Loving A STRANGER 198 Chapter 198: I Have A Proposal

Kylie glared at the secretary and said, "The amount of power a person has is, as you've said, determined by how many shares they have."

The secretary nodded, and Kylie continued. "Have everyone count their shares, and we can determine, once and forever, where the power lies."

It was a simple request, one that Laurence couldn't deny, but it struck fear in his heart. 

"Before we get to that, though," Kylie said, "there is one thing we need to look at."

Having said that, she pulled a manila envelope from her bag; she took a doc.u.ment out of the envelope and pa.s.sed it around. "As you can see," Kylie said, "whoever has the most shares is an almost moot point. If the company were to be compared to the t.i.tanic, Laurence is the captain who runs it into an iceberg.

"Look at the numbers," she continued. "The numbers don't lie. As you can see, over the last five years, Laurence has gambled every single cent's worth of profit into promoting his daughter. The result has been that the company has been hemorrhaging money, sending more of it out than we could ever hope to bring in."

Laurence shook his finger at her and hissed, "I cannot believe that you dared to have me investigated! You really are some kind of devil – I hope you burn in h.e.l.l forever." 

At this, Kylie laughed and said, "I don't even believe in h.e.l.l. You really are a joke."

One of the shareholders pounded on the table with his fist like a gavel. "Quiet," he shouted. "Let's all give our president a chance to explain. Perhaps there is a piece of this puzzle that we are missing. Khloe may be his daughter, but, surely he knows enough to not let his paternal feelings affect his judgment. He has always been professional in the past, so let's at least hear him out now!"

"When it comes to Khloe," Kylie laughed, "Laurence has always been prejudiced in her favor. Just look at her portfolio. It is in the doc.u.ments that I've pa.s.sed around. Khloe has starred in many of our projects, but there hasn't been a single one that has turned a profit!"

Seeing how everyone had turned against him, Laurence felt awfully small. He looked around the table and said, "None of you know how hard it is to be the president of a company. I am human, and I make mistakes the same as every other person does. Even Donald Trump makes mistakes, but at least I am man enough to admit when I've made them… We may have lost a bit of money, but I still believe we are headed in the right direction. If we continue to do as we've been doing, I think we will turn a profit over the next quarter, and the value of our company will steadily increase!

"From now on," Laurence continued, "I would like to make Kylie a manager of the company. Seeing how she has collected all of this data for us, I would like to utilize her talents in this area. Along with this responsibility, she should run one of our departments."

"That sounds good," Kylie replied. "I will, of course, need a team. After all the favoritism you have shown towards Khloe, I think we can all agree that she should no longer be under your supervision. Moving forward, I think that the only way to retain her as a part of our stable of actors would be to put her under someone else's supervision. If there are no objections, I offer my services at this time."

"No!" Laurence shouted. "As I just said, Khloe is an important a.s.set to us all. You can select a few new artists and creators, but Khloe is not up for grabs!"

Kylie laughed out loud and shook her head. "President Finch, I haven't finished yet."

Laurence's face darkened, but he waved his hand and told her to go on.

Kylie quickly said, "I also want Lily."

"Why would you want Lily?" Laurence demanded to know. "While filming The Tea Maiden, the two of you did not get along…"

I want her because I see potential in her that isn't being cultivated presently. You are right that we don't like each other, but, unlike you, I don't let these kinds of things keep me from acting in a professional manner."

"Fine," Laurence snapped. "She is yours. Since you have your own team now, you will be expected to bring in an average of one million dollars monthly. If you can do that, you will be allowed to continue to run the department independently, and you will earn three percent of the revenue as a salary. Annually, you would be making more than one million dollars, plus a year-end bonus. If you can't manage that, you must surrender your autonomy and do as you are told – and you would no longer be welcome at this table!"

"Based on what you've just said," Kylie replied. "You expect me to take a stable full of n.o.body's and bring in an exorbitant amount of money; meanwhile, your stable is full of famous seasoned stars, and you are hemorrhaging money. Last month alone, you lost the company 3.2 million dollars.

"I have a proposal," Kylie continued. "I will accept your million dollar challenge, with one condition: If my novice team and I bring in one million dollars or more, then you will give me ten percent of your shares and surrender your seat at this table."   

Hearing this, Laurence's face turned red. He had thought that he'd been setting Kylie up to fall into his trap. All the while, she had been leading him into an even larger trap of her own design. Looking around the table, he realized that he had no choice but to accept her proposition.

Laurence sighed and offered Kylie his hand. He frowned and said, "I agree. I will have the company lawyer to draw up a contract for us to sign. We call all meetings in this room monthly to review our progress."