Chapter 20 Cornered.
Ariel
I had found myself in this office an awful lot of time when Richard was still the CEO of the company. Floor-to-ceiling windows, bright white walls, those landscape paintings that irritated me for some reason and the single desk at the centre of the room where he would usually sit while he dictated out things that made me want to end my life right there and then.
In his place now sat a middle-aged man, right about Richard's age before karma caught up with him. Blonde hair, almost white, brown eyes, corporate look and
I read the plaque that sat at the front of his desk as I waited for him to be done with the call he was making now. Felix Matthews.
Jonas had told me quite a lot of information about him because I had requested it. I wanted to know what I was getting myself into before I met him.
42, single, graduated from the University of Columbia with a major in business administration and media communication and has five years' experience with an entertainment firm in Germany that helped with corporate restructuring, strategic consulting and some other things.
He seemed legit.
"Right, so sorry to have kept you waiting," he said about a minute later when he finished with his call, his fingers grazing against his desk as he placed his phone on it.
"No, it's fine. I heard you wanted to see me."
"Yes. I just wanted to discuss the direction of your career moving forward and, you know, get familiar with you. As you might have already heard, I'm the new CEO and creative director for the company. I was recommended by a good friend of an associate, Vincent Russo. I'm sure you know him."
I felt like I had been doused in cold water the minute he said his name, especially with the way he kept on smiling, teeth out and all.
"Vincent Russo..." I muttered, my body stiff.
"Yes. I was told to look out for you, which is exactly what I'm going to do. Just thought I would let you know."
Was that a threat?
"I'm guessing your manager has told you the activities you'll be carrying out from now on. I've appointed a social media manager to help you with your socials; all you have to do is follow her directions and then the Vanity Fair..." He paused like he was trying to emphasise something.
"You'll need to start preparing for it. You know, media training, fittings and appearance. I heard your last tour got cancelled because of Lupus..."
I had kind of just zoned him out at that point. What do I even say to this? It's not like he had said he was personally close to the guy, Vincent Russo.
If I was correct, he had said the friend of an associate, which means he isn't even close to him directly. That's better, right?
Not really. Now that I know that he was somehow involved in my company activities too and somehow dishing out people to look out for me in his absence, I couldn't help but feel pressured about the whole Anna Cole thing.
No, cornered, like I was still in that cage Richard had constructed for me but just with a different owner now.
The day I was to do my first live in a while, or integrate myself back into the music industry, which was literally the next day after I found out that my boss is related to my captor, the whole team bombarded their way into my apartment by 5 pm in the evening, including the social media manager Korey had talked about.
"Hi, my name is Sarah Jones." She said as she introduced herself, her hands stretched out for a handshake. I took it, of course, and let myself be moved around by Madison and Helen as they prepared me for the 'look' I had to give for the live.
"So I've prepared your initial statement concerning the lupus incident and why you had to cancel your tour. All you have to do is read it, memorise it and find a way to integrate it into the live."
Yeah. Typical.
I smiled tightly as she handed me the script.
If it were left to me, I wouldn't do all this, lying to my fans, but do I have much of a choice? No. In fact, I've never really had a choice.
"Okay guys, we need to be fast." Jonas directed as the camera crew set up the spot I'll be using for the live. "She needs to go live in about an hour and thirty minutes."
The live came with a lot of mixed reactions. Some, angry at the tour cancellation and some understanding of why I’d supposedly had to do that. But regardless of the whole discourse, I had gotten a lot of support and love from my fans; it actually warmed my heart to know that people were out there rooting for me. Reminded me why I was holding on again, apart from my mum and sister, who I have to show up for.
The next step was releasing new music which Jonas booked a session with Kylo for. A well-known producer in the industry. And I received the shock of my life when Jonas came with the crew to pick me up the day of my first session.
"Right, I talked to Felix about your creative autonomy when it comes to your music since he's a different person from Richard and might be able to see reason, and guess what? He did see reason."
I raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
“From now on, you'll actually get a say in your music and visual direction. All those songs I know you’ve been sitting on because Richard controlled everything? You can finally pitch them for your single and albums. Management still has to sign off, but at least now you get the chance.”
I stared at him dumbfounded, almost like I had just been told I had the ability to fly to the moon.
"You're serious?"
He nodded. "He said he doesn't really care, just as long as it doesn't affect other things. Company revenue, most probably."
And my task.
But really? There was the chance that I could release my songs now. After so many years of writing at night when I couldn't sleep and wishing. I had even stopped writing at some point since it had felt like there was no point, but…
"Okay. Shall we go?” Jonas signalled the driver to start our ride to the company.