Avery Hayes Hits the Nail on the Head
Avery had been suspicious about the whole Stellar Media incident for a year now, ever since she'd seen Julian Shaw's insane wealth with her own eyes.
Back at that fancy hotel in California, she'd realized a few bottles from his wine collection were probably worth more than a movie star's entire salary, hell, more than a whole film's budget.
To put it bluntly, the entire value of Stellar Media probably didn't even measure up to that single wall of wine.
So how the hell did a guy like that end up with a company in such a mess?
She'd always had a gut feeling that there was a piece of the story outsiders were missing. She'd tried to subtly pump Leo for information once, but he'd shut her down with a condescending, "This is adult business, kids should stay out of it," so she'd dropped it.
But now, hearing Diana Marks bring it up so suddenly, her curiosity flared back to life.
Avery leaned in, ready to listen.
"Stellar was founded differently than other entertainment companies," Diana began. "You'll probably learn about that down the road. What I want to talk about is what happened to us a year ago."
She continued, "At the time, the boss wasn't focused on things here in the States. Stellar was being run completely by Dexter Reed. Two days before the scandal broke with the artist I was managing, Dexter had an elevator accident at the office. He fell into a coma and was rushed to the hospital.
"Right after that, my artist was involved in that drunk driving and hit-and-run. As for me, I had just left a director's house when I got caught in an elevator outage and had to take the stairs. When I got to the twelfth floor, my foot slipped.
I tumbled all the way down and was in the hospital for two weeks."
Diana's expression was serious, her frown making her hard to read as she laid out the crisis that had nearly destroyed Stellar Media.
The timing had been catastrophic. Just when they needed someone to take charge of the artist's scandal, she was injured and out of commission.
And Dexter, the one person who could have managed things, was in even worse shape.
He was in a coma for nearly three weeks and went through two surgeries.
"The company executives tried to handle the mess," Diana said, "but before they could get anything under control, our own artists suddenly turned on us, demanding to terminate their contracts one by one. They even had the money for the buyout fees ready to go."
It was so obviously a planned attack.
The PR and legal teams were completely overwhelmed.
Between the negative press from the drunk driving incident and the wave of contract terminations, they were drowning.
Any statements the company issued were buried under a flood of online posts predicting their doom and slinging mud.
All sorts of baseless accusations started popping up, every single one aimed at Stellar Media.
The whole company was in a state of free fall, barely hanging on.
"By the time I was out of surgery and ready to start crisis PR, the window of opportunity had slammed shut," Diana admitted.
"On top of that, I was exhausted from my injuries, and we made a lot of management mistakes. And that's not even mentioning Dexter. By the time he was out of the hospital and back at the company, the whole place was paralyzed. There was no way to recover."
She paused, her eyes turning cold. "At the time, besides the one who was driving drunk, we had eight other mid-level artists. Six of them terminated their contracts and left during that mess. Three went to Zenith Entertainment, two went to Daybreak, and the last one went to Evergreen Media."
"So, Stellar was set up by the other three companies?" Avery's mind raced as the pieces clicked into place. Her eyes darkened. This wasn't just a setup; it was a coordinated attack.
At the time, Stellar only had one top-tier star and a handful of mid-level artists, not enough to be a real threat.
But the big three must have sensed Stellar was on the rise.
After Dexter's accident, they saw their chance, ganged up, and set a trap, knocking the company right back down to the bottom.
It was true what they say: the public only ever sees the show. A year ago, nobody knew that behind the scandal of an artist's drunk driving, there was a tangled web of schemes. People's lives were on the line.
And now, she was tied to Stellar Media. If things kept going this way, she would be the next target.
*Okay, first things first,* she thought, *I need to ask the company for security.*
Even with Wyatt and Shane Croft watching her back, the bad blood between Stellar and the other companies ran too deep. It was only a matter of time before they came after her. The entertainment industry was a shark tank, plain and simple.
But even if she was walking into a lion's den, she couldn't back down now. Only by being in this world could she use its power, the power of public opinion, to achieve her own goals.
And it wasn't just about public opinion; it was about connections.
Why was the Sterling family struggling so much right now, so desperate they had to get Bryce's bail changed to medical parole?
It was all because Dexter Reed was pulling strings behind the scenes.
He'd blown up her story, made sure the whole internet knew she was a victim of medical malpractice, and used the pressure to keep the Sterlings from pulling any stunts before the court hearing.
She needed the entertainment industry's media power to drain the Sterling family's resources. Their attempts at damage control were barely making a dent because public opinion was on her side, drowning out their PR.
"Yes," Diana said, nodding grimly as if reading her mind. "The accidents that happened to me and Dexter... they were set up. Someone covered their tracks, so we couldn't find any evidence. And the contract terminations happened so fast, they caught us completely off guard."
Avery frowned. "Then what about Mr. Shaw?"
There was no way Julian would just sit back and watch while his company was torn apart.
When they were in California, she'd seen documents in his hands related to 'Tinglan Capital.'
Plus, both he and Leo had mentioned 'Atlas,' which proved Julian himself was a major player.
His financial power was probably greater than all three of those entertainment companies combined.
Stellar was his company. Even with Dexter and Diana out of commission, it shouldn't have been hit this hard.
Diana gave a bitter smile. "He was out of the country, completely swamped. He couldn't spare any time to manage things back here."
She sighed deeply. "He only came back to the States to take charge of things three months ago. And even now, Dexter handles most of the day-to-day. The boss has his own things to deal with. Just being able to keep an eye on us is a lot."
Avery was quiet for a long moment. Then she asked, "So, why did you really sign me?"
At this point, she knew every theory she'd had about why they wanted her was probably wrong. She'd thought they signed her because her positive image could help turn things around. But now, it seemed like they had other plans.
Diana looked her straight in the eye. "We want you to get famous, and fast," she said frankly. "We need you to be the new lifeblood of Stellar Media, so we can crush those other three companies."
It was the only way forward. Once Avery became a star, she would be Stellar's main attraction, drawing more artists to the company. With a few more bankable stars, Stellar would grow stronger and eventually surpass the competition.
"The entertainment industry pie is only so big," Diana explained.
"Once we start growing, it'll squeeze them out. It's a vicious cycle. Over time, those three companies won't be able to keep up. They don't have someone like Julian Shaw in their corner, bankrolling them through the tough times. Once they fall, it'll be almost impossible for them to climb back up."
She leaned back, a flicker of something unreadable in her eyes. "And then, what Julian has been waiting for can finally happen."