In the end, Kylie was offered a role in Director Miller"s next film, which annoyed Khloe because she had not been offered a role. When she"d first discovered that Kylie had been offered a role, she went straight to Laurence and whined at him: "I can"t believe that Kylie was offered such a large role. If I am not offered a bigger role than hers, I will be a laughingstock. You are friends with Miller. Can"t you talk him into offering me a big role?""I will try," he replied noncommittally, "but you should know by now that Miller does what he wants to do, and he seldom entertains advice pertaining to his vision. Even as he writes his scripts, he usually has a good idea who would best play each role. So, if he hasn"t offered you a role yet, he will never ever. Furthermore, I think that he has made it clear that he doesn"t like you…"
Khloe felt annoyed, "Please, Daddy, just try. If it doesn"t work out, then I will accept it. If he does decide to offer me a role, my star will shoot all the way to the sky, and everyone knows my name."
After Khloe left, Laurence called his lawyer, Duncan, to ask how much equity he had and how soon he could cash out. Duncan informed him that, at the present state of affairs, it would be a bad time to sell. He would not even get back what he"d personally invested. Laurence insisted, though. He said, "I am broke right now, and I need money. I trust you. Just do your best."
Duncan sighed and said, "I will contact other shareholders who are invested already. They may be willing to buy at a slightly higher rate if only to keep random strangers out of their business and increase their control over the company"s direction."
"Don"t sell them all though," Laurence said. "I don"t want any single shareholder to have more stocks than I have now. I have no wish to relinquish control of the company."
"I understand," Duncan said. Once he got off the phone, he dialed the number for Khloe and let her know that there were shares up for sale. He didn"t say who was selling, which would have been ethical, but he did tell her that the seller was anxious to sell. Right away, Khloe said that she would buy them all – if the price was right.
"Since he is anxious to sell," Khloe said, "I expect to get the shares at a very good rate."
"If you want to buy," he replied, "I will get you the best price that I can. I cannot wave my commission, though. I hope you understand why."
"I understand," Khloe said. "This is your livelihood, and I would never infringe that or expect you to provide me with a service pro bono. Now that we have that established that, please tell me what percent of the company is up for sale?"
Duncan: "10%"
Khloe whistled and said, "If the price is right, I will take the entire 10%."
"Okay," Duncan replied. "I"ll call you once I am able to give you a quote. It shouldn"t take too long."
By that night, Duncan worked with Laurence to establish a fairly reasonable price. At that point, he called Khloe up. She agreed to the price and transferred the money over to him before the end of the night. Thinking about how good everything had gone, Duncan hadn"t been able to stop himself from laughing. Laurence didn"t know that his daughter was the buyer, and Khloe hadn"t known that the seller had been her father – and as the middle man, he was ent.i.tled to double his regular commission.
When Laurence excitedly told Khloe over the phone that he"d decided to invest in Director Miller"s new movie, she was ecstatic. Perhaps with a bit of an investment, he might have more of a chance to get her into his film. Once she got off the phone with him, she called Ken and said, "You"ve got what you want, so can I have my stuff back?"
"I"ve destroyed the CD," Ken told her, but he sounded like an evil.
Khloe frowned and said, "You"d better not be lying to me!"
Ken laughed and said, "As we agreed, I destroyed the CD, but I downloaded it to my computer first. We never said that I couldn"t do that, so I have not reneged on our agreement. You will never get the original because, as long as I have it, I own you.
"If I need anything more from you," Ken continued, "don"t worry. I will be sure to give you specific directions."
Ken hung up abruptly, and Khloe began to cry. She obviously knew that Ken would definitely ruin her life if she can"t get the CD destroyed.
***
Once Kylie was settled in her new home, she invited Faith to visit her. It had been a week since they"d seen each other so, when Faith arrived at Kylie"s door, she was surprised to see how much her friend had changed. It was not a physical change. Rather it was a psychological change. The difference in her mood was such that, when looking at her, what you saw gave the illusion of a physical change.
Kylie took her hands and led her to the garden so that they could sit in the gazebo. They sat there silently for a few minutes until, finally, Kylie asked her what was wrong. Faith frowned as she explained that she"d recently run into Ken White. He was drunk, and he was about to get onto his motorcycle. Worried for his safety, she"d called out his name.
"He wouldn"t allow me to call a taxi," Faith continued, "but he refused. He insisted that he couldn"t leave his motorcycle there. He asked me if I could drive him home, so, as a compromise, I agreed. There was one problem though: I didn"t know where he lived, and he was too drunk to tell me. Not knowing what else to do, I took him to my place…"