Chart Toppers (Star Maker Book 3)

by J. M. Nevins

  He smiled at Kit through his tears. “God, there are times I wish he were here. This is one of ‘em. I miss him, still…”

  She grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I know, babe. Me too. But, like you said earlier, he is here, in some form or another. One that we probably can’t even begin to comprehend.”

  He nodded, gave her a gentle kiss on the lips and gazed into her eyes. “He would have been proud of you too. You helped me get this. He knew that. He knew we’d be a powerful combination.”

  She sighed and grinned. “That he did. We’ll have to pour some more drinks and salute him. We haven’t been here since…”

  He chuckled. “Before the tour and before we married. I know. I was living here with Maxine, remember?” He shook his head and looked around. “I was thinking of selling the place, but now…”

  She giggled and shook her head. “No, don’t sell it. The security in this building is like Fort Knox, and that’s key for us now. Plus, it’s a nice asset on your balance sheet, babe.”

  He smiled. “You mean, our balance sheet?” He chuckled. “I like your idea of a secret love nest. Ok, mind’s made up. We’re keeping it.”

  She wrapped her arm around him again, rested her head on his shoulder and stared at the gleam of the platinum record hanging on the wall that symbolized more than album sales. It represented a beautiful victory for them; a dream come true—one they had always wanted and had achieved together.

  CHAPTER 3

  “Kit, got a minute?”

  She chuckled. “Try me, Pete. What’s up? Is this corporate related or GT?”

  “GT. They’re still working out the re-org here in corporate and luckily I’m still the executive VP of A&R. I hope the asshole I have to report to doesn’t give me the ‘retire early’ talk. I mean, I have sights to retire in the next few years but…”

  She giggled. “Pete, they’re not going to do that. Even if your new boss tries it, Lew won’t let that happen. He’s loyal, and you’ve been a fantastic company guy. You’re not going anywhere. A&R would crumble without you.”

  “Not so. First off, Lew may be moving over to Diamond Pictures, and we’re getting a new CEO. Secondly, regarding A&R, I’ve heard rumors. Whoever they’re bringing in is a hotshot, a closer and a high-level star maker from what I hear.”

  She was immediately intrigued. “Names, please? Like who? There aren’t too many of those types legitimately existing in this town. There are lots of talkers, but not producers. I’ll tell you if they’re a hotshot or not.”

  He chuckled. “I don’t have names, just word circulating that we’ve got an ace coming in. I haven’t met this ace yet. They may be from New York. Who knows? Believe me, you’ll be the first to know.”

  “Ok. So, what’s the call for today if it’s not corporate related?”

  “I’m approaching you strictly as an A&R guy to a manager.”

  She giggled. “Ok, taking my Diamond consultant hat off. Let me grab my manager hat. Done! As GT’s manager what can I do for you?”

  “We need the guys to go back into the studio to work on their third album.”

  She frowned. “When?”

  “Like yesterday.”

  She sighed. “Oh, Pete, c’mon. They’re tired. I can’t push them back in yet. They’re not ready. They need recovery time. We’ll burn out Sully and Jimmy if we push ‘em too hard. If we want their best work, we’re going to need to give them some time to recover from the tour and get their creative juices flowing again.”

  “Ok, two weeks.”

  She laughed. “Um, no. Try four months, Pete. As I said, they’re tired. They need family time too.”

  “A month and a half.”

  She huffed. “Pete, seriously? Why are you guys pushing this so hard? What’s going on at Diamond besides the re-org? Is there something I should know that you’re not telling me? ‘Cuz if you don’t start talking, I’m gonna put a call into Lew and get some answers.”

  He sighed. “Kit, Diamond is not hitting the numbers they need to right now. Revenues are down. It’s got Lew and Jonathan spooked. Some of the releases from our top acts aren’t fairing well in sales or on the charts. We need a major overhaul of our artists, and we need fresh blood. It’s easier to work with bands like GT because they’re hot—much easier than trying to mine gold with an unknown. GT is one of our cash cows, and we did give them a very generous new contract. Frankly, they make our balance sheet look good. And right now that’s a big deal.”

  Kit frowned. She knew that the large multi-million dollar contract they signed out on tour would come back to bite them in the ass in some way, but she didn’t expect it to be so soon. “Why, Pete? Give me specifics.”

  “They’re looking at all kinds of things. There are artists we’re definitely booting out. There are trends they want to explore. They want to be more cutting edge, and GT was in the right place at exactly the right time to solidify that idea in their heads. They saw those tour numbers and the records sales, Kit. The board is on top of Lew to push GT into the studio, and now he’s on top of me, almost hourly.”

  The wheels turned in her head, and she suddenly wondered again what was going on at corporate. “If Lew is so on fire about this, why hasn’t he discussed this with me yet?”

  “I dunno the answer to that question, Kit. Bottom line is we need the guys in the studio pronto. Make it happen.”

  She shook her head in disbelief. “I’ll talk to them, but they’re not going into the studio next week or the week after that, I can assure you. Pete, I don’t think I have to remind you of what happens when you put on too much pressure. The whole thing could blow, and I’m positive that’s the last thing you guys want to do to your cash cow.”

  “Point taken, Kit. See what you can do. Call me back.”

  “Ok.”

  She hung up and phone and sighed. She shuddered as the fairy tale of the golden goose suddenly came to mind. She recalled her conversation with Pete again, regretfully. She had no idea how to motivate the guys to get back into the studio so soon.

  In her heart, she didn’t even think it was the best idea. Once again, she felt stuck in a quandary between her loyalty to the band and her loyalty to Diamond. This time, though, the answer was clear to her. Loyalty to the band and protecting her husband’s best interest came first no matter the consequences.

  The band was in the backyard with their girlfriends and wives, enjoying the sunshine and the pool to the fullest. Kit felt like the bad guy calling them to attention. Not an easy feat on a beautiful, warm, summer day that had reduced the guys to a bunch of obnoxious, loud, scheming teenagers collectively, their chronological ages flying out the door.

  When they heard her voice, the splashing in the pool ceased, water guns were fully surrendered, and beer bottles were set down. They quickly and quietly assembled in the chairs and chaise lounges in front of her, towel-clad, and ready to hear what she had to say. She chuckled to herself as she watched them, feeling like a cross between their mother and their grammar school teacher.

  She scanned all of them with her eyes, quickly noticing how tanned, content and rested they looked for the first time in months. She hated to broach the subject matter, but as their manager it had to be done. “So, guys, any thought of when you want to head back into the studio?”

  Sully’s chair was so close to Kit’s it was practically on top of it. He flashed his most charming smile, put his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek, nuzzling her with his nose. He spoke breathlessly, trying not to laugh. “Whenever you want, baby.”

  Bryan shook his head, smiled and yelled. “Kiss ass!”

  Remo chimed in using a mocking tone. “Teacher’s pet!”

  The whole band erupted into uncontrollable laughter leaving Kit to shake her head and stare at all of them contemplating their true ages once again. She was eager to get the meeting over with so they could all get back to fun in the sun. She raised her voice over the barrels of laughter, struggling to hold back her ow
n. “Guys, focus!”

  They all looked at her, still grinning from their jokes and carrying on. Although they all looked like wide-eyed schoolboys awaiting her distribution of gold stars, she tried not to laugh. This was serious business and her feeding into their antics wouldn’t help either of them. “Guys, seriously, have you given any thought to when you want to go back into the studio to record your new album?”

  Jimmy shrugged his shoulders. “Whenever. Sull and I have already started working on some stuff, and I know you two have worked on a song. We’ve got tons of material we could use.”

  Kit raised her eyebrows. “New stuff?”

  He continued. “New to our fans. Sully and I have written some songs that got shelved for one reason or another, and we wrote some stuff on tour. We could take a look at those and see if any of them would be a good fit for the new album.”

  Sully looked at her. “Even if we don’t find anything we want to use in the old stuff, between you, Jimmy and me, we could get at least a dozen to start with and add more later. We’ve got two so far that are album-worthy.”

  She nodded. “Ok. So Remo, Bryan and Tony what do you guys think? Any ideas on when you’d want to record?”

  Tony spoke up. “Anytime, really. This break is nice and all, but we came off that tour with such fierce momentum. We’re really hot right now. I’d hate to wait too long and lose that. I think you guys all feel the same, right?”

  They all looked at each other and nodded. Tony continued. “Maybe we could get back into the studio as soon as the writing’s done? We could hash out a few of the songs, see how they work and play with ‘em a bit before the formal tracking. We’ve got a recording studio at our disposal. It’s not like we have to worry about paying for studio time when we’re playing around. We can track everything and see what comes through.”

  Sully leaned back in his chair. “I think we could pull off writing in a month, two at most. Does that sound right, Jimmy?”

  He nodded in agreement. “Oh yeah. I think we can do it. Tone’s right. We should take advantage and strike while the iron’s hot.”

  “Ok, guys. Then I’m going to let Diamond know you’re writing. Let’s aim for getting back into the studio at the end of August. Sound good?”

  They all agreed, and Kit was relieved. Negotiating a recording date for late August was a whole lot easier than aiming for October. While the band went back to frolicking in the pool, she headed inside to give Pete a call and share the good news.

  She sat in her office downstairs and listened to all the messages on her answering machine. She had two urgent messages, one from her attorney, Ron, who now handled all things KMK, and one from the private investigator Nicky and Frank had recommended to her.

  She decided to start with the investigator and was happy to get him on the phone with little effort. When he started, she listened intently.

  “Ms. McKenna, I tracked Sam Price to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. He left the country with five million of your dollars. Chances of getting him back to the states and proving he embezzled it are slim to none. And the remainder of the missing money did end up in Dante’s hands, but it seems that it went into a few odd businesses in New York tied to money laundering in the past.

  “The guy didn’t clean up his trail well. Not too smart, in my opinion. I was able to track it pretty easy. The money looks like it went from Sam to these businesses too and trickled back again to Dante who took these funds and deposited them into various accounts, one of which was a new account named DBBT Management. Sam also wrote a pretty substantial check to Templeton Records, and it doesn’t square with the books. Looks like it was a payout.”

  Kit nodded. “Most likely to Blake Templeton.”

  “Yep, bingo. Right now, it’s looking like you can get Dante on embezzlement and possibly money laundering, but I’m no lawyer.”

  She sighed. “I’ll talk to my attorney. Thanks for your help. I appreciate it.”

  “Sure. If you need anything else, you know how to find me.”

  Kit hung up the phone and reached for the pack of cigarettes in her desk drawer. She had woken up only a half hour before. It was still early morning, but she didn’t care. She needed something to calm her nerves. She lit up and exhaled as she ran her fingers through her long red hair. She shook her head thinking about Dante and Blake and the mess they had made in her life.

  After finishing her cigarette, she was relaxed enough to go for round two. She picked up the phone and called her attorney. She braced herself awaiting the news he had for her.

  “Ok, Kit. Are you ready for this one?”

  She nodded. “Lay it on me, Ron.”

  “This guy must be a grade-A idiot. He completely violated his non-compete. I’m staring at the documents he signed for you when he took over as CEO. You put a pretty staunch, airtight, non-compete clause in here. I honestly think he underestimated how enforceable this is. Kit, you could sue the pants off him and win by a landslide. His balls are on the chopping block now. How do you want to proceed?”

  She sighed and closed her eyes slowly. She still deeply felt the sting of Dante’s betrayal. Although what he did was not warranted in any way, she hated the thought of suing. It brought up bad memories of her litigiously motivated father. She had seen glimpses of him in her personality, and she didn’t like it. She remained afraid of becoming like him.

  Even though she and Sully had long since healed from the explosive argument that had broken them up for six months, she never forgot those venomous words he spewed at her that night. He fully implied she had become her worst nightmare—a money hungry, sue happy attorney that took triumph over other people’s demise, just like her father.

  She shook her head and snapped back into the moment to answer the question at hand. “I’m not sure yet, Ron. Give me some time. I’ll hit you back later.”

  “Cool. By the way, Scorcher dropped their claim. I talked to Bud. You’re in the clear. Your documentation stood up. They’re backing down—no case against you or KMK. They don’t have a leg to stand on.”

  She let out a sigh. “Well, that’s a relief. At least one thing is going right. I’ll let you know about Dante later. Thanks.” She hung up.

  She sat contemplating everything one more time. She knew a civil case would swing her favor, but felt defeated knowing there was a bigger picture involved here—white-collar crime. Regardless of what had happened, she didn’t feel confident she’d ever see that money again. If they did locate Dante, he would be headed to jail, not to the civil courts to duke it out with her.

  * * *

  Blake gloated enthusiastically. “This was almost too easy, dude. See, I told you everything would be fine. Look at our roster now. This is fantastic!”

  Dante was indifferent as he shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool, I guess.”

  He frowned. “Why the long face? You’re going to be a very rich man.”

  Dante shoved a document across the desk. “Maybe not. Look at this shit.”

  He picked it up and scanned it quickly. “So, the bitch is suing you for violation of your non-compete, huh? Wow, thirty-mil for violation and ten for damages? That’s pretty aggressive. Ballsy bitch.” He looked up donning a sinister grin. “Don’t worry about it, man. I’ve got amazing lawyers that can get you out of anything, and I really mean, anything!”

  Dante glared. “Blake, Kit is a lawyer and a damn good one. She didn’t get her post at Diamond as chief counsel because she was kinda good, and Lew liked her. She got it because she’s fucking brilliant when it comes to contracts and legal angles in this business and she’s probably already saved the company millions upon millions. I sure hope your lawyers are better than she is because I don’t have forty million fucking dollars!”

  He rolled his eyes. “Calm the fuck down, D. It will be fine. She’s just trying to rattle your cage. It’s a little bump in the road. Remember, we have the artists. She doesn’t. She’s the one that’s screwed. She’s pissed. That’s why she’s s
uing you. We’re already making money hand over fist. Kit McKenna is a little blip on the radar screen of your life. Chill out.”

  The voice of Dante’s assistant called out over the intercom on the phone sitting on the desk in front of him. “Dante, you need to come out here right now.”

  He huffed. “Alicia, I’m in a very important meeting, not to be disturbed. I told you that. I don’t care who the fuck it is. Tell them to go away, and I’ll deal with them later.”

  Blake shook his head and sighed, faking a compassionate smirk. “Hard to get good help these days, isn’t it?”

  Before Dante could comment, two FBI agents stormed into the office with Alicia in tow trying to stop them. One of them spoke up. “Dante Bellini?”

  His eyes were wide, and he looked like a fearful deer in the headlights of a truck speeding toward him. He slowly stood up. “Yeah?”

  The other agent went around his desk and stood behind him, grabbing his arms, while the agent in front of his desk continued, flashing credentials. “I’m special agent Mills of the FBI. Mr. Bellini you’re under arrest for embezzlement, fraud and money laundering.”

  Dante scowled at Blake as the FBI agent led him out of the office handcuffed. He yelled back to him. “You fucked me, Templeton! Think your hot shot attorney can get me out of this shit?”

  Blake stood stoically staring at Dante unfazed while a faint grin started to spread across his face. His plan had worked out perfectly.

  * * *

  Sully watched Kit as she slept in the seat next to him. The private chartered jet sailed effortlessly through the sky bound for home, and he felt uneasy.

  He got up and decided to head to the back of the jet. The flight attendant approached, as he got comfortable on the sofa. “Mr. Foxx, can I get you anything? Another drink?”

  He nodded and grinned. “Yes, please. Thank you.” He sighed as he stared out the window. The flight attendant served his drink, and he nursed it. His mind was reeling.