Calming the storm {Kaylor}

Chapter 12: The shutdown

Karlie hadn't slept very well the past night. Though her insomnia did not stem from anxiety, but from excitement. Today, she would take down Scooter Braun, and Scott Borchetta with him, and make sure that the world knew the truth about Taylor. And that truth was a beautiful one, instead of the harmful negativity that currently surrounded her persona.

Alex had informed her that her meeting with the two men would begin at 9 AM. Nice and early, Karlie thought. She had been up and running since 7 AM and was now on her way to her office. Coming in, she was surprised to see Braun and Borchetta had already arrived. They looked nervous, anxious almost, and that sight pleased Karlie. The two men thought they would be in a regular business meeting a few minutes from now, and Karlie was all too pleased to have a surprise waiting for them.

She got herself set up in her office and told her assistant to call the two men in. When they sat down, Karlie began speaking:

"Good morning guys, happy to see you could make it on time. I have something quite interesting to share with you both, and I'm sure that you will want to hear all of it." Braun and Borchetta nodded, and gave Karlie a little smile.

"As you must know, in recent years I have come to the realisation that there are two kinds of people in our industry. There are the good people, and the people who only have their own interests at heart. You two, as experienced fellows, must know that." Again, Karlie was met with a smile. Scooter added: "Completely agree. Loyalty is tough to find around here."

"So that's why I have been working on my current project for a short while now. It involves a good friend of mine, and I need you two to complete my plans." They smiled, as in their minds, Karlie had just confessed to needing these two men. They felt powerful. Karlie could read what was on their minds, and smirked thinking about how naive these two were. They did not know what was coming.

"A dear friend of mine was recently shamed by the media after an anonymous campaign. You must know who I'm talking about. Only one of the most successful female musicians of all time: Taylor." With hearing her name, the two men suddenly had their smile disappear from their faces. They now looked worried. "Yeah, Taylor Swift. You two have shamed her. A lot. Only because she moved away from your influence and didn't let you profit off of her anymore.

"And before you get up and leave-", Karlie continued, as the two men wanted to get up in unison, "I think you might want to stick around. In the years that I was active in this industry, a lot of them under your wing Scooter, I learned who are the good people, and who are not. You guys, are obviously on the wrong side of history.

In the last few months that I had a contract with you Scooter, I collected evidence of your shady deals in the music industry, I spoke with ex-clients who felt pressured by your presence, and have heard other things from sources I will not yet name. But in conclusion, I know things, and can prove them, that could effectively ruin your career." Scooter sat there, in defeat, and could only sigh.

"The thing is I have no interest in destroying you, just for the sake of it. And I'm willing to keep the people in the dark about you, but I would want something in return. By now, you must know what I want, but in case you are a little slow in understanding, I'll make it simple.

I have had my lawyer draft up an NDA agreement, where you agree to disclose nothing about this business deal, nothing about Taylor that could portray her in a bad and untrue way, and you agree to gradually step away from the public eye. I suggest you sign it."

Scooter scoffed, but soon realised he had no other option. Borchetta on the other hand had so far not felt threatened by Karlie's words, but that would soon change.

"And mr. Borchetta, as a business partner connected to mr. Braun over here, I suggest you sign it too. With the information that I could release, your reputation would be impacted, negatively that is."

The men muttered some insults, but they read through the NDA and signed it. Karlie smiled, and stated: "Pleasure doing business with you fellows." The men stormed out, but Karlie got what she wanted.

Karlie walked out of her office, in ecstasy. Though she knew the public opinion had not yet had its turning point, Karlie knew that would soon change. In a few hours, there would be a joint statement put out by various celebrities, all friends of Karlie and some of Taylor too, about female empowerment and the media's tendency to shame women. There would be one poignant example: The recent harassment of Taylor Swift. Because if you came to look at it, what had happened was simple: Taylor had, in recent years, stood up for herself, and walked away from men that were effectively exploiting her. They had gotten angry about this powerful woman and wanted to shame her. With this statement, Karlie knew the negativity around Taylor would slowly fade away. The only thing left was to inform Taylor, and finally see her again. It had been too long and Karlie really missed her. She checked her phone again, hoping a notification would pop up, but no such luck. Therefore, Karlie decided to just go visit Taylor.

[...]

Karlie rang the doorbell, and found Taylor's PA answering the door. Seeing a familiar face, Karlie said: "Hi, Taylor hasn't answered my texts recently, and normally I wouldn't show up like this, but these circumstances are quite exceptional, and I have some good news for her. May I please come in?"

She walked right on through, and sat at her kitchen table was Taylor. Though she looked exhausted, probably from insomnia, and her hair was messy, Karlie still found her beautiful. Taylor looked up, her eyes getting wide as she saw who it was: "Uh, Karlie, what are you doing here? We didn't set up anything, right?", knowing all too well that was the case.

"You were not answering, and I just had to see you. We didn't end on good terms the other day, and then that whole media thing hit. But I missed you. I really did. Let's sit down on the couch shall we?"

Within the next few minutes, Karlie informed Taylor of the contract the two men had signed, and the statement Lily and her other celebrity friends would put out. Taylor had tears streaming down her face when Karlie finished talking.

"Kar..." she started, "I can't believe this... They are going to stop?" Karlie nodded, and embraced Taylor. The physical contact felt great and oh so natural. "Yes, they're gone. They're not going to hurt you anymore. So I just had to come over and break this news to you." Karlie smiled, and Taylor suddenly laughed.

"You know I hate it when people come over unannounced, but good one Kar, I'll let this one slip! And you know, I really missed you too.." With that, Taylor moved a little closer to Karlie. Their faces were almost touching at this point.

Karlie decided she had to step up once more. She whispered in Taylor's ear: "I've dreamt about doing this the past few days", and she pressed her lips against the singers'.