Chart Toppers (Star Maker Book 3) (10 page)

She
nodded and noticed a level of concern that she had never seen.
 
She was quick to calm his fears.
 
“Yep.
 
Album number three, excluding the
original EP from ‘85.
 
And we will
deliver on time.”
 
She flashed a
reassuring smile.

He
chuckled.
 
“I’m confident it will be
a good follow up to album number two which, by the way, is very close to
hitting double-platinum.”

Her
eyes widened.
 
“What?
 
Like how close?”

He
shrugged his shoulders.
 
“A few more
thousand sales, which at this rate could be another week or two.
 
It’s trending fast.
 
You’ll probably be in triple platinum by
mid-Fall.
 
That’s my guess.
 
You picked a winner, Kit.
 
You’ve got a knack for this shit, kid.”

She
chuckled.
 
“GT is pretty
amazing.
 
Very loved by their fans.”

“Yes
they are.
 
Ok, let’s get down to
brass tacks.
 
You mentioned that you
needed to discuss something with me, but if you don’t mind I’d like to go
first.”

Kit got
comfortable in her seat and took a sip of her scotch.
 
“Ok.”

His
concerned brown eyes met hers.
 
“The
rumors you heard about a big re-org and a hot-shot new head of A&R are all
true.
 
We need to rally, Kit or else
the five-year plan won’t come to fruition and we’ll be vulnerable to getting
eaten up by one of the conglomerates.”

She
stared back at him and wasn’t sure what to make of it.
 
She felt those familiar knots tugging at
the lining of her stomach and forced herself to relax by taking a deep
breath.
 
“Ok.
 
What does that mean exactly?”

He
sighed.
 
“Kit, I’m stepping down as
CEO.
 
I’m going to be chairman of
the board of Diamond Entertainment and move over to be CEO of Diamond
Pictures.
 
It’s in a vulnerable spot
too, but it’s struggling and it’s in a more grave position than Diamond
Records.
 
It needs my attention.
 
I’ve tried to find the right CEO to fit
the bill and haven’t been successful.
 
We’re out of time.
 
I have to
step in before we lose it.
 
And
Jonathan is still learning Diamond Pictures, so I can’t put him at the helm
yet.”

Her
eyes widened.
 
She was thoroughly stunned
as she tried to take in the news and calm herself down at the same time.
 
She felt saddened by his words and
suspected he did too.
 
“But you love
the music biz, Lew!”

He
nodded solemnly.
 
“I do, but as I
stated, that division of the company needs my attention right now.
 
This is my empire, and I have to do
what’s best to keep us on top on both ends—film and music.
 
We’ve got heavy hitters here on the
music side; yourself included.
 
Diamond Records will be able to stand on its own with the new team.
 
Solid as a rock.”

She
shifted in her seat, feeling uncomfortable as she swallowed hard.
 
Resigning her position as a consultant
was not going to be easy now.
 
Her
loyalty to Lew nagged at her conscience.
 
She couldn’t possibly let him down now.
 
She felt saddened that her dreams would
have to be put on hold.
 
She held
off on commenting and favored keeping her trap shut to glean more information
while he continued.

“I’ve
made my decision about who I want as CEO.”

She
forced herself to pay attention and not let her mind run off on a tangent back
to her agenda. “Who?”

“I’ve
decided to appoint Jonathan to take over as CEO.
 
Doug Chazen, our EVP of operations will
take over as COO to replace Jonathan.”

Kit forced
a grin.
 
“I’m very sorry to hear
that you’re stepping down but happy to hear that Jonathan is taking your
place.
 
He’ll make a great CEO.”
 
She offered a genuine smile truly
agreeing with Lew’s decision.

Lew
shrugged his shoulders.
 
“Yes and
no.
 
There are some other components
that need to be figured out.
 
If we
can get those into place, he’ll do just fine.
 
Now Kit, as far as legal goes, I’d like
to have Daniel Thomas officially take over as chief counsel.
 
The press release about him will go out
before the end of the day.
 
Your consulting
services for legal are no longer needed.
 
He’s appreciated your help in the transition, but as we both know, he’s
got a full handle on it now.”

She
stared at him, stunned and expressionless.
 
Part of her was happy and relieved.
 
She was going to be out of the position that was boring her to
tears.
 
Another part of her was saddened
and angry.
 
She had done a stellar
job for the company and sacrificed a great deal for the position.
 
Before she could launch into a rebuttal
to plead her case, Lew continued.

He
chuckled.
 
“I know that sounds bad
but it’s not what you think, Kit.”

She
frowned and struggled to stay calm.
 
Her bubbling anger started to seep through.
 
“Can you explain it to me then?
 
Because it sounds like you’re letting me
go.”
 
She tried not to jump to
conclusions, but she was moments away of diving deep into a sea of hurt
feelings.
 
Suddenly, this was
becoming personal, and her rational mind had flown out the window along with
her consulting position.

He
shook his head.
 
“Hear me out, Kitten.
 
Don’t go jumping to conclusions.
 
You’re an asset to this company—a
very valuable one.”
 
She stared at
him and swallowed hard, doing her best to hold back tears.
 
She was pleased she was succeeding in
keeping it together and waited for him to finish his thought.

He
smiled and leaned forward.
 
“I wanna
promote you.
 
I’d like to create a
new position for you, chief creative officer.
 
You’re right, Jonathan will make a great
CEO running this company, but Jonathan does not have the attention to artist
development and the ability to cultivate artists into superstars like you
do.
 
Even Pete Lundy doesn’t have
that skill at your level.
 
It’s a
rare quality, Kit.
 
You have a
gift.
 
As chief creative officer,
that’s what you’d do.
 
You’d take
our artists and turn them into superstars or find ones that you want to
cultivate.
 
You would work closely
with Pete.
 
He’d report to you.
 
What do you think, kid?”

She
stared at him, this time in awe.
 
He
was offering her the position of a lifetime. It was almost identical to what
she had told Sully she wanted to do the night before. Here was the opportunity
being handed to her on a silver platter.
 

Her emerald
green eyes twinkled.
 
She felt like
he had just handed her the keys the kingdom, the very kingdom that she had dreamed
about and had motivated her to come out to Los Angeles in the first place.
 
“Wow, Lew! I’m honored.
 
This was the last thing I expected today.
 
I came here to resign my consulting position
for that very reason.
 

“I want
to focus on developing GT more and possibly other artists through KMK.
 
You’re a mind reader.
 
The position does sound appealing, but
how much would it entail?
 
As you
know, GT is my primary focus, and they take up a lot of time.
 
I’ve agreed to produce their new album,
so come August I’ll be back in the studio with little time to do much
else.
 
I’d love to take on this
position, but I don’t want to let you or Jonathan down.”

He
shook his head and grinned.
 
“Kit,
we’re creating this position for you, so you can make your own rules, within
reason.
 
If you know what you want
today, we can discuss it with Jonathan.
 
If not and you need to think it over, we can schedule another
meeting.
 
We’ve got the time.
 
Things are starting to shift
already.
 

Jonathan
is moving into my office by the end of the week. We’ve gotta start making the
shifts at the executive level so it can trickle down throughout corporate and
be complete by the end of the quarter.
 
That way we start the fourth quarter with everyone in place, including
me at the Diamond Pictures’ offices over on Santa Monica Boulevard in the big
corner office.”

She
fully comprehended why Lew had to make the jump over to Diamond Pictures, but
it didn’t feel any less comforting to her.
 
She sighed.
 
“It makes me
feel sad that you’re not going to be in these offices anymore, but I understand
what you have to do.”

He
nodded.
 
“If things go as planned, I
may come back and send Jonathan over there to run the film division.
 
We’ll see.
 
So whaddya think, Kitten?
 
Do you have ideas of what you want for
the position off the top of your head or would you rather meet with Jonathan
and I next week?”

She
shook her head and smiled wide.
 
“I
know exactly what I want, Lew.
 
Let’s go forward with the scheduled meetings.”

He
chuckled and slapped the table.
 
“That’s the Kit I know.
 
Firecracker, knows what she wants!”
 
He leaned forward and hit the intercom on the phone in the middle of the
conference room table.
 
“Mindy, send
in Jonathan, please.”

Jonathan
greeted Kit warmly after he walked in, and they got down to business.
 
He was pleased and relieved that Lew had
offered her the CCO position.
 
He
knew he would need her help in keeping Diamond ahead and positioning them to
thrive.
 

Lew
looked at Kit.
 
“Ok, now that we’ve
got Jonathan here let’s talk about your position.
 
Tell us what you’re envisioning.
 
I want all the details.”

Kit sat
back in her chair.
 
She didn’t need
to contemplate.
 
Thanks to her
conversation with Sully the night before, she knew exactly what to ask
for.
 
She spoke confidently.
 
“What I’ve envisioned is continuing to
work with GT and bringing some other artists into the fold.
 
Seattle is hot right now, and the grunge
movement is gaining momentum underground.
 
Conversely, New York is taking off with rap and hip-hop.
 
Take a look at Public Enemy, Run DMC or
The Beastie Boys.
 
They’re huge, and
we have no one on our roster like that.
 
Yes, we have been primarily rock and pop based, but we need to diversify
if we want to survive.

“I’d
like for us to be frontrunners in both genres.
 
Also, I think we should pay more
attention to country as well and start pumping up that side of the business.
 
I would prefer to work out of my home
residence and be here part-time as I did before.
 
I’m willing to keep my salary the same
as long as I can take GT over to a new label of my own, backed by Diamond.
 
In other words, a new imprint for
Diamond.
 
And I am willing to put in
a substantial capital investment if needed.”

Lew
stared at her, unfazed.
 
Jonathan held
a conspiring grin.
 
Lew had expected
something like this from Kit.
 
Her
ballsy attitude is what he loved about her.
 
Jonathan looked at him, now smiling from
ear to ear.
 

Lew
nodded.
 
“Ok, Kit.
 
What do you wanna call your label?”
 

“Flat 5
Records.”

He
stared at her.
 
“And I take it you
have your sights set on their new album being on this imprint?”

She
nodded.
 
“Yes, that’s the
intention.”