Once again when he looked at me, his nostrils flared. “Give me four months and I’ll give you three chart-topping singles—one from a musician currently on the LSA list, one from a complete unknown, and one from that guy.” He pointed to his friend James Baker, who was a stunning, tall Black man. I knew James to be an exceptional vocal talent. But up until this moment, he had avoided being signed by anyone even though he’d absolutely had inquiries.
“That’s impossible,” Albrecht haughtily laughed. “No one can produce three chart-topping singles in four months.”
“I can.” Bruno smirked. “With this team.”
“No one can,” Albrecht said firmly. “But go ahead, take your team of novice unknowns and give it a shot. I have no issue with you looking like a fool on the national stage. It will make it much easier to explain why you’re being ousted from your parents' company.”
I watched as Bruno’s fingers curled into clenched fists. Charlie got under everyone’s skin. That was why Bruno had gotten away with teasing him up until this point, but if he lost his cool and actually yelled at him, the wagons would circle around Charlie, leaving Bruno out in the cold. I had to jump in front of it, so to shift his ire before he lost his cool, I turned the conversation to me. Narrowing my brow, I asked, “Is this a game to you, Bruno?”
“No,” he growled.
“Do you want your parents’ company?” I questioned. I knew I would frustrate him further, but I wanted the board to see that this mattered to Bruno, that he wasn’t trying to destroy anything.
“Jesus, Ava,” he snapped with an utter undermining familiarity. “Of course, I want this company. I was reared to be a part of this world.”
I leaned in harder, maintaining a nauseatingly docile tone and sweet professional poise that was only required of you if you were a woman in this industry. “I’m not trying to frustrate you. I speak for us all here when I say we aren’t sure that you’re ready.”
“And you are?” He snapped. “This isn’t just some situation you need to handle—this is artistry. What do you know about that?” He was on fire—yelling angrily. But no one was going to think it was an unruly outburst. As long as Bruno yelled at me and only me, the board would excuse him because if their parents left their company to some unrelated “Latin” woman, they'd be pissed too. He raged on. “I’ve been studying music and surrounded by music my whole life. This world is the only one I know. It’s the only thing I’m really fucking good at.”
I knew he could do it, so I said, “Fine, then forfeit your role to me if you fail. Put it all on the line, Bruno.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You want it so bad, huh? To take everything?”
“No.” I shook my head. “You can keep your shares of the company. LSA will always make money for you. I just want you to prove to these men and women that either you will run this place your way, or they will run it their way. Compromise is not an option for you.”
It wasn’t. I knew what I was saying was true.
He huffed, “It’s not. I will not be the CEO of bubblegum pop stars. I can’t do it.”
“So it’s settled. Three chart-topping singles in the next four months and everyone here agrees to let you run this company. Anything else and you walk away.”
Andrew tried to interrupt, “This is…”
But Bruno drowned out his voice by snarling at me, “Done.”