by J. M. Nevins
Kit nodded while struggling to hold back tears. When she spoke, her voice trembled. “She certainly was a light in this world. We plan to continue her philanthropic efforts, Edward.”
“Excellent. I can assist you in filing the necessary paperwork if you’d like.”
“Yes, we’ll need your help with that. We’ll be in touch.”
Kit leaned forward and hit the button to disconnect the call. She couldn’t hold back any longer. The grief she felt was immense. As she broke down crying, Sully got up and put his arms around her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
Spencer got up and made himself a drink. He lit up a cigarette and took a sip as he stared out the window in a daze. He was suddenly a very wealthy man, but all he really wanted was his grandmother back. He was glad he had flown out to see her weeks ago and got the opportunity to spend quality time with her. He was deeply saddened when he found out she had passed away the following day after he had left.
Once Kit got up and was calm, Sully ran off to another room to call his mother and check on her. He knew the news had probably left her feeling a mixture of emotions as well. Kit made a drink, lit a cigarette and stood next to her brother.
She looked up at him and forced a smile. “Looks like it’s just you and me left, kid.”
He nodded and held up his glass. “To Nana, the sweetest soul we’ll ever know.”
Kit smiled through her tears and clinked his glass with hers. “I’ll drink to that.”
He put his arm around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. “She talked about her a lot when I was there.”
Kit looked up at him. “Who?”
“Moira. I knew Sully was good people when I met him, but his mom was amazing, taking care of Nana like she was her mother. She was there every day when I was visiting, and they had a grand old time. It was great seeing Nana laugh like that. Even though her health was in rapid decline, she seemed very joyful and content in her last days. Moira was kind of like the daughter Nana always wanted. Our mom certainly never fit that role as a daughter-in-law.”
Kit snorted. “I know. Moira and Nana had a very special connection. One that was much deeper than her relationship with her own son and grandson.”
He sighed and shook his head in disgust. “Pretty pathetic of Dad and James, that’s for sure. And I’m glad she only left them a few grand. That’s a massive statement to them from Nana. Classic, sassy move of hers. She was all about doing the right thing. She despised greedy people and well, I don’t have to get into it with you about Dad and James’s obsession with greenbacks. It’s about time they get what they deserve. Assholes.”
Kit nodded and held her glass up again. “Karma’s a bitch.”
Sully walked back into the office looking overwhelmed and rattled. Kit forced a grin and held her hand out to him. “Want me to make you a drink, baby?” He nodded silently and Kit quickly poured his drink. She handed it to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He took a cigarette too and blew out the smoke evenly.
Spencer joked. “Wow, we look like triplets. Same drink, same smokes, same inheritance.” He grinned. “We really are family.” He nodded at Sully. “How are you holding up, man?”
He sighed and remained momentarily silent. His steel blue eyes shifted with uncertainty. “Honestly, I dunno. I’m not sure how to handle all of this. My mom is freaking out. I’m ashamed to admit this, but we don’t know what to do. This is like way too much.” He held up his hands in a defensive gesture and then dropped them.
He shook his head. “Our family has never seen money like this before, aside from my earnings. I’m just barely getting used to what I’m making with GT, but this whole inheritance thing is on a totally different level I don’t understand. I could stroll out the door right now and buy a private jet cash, not that I would, but that completely fucks with my head.
“You hear about those people that win amounts like this in the lottery and then lose it within a year. I cannot have that happen to my mom. No way. And seriously, this is the wealthy elite America that I have never navigated nor know how to deal with. I’m just a simple guy from Evergreen Park when it all boils down. I feel like a deer in headlights right now.”
Kit stared at him. “Baby, that’s who you are at your core, yes. And that’s what makes you great, but you are also a self-made millionaire. And I’ve seen you in action. You make wise choices with your money. You have the chops to sustain this. You’ll adjust.”
Spencer patted him on the back. “Sull, it’ll be fine. We’ll walk you through it if you want us to. And you’re doing great so far. Tilly was part of that elite. She was born into it, and she saw you as an equal, a perfect match for my sister. I saw it too the day I met you.”
He stared into his eyes to make his point. “You’ve got this. It’s all in the coaching, and we’ll get you there… And your mom too. And I’ll let you in on a little secret. Money is a magnifier. It will reveal what you’re made of and who you really are.
“Like your mom, you’re a giver and you like to make people feel good. You like to spread the love. With money, that force becomes bigger. Tilly was well aware of that principle, and I can guarantee that’s why my dad’s inheritance went to your mom and rightly so in my opinion.
“Tilly wanted love and good works to be spread for years to come and she knew, in her heart, your mom would do that. That wouldn’t have happened with my dad. My point is that you’re a good person, Sully. With money, you’ve become even more generous. That will continue. You told me when we first met that you wanted to change the world. Now you have multiple platforms—your music and using this money to be a positive force.”
He immediately felt his body relax after hearing Spencer’s explanation that pulled him into complete alignment with his value system. He nodded and grinned. “Ok. I trust you and Kit on this. I’ll just need a little coaching as we go along.” He took a gulp of his scotch.
Spencer nodded. “Absolutely. Since Edward is completely overloaded now because of GT, I’ll give Wes a call and see if he wants to step into the role of our personal finance director.”
Sully chuckled and felt his spirit relax. “Oh, shit. I totally forgot that one of my best buddies is a financial wizard that deals with this level of money daily. He’s done amazing things with my personal account already. Yes, get on the horn and get that booked.”
“I’ll do that. How quickly can you fly to New York?”
Sully shrugged his shoulders and looked at Kit. “What do we have on our plate, babe?”
She sighed. They were due to go into the studio in five days to start recording the new album. “Well, we have deliveries coming tomorrow, so we can’t leave. We can fly out Friday morning. We need to be back by Sunday at the latest. I’m pretty sure Wes will take a Saturday meeting ‘cuz we’re like family.”
Spencer nodded his head. “I’ll call him. Give me a minute.”
Sully pulled Kit toward him and held her in his arms silently. She could tell he was trying to process all of this and didn’t say a word. She held him, hoping to make him feel more secure. Moments later, Spencer returned.
“Saturday morning. We’ll meet at their place at 10:00am in his personal office. Then we’ll go to brunch afterward. Oh, and by the way, Lex is pregnant again.” He didn’t miss a beat and continued. “Will that work for your mom, Sull? We can have the jet stop at Midway on the way out on Friday…”
Kit interjected. “Wait a minute. Hold the phone. Back up. Lex is pregnant again?” Sully watched her gauge how she really felt. He was pleased to see she wasn’t broken up about it and relaxed.
Spencer chuckled. “They just found out, but they’re not telling anyone. He said she’s only a few weeks along. Wanted me to pass the info along to you. Looks like this time around you and Sull are being targeted for the godparents.”
Kit grinned and raised her eyebrows. “Really?” She smiled at Sully. “That would be nice. Lex chose her older sister and Wes’s brother when Kelsey was born. Her si
ster was so pissed that I was chosen as the maid of honor when they married that she made a deal to make her the godmother of her firstborn. Makes sense now.” She giggled and rubbed her hands together. “Another Matthews baby. Yay!”
Spencer looked at Sully. “Ok, let’s get back on track. Will your mom be available?”
He nodded. “Let me find out. I’m sure it will be fine.”
Kit sat in her office the following day staring at the sealed letter in front of her. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She fingered her name in her grandmother’s handwriting on the top of the envelope for a moment before ripping it open. She made sure to have her tissues in arms length knowing this was the last letter she would ever receive from her grandmother.
After reading it and having a good cry, she felt a peace come over her that she hadn’t felt since she learned of her grandmother’s passing. She let out a long sigh and decided to get on with her day.
She picked up the phone and dialed a number from memory. Moments later, Jonathan answered. They chatted for a while, and he informed her that they were close to getting Templeton Records to sign on the dotted line. She was pleased with the news—a full acquisition of Templeton was exactly what she had wanted. With that acquisition, Blake Templeton would be reporting directly to Kit and Jonathan gave her full reign to do what she wanted with him. She wasn’t sure of her strategy yet. She knew when the day came to relieve him of his duties, and she realized it would come, he would run into big trouble.
Since Blake’s reputation in the music industry was anything but good, he would be hard pressed to find a soft landing anywhere. She knew no one would touch him with a ten-foot pole, so she decided to make him squirm like a worm on a hook. Content there was now proper justice in the world, she hung up and heard a commotion coming from the front room.
She headed out and noticed the moving men carefully carrying in her grandmother’s Steinway with Sully directing them. They had decided to put it in the front room and showcase it for her, electing to put their baby grand in Kit’s office. She stood silently and watched as they placed the beautiful piano in the front room and carefully took off the pads that kept it safe during transport.
Sully exchanged a look with Kit and took the manila envelope from one of the men who had extended it to him. He reached in and found a letter addressed to him. He took a seat on the piano bench and opened the fall of the piano while the movers changed their focus to transporting the other piano into Kit’s office. She followed them and began directing them, giving Sully a moment alone with his letter and her grandmother’s most prized possession.
Once the movers had the baby grand in place, she thanked them and started leading them out. As she walked into the front room, she noticed Sully sitting at the piano. He started to play one of her grandmother’s favorites—an old standard he had performed for her in the parlor of her home on their last visit. She felt her eyes welling up with tears, easily recalling the memory and immediately shifted her focus back to seeing the moving men out.
She returned to the front room moments later, not wanting to disturb him. He played the song beautifully but avoided singing it. That alone proved to be an indicator to Kit that he had a hard time with her grandmother’s death. She walked up and sat down next to him.
He glanced over at her and forced a grin through his misty steel blue eyes as he continued to play. She put her arm around him and stroked his back, feeling warm tears running down her cheeks.
He looked over at her when he was finished and leaned in. She did the same until their foreheads met. His voice was barely an audible whisper when he spoke. “I’m sorry, babe. I just couldn’t sing it for her today.”
She looked at him and wiped a tear from his cheek as she forced a grin. “She wanted you to play it? Did she write that in her letter?” He nodded silently. “And you played it, baby. That’s enough. You know she’s smiling down on you right now. She’s the one that’s probably singing it this time.”
He hugged Kit tightly. “I wasn’t very close to my grandmother, and when she passed, I felt bad about it, but it wasn’t that hard. This stings. It’s just so odd to me. I was closer to your grandmother than to my own. And I thought I was crazy until I read the letter, and she told me that she thought of me as one of her grandchildren too. She was an amazing woman, Kit. I’m glad I had to opportunity to know her.”
Kit smiled. “Me too.” She gently patted the piano. “I’m sure her dying wish was to have you playing this thing regularly and let it inspire your writing.”
He chuckled. “Yep. She told me to win a Grammy for her.”
Kit giggled and kissed him. “We’ll have to do that.”
CHAPTER 8
The Templeton acquisition was proceeding smoothly, much to the chagrin of Blake Templeton. The moment he learned that he was reporting to Kit, he immediately wanted out, but Jonathan and the board wouldn’t let him. He had signed a contract during the acquisition for a certain term of service that could only be terminated at Diamond’s discretion.
The road got rockier for Blake as each day passed since the acquisition had been finally inked. He had learned Kit was his boss on his first meeting at corporate—one with her. She was calm, cool and collected while he looked like a ghost of a man, shriveled and horrified in his chair, his face ten shades of white. From that meeting forward, he had been taking hits from others in the company including Jonathan, Pete, Jason, and Daniel. They were subtle in their approach but highly effective. Each day he showed up in the office, he felt like a pariah. His presence in the music industry as a whole reflected the same sentiment. He was washed up.
Kit’s plan to take him down was working out nicely with the help of her friends at corporate. They were days away from officially tossing him out on his ear. They watched his every move. When he incorrectly submitted an expense report and violated company guidelines for an exorbitant spend on a night out with an artist that wasn’t well documented, they raised the red flag and threatened him with embezzlement.
His backpedaling didn’t work with unsympathetic executives and an intolerant board. He quickly found himself in hot water. The die had been cast after meeting with the artist. They learned that Blake had bought copious amounts of cocaine, multiple bottles of Cristal champagne and two hookers on that evening out, and he didn’t share any of it with the artist in question. An additional twenty-five thousand dollars that could not be accounted for, only added fuel to his sealed fate. Kit had put in the order for his head to be put on the chopping block in an emergency board meeting. She wanted to ensure he was held accountable for the fifty thousand dollar spending spree.
They would give him thirty days to repay the entire spend, less a thousand dollars for a legitimate dinner expense, and if he didn’t come through, they would press full embezzlement charges. Kit knew he didn’t have the money. The Templeton acquisition had only dug him out of debt. It didn’t leave him with a dime personally.
The vote to terminate him was unanimous, and he would be let go without severance the following week. She returned home from the meeting at Diamond, basking in the glow of victory as she pulled up into the driveway. She chuckled to herself at the site before her.
It immediately became obvious that the band had arrived for day one of tracking in the recording studio. They were due to start on the new album. A dramatically different sight presented itself, a massive departure from when they cut their three song EP back in 1985. So much had changed.
In the courtyard, she carefully navigated her Mercedes-Benz around two Ferraris, two Corvettes, and a brand new Porsche 911 Turbo. She barely had enough space to pull her car into the garage next to Sully’s new red Ferrari 328 GTS. He had purchased it months ago when they returned home after a successful tour. It now took up the garage that once housed the Ferrari he inherited from Joe, which he still owned.
The rest of the band took Sully’s lead acquiring expensive sports cars as their new toys. So did Fred, who had been generously c
ompensated for engineering and mixing an album that now had jumped into quadruple platinum status almost overnight. It was steadily inching into platinum five times over.
Kit walked into the house and giggled. She could hear them carrying on, their voices echoing in the front room while someone played the piano. She stood there, waiting for them to sense her presence. Bryan was playing the vintage Steinway, off in his little musical world, grinning and fully relishing every moment with such an amazing instrument.
She smiled and raised her voice over the mayhem. “Gentlemen, welcome back to The Mint.”
They all turned to look at her and happily approached her, taking turns hugging and kissing her. They were fired up and ready to start. Kit was pleased to no end. She was slightly apprehensive about pushing them into the studio too quickly, but they seemed so excited to get started she instantly felt the pressure building to make this succeed. She felt her nerves running in high gear.
Her new role as sole producer of their new album had increased her stress levels substantially. Time in the studio that was once fun and carefree in the past felt more constricted and calculated on her part. She was desperate for a win and wanted to ensure everything went smoothly from day one. Coming off a quadruple platinum album certainly didn’t decrease her anxiety, it upped the ante and she prayed she’d position them for that same success again.
Remo looked her up and down and chuckled. He teased. “Going a little formal with us this time around, Kit?”
She chuckled. Her elegant, short-sleeved, black silk blouse paired with a green, leather, pencil skirt and black leather stilettos weren’t exactly what most producers would wear for a recording session. She grinned. “I just came from a meeting at Diamond. Why don’t you guys head out to the studio and get situated? Start rehearsing. I’m going to go change. I’ll see you guys out there.”
Kit was happy to see Sully so enthusiastic and full of life. He was pumped up, ready to start tracking and sing his butt off. She changed clothes quickly into black jeans and an old Gypsy Tango T-shirt that she had taken to styling on her own with scissors, making it look more like a sleeveless sexy blouse than a men’s T-shirt.