Henri and his camp were due to move into the estate in a few weeks. She was getting a jump on the sorting. With the results from the board meeting coming up and carving out time for writing and recording songs, her time was limited.
She contemplated taking that vacation, just as Lew suggested, but decided to wait until after the board meeting. It seemed that time was passing slower than it ever had. She glanced at the clock. It was a quarter past ten. The board meeting was taking place now.
A knock at the door grabbed her attention and she made her way toward the front of the house where Ariana was answering the door.
Kit thanked Ariana as she took the sealed manila envelope from her. She wondered if Sully had finally come to his senses and agreed to the terms of their separation. She opened the envelope and pulled out the documents.
She sank into a chair in the front room and her eyes widened as she started reading. She was being terminated from her position as Chief Creative Officer at Diamond Records effective immediately.
She sat back, dumbfounded. It definitely explained a lot. She wasn’t able to access the Diamond mainframe or her reports that morning and figured they locked her out because she was technically still on medical leave. Candice’s calls into Jonathan’s assistant had been ignored nor was Jonathan picking up. She closed her eyes and felt the sting of tears as she shook her head. She didn’t understand what was going on.
Her eyes fluttered opened, she wiped her tears and reminded herself to calm down. Her emotions had been up in arms over the last two weeks and she reminded herself to breathe through it.
She then thought about it and realized that maybe this was a standard procedure for her moving into the CEO spot. She knew deep down inside, though, that it wasn’t. Something was very wrong.
The doorbell rang and she scrambled to the door, beating Ariana to it. She flung it open and stared at the burly man that stood before her, a large flat-bed truck sat idling in the background behind him.
He looked annoyed. “You Kathryn McKenna?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
He surveyed her. “I’ll need your keys. I’m here to repossess your car.” He glanced at his clipboard. “1993 Mercedes-Benz 500SL, silver, hardtop convertible. License Plate ‘DMNDGRL.’” He struggled to pronounce it.
Kit shook her head and let out a frustrated sigh. “Diamond Girl. There must be a mistake. That car was gifted to me.”
He showed her the papers. “No mistake here, lady. Plain as day. Surrender your keys please or I call the cops.”
She seized his clipboard and examined the documents more closely. She noticed who had initiated this. She stared at the signature on the legal documents, ‘C. Diamond.’ The conditions for the repossession were an after effect of her recent termination.
She huffed and shook her head. She handed back the clipboard and knew she would have to get to the bottom of it later. The last thing she wanted was a legal tussle with Chris Diamond over a car. “Hang on. Let me grab my keys. I’ll meet you out by the garages.”
Five minutes later, Kit stood there, arms folded in front of her watching as the burly man drove down her driveway and out past the gates, her beautiful car sitting atop the flatbed and out of her life forever.
She shook her head and was about to head back in, when she noticed a car race past the gates. She was about to rush in and call her security service, when she recognized the sporty, blue Jaguar XJS. It was Jonathan. She remained outside until he parked.
As he got out of the car she approached, unable to mask her anger. “What that fuck, Jon? They just took my car. Why the fuck did you fire me? I don’t get it. I thought we were family. I thought we were in this together.”
He looked distraught and disheveled as he approached. “We are. Chris fired me too. He repossessed my Mercedes too. He’s going through with the merger, Kit. He appointed Andy Millikan as CEO.”
Kit let out a defeated sigh and dropped her guard, realizing Jonathan was just as incensed as she was. “Andy Millikan? That guy is a slimeball.”
Jonathan nodded. “He’s helping lead the charge with Chris as they work on the merger. I’m out of the game. Not only did they fire me from Diamond Records, they’re not moving me over to Diamond Pictures. All I have left are my shares and Chris doesn’t have enough power to buy me out on that unless he borrows from someone. Chris won’t do that. It’s against his principles. He didn’t take away your shares when he terminated you, did he?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Honestly, I dunno. I was pretty stunned when I received the paperwork. I didn’t take the time to examine it. I thought something was up when I tried to login to the Diamond server this morning and I was kicked out. Candice tried calling your assistant and couldn’t get her. I was pretty pissed off at you. I thought you had locked me out.”
He chuckled. “Not so. Looks like we got fired at the same time. Are you ready for the kicker?”
She raised her eyebrows. “There’s more? Oh shit, I dunno know if I can handle it.” She chuckled. “Lay it on me.”
He shook his head, still angry from the accusation. “Chris tried to sell the board on a dirty laundry story that you and I were having an affair. He told them that said affair led to our marriages going south which led to Flat 5 failing and me moving over to Pictures. Good one, huh?”
Kit burst out laughing. “Omigod Chris is an asshole! Wow! And
