Chapter 106 - Variety Show (8)

Authors Note:

This is (1/2) extra chapter bought by Nicolae. Thank you so much to them.

"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.

"How do you feel about being the face of a giant lawsuit? For justice and the good of all young artists everywhere?" Kaiser gave her an innocent-looking smile, but no matter how she looked at him, all she saw were devil horns and a wing.

"Pardon me?" Valentina asked incredulously, not following his train of thought at all.

"Also, how do you feel about pretending to be a good person? Or selling a fake relationship? Just until the lawsuit is over. I promise it will raise your reputation and won't be detrimental to you at all. I'll naturally cover the cost of everything."

"What are you talking about? Lawsuit? Pretend? But I am a good person?" Feeling as if she were being whipped by random words, Valentina could only tilt her head and stare at him blankly.

Had he gone crazy? What was he talking about while excitedly rubbing his hands together?

"Good vs evil. The small underdog angel seeking justice vs. the big bad corporate devil oppressing her. We'll package it like that and start a proper smear campaign against Black Rock Entertainment and use the opportunity to knock them down a couple of pegs. Platinum Entertainment has been slowly cornering them in the market, but I'm happy to use this opportunity and a good cause to properly strangle Black Rock while looting some benefits. They've been annoying me for the last couple of years anyway." Kaiser replied with a confident smile as he began working out the details in his head.

He would have to contact the Grayson conglomerate lawyers as well as Platinum Entertainment lawyers to get them to start building the case and to begin providing legal counsel to Valentina on how to act in public and how to answer questions from the media. Assembling the jurors would take priority, as well as beginning subtle ad campaigns to sway public opinions against companies that had blatantly scam like contracts with artists. Bribing the judges who would pick up the case, crafting a persona for Valentina, and paying bloggers to positively spread the story.

He also needed Roman to prepare her contract at Platinum Entertainment, while the Black Rock side needed to be monitored carefully.

There were a lot of moving parts he needed to assemble to create a flawless legal victory in the courts and in the public eye. And since it involved Valentina, he would have to take special care to leave no traces, which meant he would have to personally oversee each and every step.

During the whole process, they would have to be close to each other, keeping in constant contact, and she wouldn't be able to leave him due to the media and having to frequently speak with the lawyers, inadvertently chaining her to his side.

And while everything was happening, he would take the opportunity to kick Black Rock Entertainment while they were down. Kaiser couldn't help but smile widely at the thought of the two pleasurable situations about to occur.

"Uhm, excuse me? What are you talking about? And why are you so happy." Valentina couldn't help but raise her hand up as if she were in class.

"Valentina. You beautiful, beautiful girl. I could kiss you. Shall I explain why I'm so happy?"

"Yes, please. I am afraid for your mental state," Valentina replied dryly. 

"This contract," he waved her phone at her, "is very, very illegal."

"Okay, I understand that part, but I'm quite lost at the rest," Valentina admitted honestly.

"Long story short, using Platinum Entertainment lawyers with you as the main plaintiff, we are going to sue Black Rock Entertainment for a whole bunch of things with your illegal contract and mistreatment by them at the forefront.

Normally, we wouldn't have any rights as you're not supposed to share the details of your contract, but we have two things going for us. First, it's not a complete NDA; thanks to Black Rock's greed, you're allowed to speak with others as long as you pay an exorbitant fine. Secondly, if we spin it so that it looks like you're in an ambiguous friend relationship with one of the top artists at Platinum Entertainment, who just happened to see the contract and the formal complaint on your phone and shared it with our legal team, we can argue that you didn't intentionally share it. Even if it doesn't work, it's just money; we'll pay.

Since we're already interested in you, and you have a good working relationship with the Fallen Angels and are now in a film with Jonathan, we'll take the opportunity to push the angle that they both asked the company to do this since they're both close to Roman. Of course, we might have to pay a fee for each person who knows the contract details, but that's not a problem. By the time we take it to court, it will be public domain anyway, and Black Rock won't be able to hide it even if they want to.

This is not the first time they've engaged in things like this, so my lawyers and the public will devour them. By the time my lawyers are done picking at them, Black Rock Entertainment will be begging you to leave while they pay you to do so. You'll be known as an honest, straightforward angel who fights against injustice, and you'll most likely have the freedom and money to join any entertainment company you want and can dictate your contract to a certain extent. Win-win." Kaiser gave her a happy smile, but even though he was smiling, his expression was quite cold, and he looked like a cat toying with an unknowing mouse.

"Why do I feel like you're just taking advantage of my problem and just using me as a cover to accomplish something else? Everything you said sounds like it's completely beneficial for me, but what are you getting out of this? Lawsuits are expensive, and you wouldn't start one on a whim. What's your actual goal?" Valentina asked calmly. No matter how she thought about it, this was a lot of work to just break a simple contract. It didn't make sense unless there was a different benefit he didn't know about it.

Seeing her stare at him calmly, Kaiser laughed darkly before tapping her nose.

"Very astute of you. You're completely right because I am using you. I told you, I'm not a particularly good person, especially when it comes to business and money. And if people annoy me too much, I like to knock them down and continue hitting them until they stop being a problem. I do mean to free you from Black Rock cleanly, but I also plan on squeezing out as many benefits as possible from them while I do so. After all, this isn't going to be cheap. I need to get back as much as I put in, if not more, to make it worth it. Do you really want to know what I'm planning? You definitely can't run away if I tell you."

Feeling as if he was trying to test her, she simply arched her brows and gave him a bright smile, "Tell me. Aren't you supposed to be giving me a master class? I want to know what you're plotting. You have a devilish look on your face."

"I knew I liked you for a reason. You know Platinum Entertainment is in conflict with Black Rock Entertainment, correct? We're the newcomers going against an established company, and they don't like that we've caught up to them. We've been aggressively poaching their artists, managers, projects, and executives for the last couple of years, and things are tenser than ever."

At her nod, he continued, "Because of our efforts, Black Rock is on the decline, especially because it's full of those old fogeys who are reliving their glory days instead of adapting to how the world is changing. However, a dying camel is still bigger than a horse. Those old farts are still holding onto some interesting assets like studios, business contracts with particular vendors, and the like, and I want a few of them. 

I tried playing nice since I wanted to try being a good person, but who knew that they would refuse to play fair and didn't want to give me the opportunity to acquire them at a reasonable price? Since that's the case, isn't it better if I just tank the whole company and buy what I want in bulk and at a discounted rate when their stock sinks straight to hell? It's not like they would fail completely. Their finances would just be in shambles for a year or two and have to tighten their belts a bit, but they would eventually recover." And in that time, the gap between the two companies would have widened considerably. After all, the business world moved fast and waited for no one. Those who couldn't keep up and adapt got left behind.

As long as Black Rock Entertainment didn't close down and continued struggling properly, Platinum Entertainment wouldn't be accused of being a monopoly in the entertainment space and have the government crackdown too hard on them. As for whether Black Rock Entertainment could pay their investors, make enough to live well and thrive, or if they got cannibalized by other second-rate companies, it had nothing to do with him. As long as he got what he wanted, everything else could left to fate.

As she looked at Kaiser's dark smile, Valentina couldn't help but shudder internally as she began saying a prayer for the Black Rock Entertainment executives.

She didn't mean to set off a dark cannon who wanted to destroy another company just because he was feeling annoyed; she just wanted to be free of her contract!