“He got so royally screwed over! Why on earth did he agree to that?” I blew out a breath in disbelief.
Honestly, that was a real dagger-in-the-front. Pisces clients were numerous, and often famous, and by no means restricted to physically walking through the doors in LA. Yes, the actual studio was the flagship, but the studio was more than just a building with recording booths. Pisces provided foley services, orchestra, scoring, to say nothing of the actual ‘production’ side of it. There wasn’t a whole lot the studio couldn’t do, and only about half of it amounted to recording artists being physically in the building.
To be barred from working with any Pisces client for the next three years was to bar him from working with a great number of people, companies and movie studios.
“He might as well just go on vacation for the next three years,” Becka said in satisfaction.
“And no one is more delighted than me.” I flashed her a thumbs up. “But why he would accept that? It basically means he won’t work for three years. What on earth happened?”
The more I thought about it, the more it didn’t make any sense. While it was enormously funny on the surface, a non-solicit clause to a company that worked with pretty much everyone was… career pausing, if not ending.
Was this ENT at work? If so, I hoped to never come up against their legal team.
The grin on Becka’s face gradually slipped, until what was left was the barest approximation of a smile.
“That’s where it gets a little less funny,” she admitted. “Remember that recording you had?”
She didn’t need to elaborate. Immediately, I was transported back to the storage cave at the bottom of Pisces, sitting on the dusty, hard floor. I could see Trevor Kyle coming in, pushing the door closed behind him. Hear the way he says my name repeatedly. See the way he looks at me. Then I remember pulling out my phone and pressing record.
“I remember,” I said quietly. Sending up a silent, but sincere thank you to Donna – the feisty receptionist who gave zero fucks for the hierarchy, and who was not opposed to busting in where she thought she’d be needed.
“Yeah, well. Turns out that wasn’t the first time he’d tried something like that.” Becka’s face was now grim, jaw clenched as if that would prevent the words from escaping.
“Oh shit,” I breathed, hand rising to my chest, clutching at my necklace – a little golden swallow, a Christmas gift from Joon.
“Holy hell.”
“Holy hell is right,” Becka nodded. “That’s why he’s been gone all this time. It turns out Fenway was paying attention in your meeting.” Her eyes narrowed on mine. “I think he really heard you, babes, because after you left, TK wasn’t around much, and then – poof.” Becka motioned an explosion with her hands. “He was just gone. He got put on administrative leave, and then in March he formally left, except now we know he got canned.”
Becka’s eyes widened as she blew out a breath. “I don’t know all that happened, but there was apparently enough… precedence to merit such an extreme exit. He basically got outmanoeuvred. I guess he got to pick: a really sucky, but quiet termination of contract and a non-solicit, or a less-quiet firing over the breach of contract from the morals clause in his contract. The studio wants nothing to do with him – that’s why the non-solicit is so harsh. TK didn’t have a choice, unless he wanted to get sued and have it all come out.”
Becka fell silent, but it was a heavy silence. My mouth was agape as I stared at her.
“Becka, how do you know all this?”
“Daddy.” She shrugged.
Mr Hanson was a lawyer. I didn’t know much more than that, but I’d always gotten the impression he was some kind of big deal.
“Isn’t that like, an uber breach of confidentiality, or something?”
Becka waved her hand dismissively.
“He’s not representing any of the parties involved and there’s no gag order. The sexual assault allegations are going to be made public eventually. We’ll be reading about it in the tabloids. We just know the story first.”
She grinned, but I could tell it was forced. It was hard to feel lighthearted in the face of such horrible information. I returned the smile, but it felt brittle.
“Urgh, what a pig.” The words tasted sour on my tongue.
“Agreed,” she said. “I don’t think anyone is going to be surprised by the allegations. There was a reason he had the reputation he did.” She sighed, and I saw the way her eyes pinched, the hard set to her mouth.
She cleared her throat. “You just know this is gonna drag on. It won’t be over quickly. Covid’s really gummed up the court system. He’s gonna be out there, doing whatever the fuck he wants for longer than he has any right to.”
I nodded. “Maybe. But he’s gonna get his, no matter how long it takes.”
“Couldn’t happen to a nicer person.”
Later
