Variety Show (7)

"Focus for now, Valentina. We can continue later if you want. I have good news and bad news; which one do you want to hear first?"

Blushing at his words, Valentina stopped playing around and focused.

"What's the bad news?"

"Somebody broke into your apartment and ransacked it."

"What? When did that happen? Did they find who it was?" Valentina immediately got up and turned to look at him with a serious expression.

"It happened today during your live. Thankfully, the police have caught the person and are holding them for questioning for the next 24 hours. But they might be released on bail."

"Is there a motive? And was anybody else robbed in the building? My apartment is at a decent location."

"No. Just you, which is why I'm a bit suspicious, and I'm having the person fully investigated. I have a lawyer dealing with the paperwork now, but you'll have to give the police a statement either today or tomorrow."

"Wait a minute, how do you know all this? Shouldn't they have contacted me?" Valentina looked at him suspiciously as she crossed her arms.

"The police commissioner for the city is a good friend of mine, and I have him keeping a lookout for your name." 

Seeing her still look suspicious, Kaiser rolled his eyes as he continued, "This is standard procedure for artists at Platinum Entertainment. We like to get ahead of the news in case any of our artists get in trouble with the law. Since you're coming over to us anyway, I submitted your name ahead of time."

"Mmm, fine, I'll allow it. Continue."

"Yes, ma'am. The leasing office of your building should be contacting you soon, but if they don't, Black Rock Entertainment should let you know about the situation."

"Okay. I'll keep a lookout for a message from them, and I guess I'll stop by the police station tomorrow before taking a look at my apartment."

"Do you have anything in particular you need from there? Like important documents and such?"

"Not really?" one of the first things she did was move her important documents to a bank deposit box. Having been evicted once or twice in her past life, she knew the home was not a safe place to store important documents as circumstances could change in a moment.

"Then do you mind if I have my people pack your stuff up and bring things here? Or to a storage unit if you prefer. They'll make sure to get everything and clean up the place fully. You can do a sweep after they're done and look through what they collected."

Valentina stared at him contemplatively for a moment before asking, "Is there a particular reason you don't want me to go until they've cleaned my place?"

Kaiser stared at her silently without saying a word.

"Did they leave any unpleasant messages painted on the walls like Valentina sucks or something?" Valentina joked, but seeing as his eyes tightened in anger while his knuckles turned white as he clenched the arm of the chair, she smiled softly before patting his head and massaging his scalp.

"I'm going to go see it, but I would appreciate it if you would send a bodyguard along with me if you can spare it so I can feel safe. Can you? If not, I can ask a police officer to come with me."

At her touch, he closed his eyes and sighed before relaxing his grip and touching her waist.

"Of course, I'll send you one. Just let me know when you want to go."

"Okay, then I'll go tomorrow. You said you were suspicious about the crime; you think it's Aaliyah?"

"More than likely, and if it is, it's very stupid of her. I'll know the truth soon enough. Once I have my people squeeze the perpetrator once or twice, he should lead me right to who sent him." 

As she saw him deep in thought, she hesitantly brought up the topic weighing on her mind.

"Kaiser?"

"Hmmm?"

"I actually wanted to talk to you about our contract."

"What about it? There are about two months remaining. Do you want to extend it even more so you can live with me forever? I'll allow it if you ask nicely," Kaiser joked with a smile.

"Actually, would it be possible to break it ahead of time? And actually, rather than paying me, if I could substitute that for a lawyer recommended by you, it would be even better. I'd like to expedite my entry to Platinum Entertainment as soon as possible."

"Entering Platinum Entertainment quicker is not a problem, but you need a lawyer? Why? What happened?" Kaiser immediately narrowed his eyes.

"Let's just say I've been accused of several violations in my contract and been hit with large fines. Black Rock Entertainment wants to stop my work until I pay it off, among other things. They sent me a formal complaint" Valentina gave him a wry smile.

"Did they now?" Kaiser asked coldly," Let me see it. Both their formal complaint and your contract." 

As she pulled up the email that contained the complaint, Kaiser quickly scanned over it, his gray eyes glinting with a cold light.

"About half of these look like nonsense that could be ignored if you have a good lawyer take it to court, and the other half can be attributed to negligence on Black Rock's part for not taking care to develop you as an artist. This is easy to get out of. Pull up your contract with Black Rock?" 

As she took back her phone and pulled up the contract for him to read, she watched as he read over it, the furrow between his brows getting deeper and deeper.

"Valentina."

"Yes?"

"Bring your head here."

As she leaned toward him, he suddenly flicked her hard on the forehead, causing her eyes to water.

"Owww. What was that for?"

"I should hit you again! Why did you sign this? Even Luca knows better than to sign a terrible contract like this, and he's four. What were you thinking?"

Seeing his angry glare, she wanted to cry out that it wasn't her. She wasn't the one who signed it. Instead, she nervously asked.

"Is it that bad?"

"Not only is it bad, it's basically illegal in some parts of the contract. I thought you had a standard contract with them, but this is truly horrible. You're forbidden from joining an actor's union, can't argue about your pay, they own your likeness in any work you do for perpetuity with no payment or residuals going to you, and the multiple fees and clauses they included are ridiculous, to say the least, not to talk of the other parts. I'm not too up-to-date on entertainment contracts; Roman would know better than I would, but I'm sure parts of this contract have been made more or less illegal in the industry because of the unfairness to artists. No sane person should sign this." Kaiser looked up from the phone and glared at her, his gray eyes full of anger. Seeing that he looked like he wanted to murder somebody, she immediately switched to soft tactics.

"Can you help me? Please?" Valentina pleaded shamelessly, giving him her best puppy dog look and forcing her eye to water as she stared at him pitifully. Now was not the time for being prideful, she needed to get out of this contract as cleanly as possible.

Kaiser stared at her for a moment, and as the silence stretched, she forced a single teardrop to slowly trail down her cheek. 

"Pretty please? I can only depend on you. You're the only one I can lean on." Grabbing his hand and slowly bringing it to cup her face while she pressed a kiss to it, she continued batting her lashes at him until his face slowly turned red, and he covered his own face with his hand while looking away.

"Fine. Just let go of me. And don't act like this with anyone else. Got it?"

"Okay! Thanks!" with no hesitation, she quickly released his hand while sticking her tongue out. It seems like the honey trap was super effective. She would make a note of it for next time.

Seeing her shameless expression, Kaiser flicked her forehead once more before sighing.

"You're definitely in violation of the contract, so there's no way around that. However, the contract itself is illegal, which poses an interesting twist. Would it be worth fighting the complaint so you can work or just tackling the contract directly. But to just easily pay them is not my style; I should collect my pound of flesh and make them suffer as well. Hmmmmm, let me think." Kaiser began tapping his lips deep in thought for a couple of minutes before giving her a sharklike grin.

"Valentina?"

"Hmm?"

"Shall I give you a masterclass in villainy 101?"

"Pardon me?"

"Let's royally screw them over. Black Rock Entertainment and Aaliyah Salazar combined."

"What?"

Valentina could only stare at him in confusion.