.
 
“Yep, we’re behind you one
hundred percent.”

Lew
grinned.
 
“When we have new artists
sign recording contracts, we’ll tell them that they’ll be managed by your
company.
 
How quickly can you be up
and running?
 
Since Dante took your
entire staff, I don’t know how you’d handle the influx.
 
Daniel, how many new contracts do we
have and how many are up for renegotiation?”

Daniel
and Kit answered “Thirty-two” in perfect unison.
 
They exchanged a look and laughed.

Kit
shifted her attention to Lew.
 
“I
can get the right people if you can push KMK.
 
We won’t let you down, Lew.”
 
She exchanged a victorious look with
Spencer.
 

Lew
nodded, appearing pleased.
 
“Seems
you McKennas are pistols.
 
Do you
think you’re up to the job of running this show, Spencer?”

He
grinned.
 
“I think Kit’s shoes are
going to be pretty hard to fill, but I can guarantee you that I will kick more
ass than Dante ever did.”

Lew
chuckled.
 
“It’s pretty clear to me
that you and Kit are cut from the same cloth.
 
I see that same fire.
 
Sounds great to me.”

Kit
nodded.
 
“Spence and I will work on
getting staffed.
 
I’ll give you an
update next week.
 
We’ll be ready.”

Jonathan
smiled proudly.
 
“Looking forward to
it.”

Lew
nodded.
 
“Absolutely.”
 
He grinned at Spencer.
 
“Can you give us a moment with your
sister?”

He
nodded and got up.
 
“Certainly.”

Giselle
hopped up to escort him.
 
“You can
come with me.
 
I’ll give you a tour
and show you all the cool stuff in this building.”
 
She offered a friendly smile, and
Spencer followed her out.

Kit sat
across the boardroom table from the only two people who remained in the room,
Jonathan and Lew.
 
She felt her
anxiety kick in again, and she swallowed hard.
 
“What’s up, guys?”

Lew
stared at her.
 
“Kit, we need you to
pack up your office before you leave today and hand off your remaining files to
Daniel.”

Her
eyes widened, and she stared at him, her mind reeling, her greatest fears
realized.
 
She reminded herself to
breathe and nodded.
 
“Of course,
whatever you need me to do, but I certainly don’t understand what’s going
on.
 
Do I need to surrender my badge
and the keys to my company car too?
 
Are you letting me go?”

Jonathan
chuckled.
 
“Hell no!
 
Kit, we’re doing a complete
reorganization of the company.
 
I’m
sure you’ve heard the rumors.
 
People are getting shuffled around.
 
Daniel Thomas is taking over as chief counsel.
 
You’ve been a fantastic chief counsel
and have done a great job moving the company forward, but we have other plans
for you now. You’re relieved of your duties as chief counsel effective today,
and it’s non-negotiable.”

She
frowned.
 
“If you’re not letting me
go, then what am I going to be doing here?”

Lew sat
back and grinned.
 
“Give us a little
more time to solidify that.
 
We’re
not at point to discuss the details with you yet or make you an offer, but know
that an offer is coming, and it will be favorable.
 
Until that time, you’ll continue with
your salary and benefits as a consultant.
 
It won’t be for long.
 
We’ll
have our decision sooner than later.”

She
felt herself relax and sat back, trying to assess the situation.
 
“Is Diamond in trouble financially?”

Jonathan
shook his head.
 
“No.
 
But, we’re considering acquisitions of
other companies right now.
 
We were
hoping you could provide some insight.
 
Did you hear anything when you were out on tour or through KMK before
everything unraveled?”

The
stars aligned at that moment, and she chuckled as she reached into her
bag.
 
“It’s funny you should ask
that.
 
I had learned some
information this morning before I headed here.
 
Before I reveal what I’ve found, I want
to pick your brain on something, Lew.”

He
nodded.
 
“Shoot.”

She
proceeded.
 
“Why would a management
company be paying a record company a million dollars?”

He
scoffed.
 
“They wouldn’t.
 
That’s counter-intuitive and doesn’t
make any sense.
 
The record company
is always paying the management company if there is one and honey; KMK was and
will be the exception, not the rule.
 
Usually, we do that shit in-house.
 
You know that.
 
Why are you
asking me this?”
 
He frowned.

She
nodded, grinning.
 
“Humor me,
please.
 
Let’s go theoretical for a
minute.
 
Is there any chance that
this could happen outside of KMK’s case?”

He
shook his head.
 
“No.
 
Unless it was some kind of charity thing
and even then it would go to the charity, or be held in an escrow account,
not
the record company’s account.
 
Otherwise, it looks bad and is
completely unethical. It looks like a payoff.
 
No one legit would want that kind of crap
on their books.”

She
grinned.
 
Lew confirmed what she had
been thinking.
 
The scenario she saw
playing out in her mind came to life right before her eyes.
 
“Except for Templeton.”

He
chuckled.
 
“Templeton Records?
 
What do you mean?”

She sat
back and felt herself relax into her seat, suddenly feeling confident in her
theory.
 
“I recently learned that Dante
paid out a big chunk of KMK’s money to Templeton Records.”

Lew
sighed and exchanged a disgusted look with Jonathan.
 
“Ugh.
 
That’s not good.”

Kit
nodded in agreement.
 
“Why the hell
do you think he’d do something like that? I mean I know he was working with
Blake Templeton on building this new management company or whatever but why
would Templeton want to dirty up its books for Dante?”

He shook
his head.
 
“Because Templeton
Records is in serious trouble right now, and Blake is their CEO.
 
They’re scraping to stay afloat under
his leadership.
 
He’s
desperate.
 
He’s run that company
into the ground since his dad appointed him two years ago.
 
He’s doesn’t know what he’s doing.
 
He’s been looking for a substantial
capital infusion for a while now, but no one is biting because of his shitty
reputation.
 
Blake probably conned
Dante into doing it.
 
I dunno, just
a thought.”

She
sighed.
 
“Ok.
 
You confirmed my theory.
 
I plan to make Templeton pay me back for
this mess.”

Lew
snickered.
 
“And how do you plan to
do that, Kitten?
 
How can I help?”

She
smiled.
 
“I’ve got a few ideas,
Lew.
 
He’ll be sorry he did
this.
 
Bottom line, Blake Templeton
is going down, and it’s not going to be pretty.
 
No one crosses me and gets away with
it.
 
He’s going to pay.”

Jonathan
and Lew exchanged a look, and Lew grinned.
 
“No doubt he will.”

She
took a deep breath and stood up.
 
“Are we done for today?”

Lew
stood up.
 
“Yes.
 
We’ll be in touch, Kit.
 
Call us if there are any new
discoveries.”

She
nodded and forced a grin.
 
“Absolutely.”
 
She exited the
conference room and went on a search for Spencer.
 
She found him in one of the recording
studios in the control room listening in, sitting next to Giselle on the couch
looking perfectly comfortable, save the suit he was wearing.
 
He looked exactly like a record
executive and she was positive the artist with headphones on singing her heart
away in the live room was trembling in her boots wondering if A&R couldn’t
hear the hit single.
 

She
chuckled.
 
“Ok, Spence, we’re outta
here.”
 
She looked at Giselle.
 
“I’ll be in touch soon, G.
 
Are you up on all the changes?”

Giselle
nodded.
 
“Yes.
 
I’m technically supposed to stay with
Daniel, but I shared with Jonathan already that I’d like to follow you wherever
you end up, if that’s ok with you?”

Kit
smiled wide and winked.
 
“I’d love
that.
 
See you soon, G.”

Spencer
trailed after Kit as she headed out to her car, lugging wrapped plaques of
mounted platinum records that Pete had supplied her with before they left the
building.
 
He tried to gauge her
demeanor but was unable to read her the moment she threw on her dark
sunglasses.
 
He looked over at her
once they were alone in her car.
 
“You ok?
 
What did they want
to talk to you about?
 
Why did I
have to leave the room?”

She
sighed and shook her head.
 
“I
dunno, Spence.
 
They’re doing a
re-org, and I’ve lost my job as chief counsel.
 
They’re still paying me, and I get to
keep the car, but I’m on the payroll now as a consultant.
 
That can’t be good.
 
That’s probably their nice way of
starting the process to boot me out.”

Spencer’s
blue-green eyes widened, shocked.
 
“You think so?”

She
shrugged her shoulders.
 
“I don’t
want to discuss it.
 
All I want to
do is go home and drink a glass of scotch with my husband and not talk one
ounce of work.”

He
nodded.
 
“Got it.
 
No more work talk.
 
Does that mean no talking about the pile
of platinum records that are in your trunk?”

She
giggled.
 
“That’s a victory.
 
We can discuss that.
 
In fact, unload them when we get back.
 
Store them in my office.
 
I’ll grab one and throw it in Sully’s
Ferrari.
  
We have special
plans for that one.”