Mogul (5 page)

“She wants to stay out of the limelight. The
press has been brutal to her. Besides, if she’s in danger in our
own home, imagine how easy it would be for one of my stalkers to
find her on the road.”

Graham studied the earnest look on Vanni’s
face. He knew that the younger man was sincere. Late in his
dedication to her safety, maybe, but at least he’d finally shown up
for the party. “So what will you consider?”

“Something L.A. based. And obviously
something that pays well. And fast. And something I can be proud
of,” he added. Now that he was going to be a father, he wanted to
do things with a positive bent – not just the sex, drugs and rock
and roll he’d become so famous for indulging.

Graham nodded and then made a note. “I
actually have a meeting scheduled this afternoon that I think may
fit the bill. A TV producer has wanted to meet with me regarding a
possible new series, a talent show that opens up opportunity for
people who might not get one otherwise. Let me speak with her and
I’ll get back to you.”

Vanni stood with an extended hand. “Sounds
promising,” he said as he shook his hand. “And thanks for all your
support, considering.”

Graham stood with great difficulty, but he
met Vanni eye to eye. “We’re adults. This is business. It doesn’t
have to be any more complicated than that.”

Vanni nodded. He had grown to respect this
man he had hated for so long.

He hoped that meant he was turning an
emotional corner.

When he got back to the beach house, Yael was
waiting for him. He wanted to know what Vanni’s plans were for
Dreaming in Blue. He was chomping at the bit to complete the image
overhaul they had started with Julian, one with a rougher, more
music-focused edge. This was the band he’d always dreamed of
having, and had grown quite impatient waiting for Vanni to get his
priorities straight.

He wasn’t shy about telling Vanni exactly
what was on his mind.

“I just don’t understand why we’re stuck,”
Yael told him after Vanni tossed his jacket into a chair and sat on
the sofa facing him. “We can replace Julian. This was never about
one member of the band. I don’t understand why you won’t even
consider looking.”

Vanni glanced over at Andy, who gave him an
almost imperceptible nod. She came over to where he sat on the
sofa. “Because Andy’s pregnant,” Vanni finally said. Aside from
Iris and Jacob, they had not officially announced it to their
immediate circle. “She’s due in July.”

Yael’s mouth dropped open. It was quite
obviously not the answer he expected to his question. “Even more
reason to get this thing moving,” Yael told him. “We wait too long
and we’re going to fade into a memory behind the next big thing. If
we get back in the studio and back out on the road, it will secure
your future.”

Vanni sighed. He hated to have all this
financial pressure and business pressure on his shoulders. He
simply wanted to do his job, get paid and take care of his family –
like anyone else.

But he wasn’t like anyone else, and he knew
it.

Yael failed to see why Andy’s pregnancy could
derail their plans. “You find a replacement now. We finish the CD
and then we tour after the baby’s born. Hell, she can even come
along.”

Andy shook her head. She hated to come in
between the band but that wasn’t the life she wanted for a newborn.
“It’s not that simple,” she offered.

“It
is
that simple,” Yael snapped as he
jumped to his feet. “This is about music. That’s the deal we all
made when we got into this band. It wasn’t about marriage and it
wasn’t about babies and families. It was about making our mark.
Remember?”

Vanni stood as well. “We have made our mark,
Yael.”

“No,
you
made your mark,” he responded
bitterly. “We aren’t Dreaming in Blue. We’re Dreaming in Blue
featuring Giovanni Carnevale. Meanwhile Iain’s in England playing
daddy, Felix is God knows where smoking God knows what and I’m
sitting on my hands while you make up your mind what you want. I’m
not your fucking backup player, man. This is my band, too. If you
aren’t in it anymore, then let me know so I can find another lead
singer. I’m sure any number of bars in this city are filled with
guys waiting to snap up any opportunity to work.” Yael stalked
toward the door. “We’re not all living on easy street like the
superstar Giovanni in his expensive fucking beach
house.”

With a slam, he was gone.

Andy turned back toward Vanni, who slumped
down on the sofa, his head in his hands. She sat next to him and
gently pulled the band from his hair, letting it spill around his
shoulders. “I’m sorry, Vanni,” she said, although she wasn’t quite
sure why she felt the need to apologize.

His dark eyes met hers. “Don’t you dare
apologize to me,” he whispered. “You’re worth anything,” he said as
he took her into his arms. She felt so solid, so real… so much more
substantial than any fleeting feeling of fame.

He kissed the top of her head as he held her
in his arms and worried silently what he could do to keep their
world from falling apart.

CHAPTER FIVE

Los Angeles, California

February 6, 2011

Gwen Perry entered Graham’s office with her
wide smile. After working with Graham and with Dreaming in Blue
through the duration of Graham’s recovery, she was happy to find
him standing on his feet to greet her as she walked towards his
desk. “Look at you!” she beamed.

He gave her a triumphant grin in return and
allowed her to round the desk and give him a friendly hug. She was
extremely adept at her job as a public relations agent. Under her
watchful eye, Dreaming in Blue had not gone completely off the
rails even with Vanni’s abhorrent and inexcusable behavior. She was
the first one he called when he realized that the Wilkes were going
to prove a long-term, public problem.

She had an idea how they could further polish
Vanni’s tarnished image, and Graham was all ears for her
suggestion. He indicated toward the chair. “So tell me about this
brilliant idea of yours.”

She laughed heartily. “I’m not sure how
brilliant it is,” she began modestly, but then waved her hand. “Oh,
who am I kidding? This plan is beyond brilliant. It helps Vanni, it
helps your label and best of all it helps someone reaching for a
dream.”

He liked the sound of that. “Sounds
ambitious.”

“Not as much as you’d think. It’s a
successful model already seen on TV in many formats. The American
dream is alive and well on network TV. We like to see people reach
for the stars and actually catch one. It’s a winning formula.”

“So what makes your idea so original?”

She reached for her phone. “I’ll let my
friend give you all the details. She’s on her way up right
now.”

Within minutes Gwen’s friend was ushered into
the office by Graham’s secretary. The woman was full-figured,
though not as generously proportioned as Andy. Her brown hair was
shoulder-length and streaked with blonde, and her tawny eyes
reminded him of a cat’s. She was remarkably put together, like she
had her own stylist in her back pocket, and he couldn’t help but
think he’d seen her somewhere before.

He stood, as did Gwen, who introduced the
two. “Graham Baxter, I’d like you to meet Shannon McKenna.”

They shook hands and his brow still furrowed
with a slight hint of recognition. “Why do I feel like I should
know who you are?”

The woman named Shannon
laughed and sat in the chair next to Gwen. “I’m a product of
Reality TV,” she confessed. “I was the star of the first season
of
Love Plus One
,
the dating reality show that puts a mole in the midst of
bachelorettes competing for the eligible bachelor. This way he can
cut right through the games and find his Miss Right.”

“Oh, yes,” he said. “One of our artists
performed at the Hollywood Bowl for one of your dates.”

Shannon’s smile softened at the memory. “She
did indeed.”

Her happiness was infectious, and Graham
couldn’t help but return her smile. “I take it things worked out
well, then.”

She flashed the diamond wedding ring on her
finger. “Better than I had expected. Being the mole, anyway!”

They all laughed, and then Graham wanted to
get down to business. “Gwen tells me that you have an idea for a
new reality show. Tell me about it.”

“I started my career working as a production
assistant for Dixie, the talk show host,” she began, clarifying as
if she needed to – though Dixie’s name was recognizable all on its
own. “I wasn’t too confident in my abilities because I had been
fooled into believing only a certain kind of woman deserved the
limelight. Women like me, like Gwen,” she referred to the zaftig
woman at her side, “were delegated to the shadows in supporting
roles. With a few notable exceptions, like Dixie for instance, most
women who fight and claw their way to the top fit a certain mold –
and girls like us don’t fit in.”

Graham nodded. He was aware of how the
business demanded a certain type of perfection from women that it
did not demand from men. It was one of the reason he found women
who accepted their so-called imperfections so attractive, like
Andy.

“So I was thinking the only
thing people like to see more than an unknown reaching for the
stars is the opportunity to champion the underdog. I found this out
personally during
Love Plus
One
, when I was certain that I’d be
skewered by the audience for being so different, only to find they
were rooting for me to ‘win.’”

Gwen nodded. “The average American woman is a
size 14, so seeing people like Shannon and Dixie represented in the
media affirms their value outside the accepted norm in the media –
which is nowhere near the ‘norm’ for anyone else.”

“So the idea is to open up Reality TV to
something ‘real?’”

Both Gwen and Shannon nodded, grateful that
he got it. Gwen suspected he might, given his affection for Andy.
He could have had any woman he wanted, and probably had, but he was
willing to die for someone society generally disdained thanks to
some arbitrary dress size. Shannon was passionate as she went on.
“I want a show to embrace the inner diva of any girl with a dream,
who has the chops to make it happen. I don’t want her plucked and
prodded and crowbarred into some paint-by-numbers pop model that
fits some passing fad of the moment. I want to give the audience
someone to root for, someone they can truly idolize as a role
model, even beyond a TV finale.”

“We want to call it
Fierce
,” Gwen added, and
somehow he got the feeling the magical publicist had a hand in the
title.

“And it’s open up to all kinds of
contestants, not just one specific type,” Shannon clarified. “We’re
not exalting any one group over any other, because we feel that’s
just prejudice working in reverse. Male, female, gay, straight,
fat, thin, able-bodied or challenged, we want everyone watching to
feel represented. This is about talent – and owning who you are as
an individual. As long as you are unafraid to sing your butt off,
you can compete on our show.”

He nodded. It was a positive direction that
dared to put talent over image, and in the pre-packaged,
homogenized environment of Los Angeles it was a breath of fresh
air, one not likely to be championed by entertainment types that
bought into the traditional paper doll formula music had become
since the advent of music video. “I like it,” Graham declared.
“What do you need from me?”

“Your branding,” Gwen answered. “Shannon and
Dixie can produce a talent show, but they want to give the winner,
or really any of the contestants who earn your support, a true
career in the business. That can happen with your label behind
them.”

He noticed that Maggie had slipped in the
room unnoticed. She had gotten used to being stealth since they had
returned to the office. He gave her a wink of acknowledgement as
she sat. “We’re always looking for that next superstar,” he said.
“I would love to be a part of it.”

Gwen smiled. “There’s more. And this is the
exciting part. Because this show is so progressive and inclusive,
it’ll be a positive publicity boost for anyone who gets involved
with it. We’d like Vanni to be one of the judges.”

Graham sat back in his chair, his hand to his
chin. “How long of a commitment are we talking about?”

“We have been in network talks to run a
summer season from May to September. We’d like the preliminary,
off-camera judging to start in March. He’d be there from the
beginning all the way to the finale.”

Graham nodded. It sounded perfect.

“He’s got a bit of a bad boy image, where
he’s a sex hound who dates a certain type of woman…Lourdes, Kat,
Holly. This would soften him up a bit – expand his appeal to those
in his fan base who think they could never get a guy like him.
It’ll show he values women beyond just the little sex kitten on his
arm.”

He chuckled. If only they knew.

“But,” Gwen cautioned, “This means he’d have
to keep his nose clean.” It was her hidden agenda to recommend
Vanni, to force him to behave like a good boy so she didn’t have to
keep cleaning up his messes. He had the recognizable name that
could work for Shannon’s purposes, but frankly Gwen wanted a break
from prostitutes and highly publicized breakups and
controversy.

Shannon nodded. “We’re hoping to make a
difference with this show. Make a statement. It’s not going to be a
train wreck just for ratings. I don’t want any part of anything
like that, and neither does Dixie.”

“I understand,” he said. “I’ll approach him
about it. We talked earlier today about opportunities that kept him
local for the foreseeable future, and he did mention that he would
like a project that he could be proud of. I really think this could
be it.”