Тилли Бэгшоу – Friends and Rivals (страница 19)

‘No,’ said Lex, ‘I wouldn’t. But I wouldn’t stab him in the back either. And I wouldn’t ignore his advice. Yes, it’s a lot of money, but it means turning your back on the US market, or at least shifting your focus at a crucial point in your career. Jack thinks that’s a mistake.’

‘Oh, bullcrap,’ said Kendall. ‘Jack’s just pissed because for once in his life he’s not in control. Ivan brokered the deal and Jack can’t stand it. He doesn’t care about my interests.’

‘How can you say that?’ Lex sounded genuinely shocked. ‘You know he cares. My God, Kendall, I don’t think you realize how serious this is. Jack’s leaving Jester over this. He’s breaking up the company.’

Kendall shrugged. ‘That’s his decision. Look, it’s not my fault if Jack’s decided to throw all his toys out of the crib. Ivan says he’s always had a spoiled, immature streak.’

Lex laughed bitterly. ‘Yeah, well, Ivan would know.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Kendall went on the defensive.

‘It means he’s a Machiavellian, self-centred jerk,’ said Lex. ‘If you don’t know that now, you soon will.’

‘You barely even know him,’ said Kendall.

‘Nor do you.’

A frosty silence settled between them. Lex broke it first.

‘And what about me? When were you planning on telling me that you weren’t coming back? Or was I supposed to read the press release like everybody else?’

Kendall had never heard him so bitter before. For some reason it made her want to cry.

‘I was going to tell you.’

‘When?’

‘I don’t know. Soon. It was a sudden thing for me too, you know. It’s not like I planned it.’

There was so much Lex wanted to say. When he’d dialled Kendall’s number he had a hundred and one reasons on the tip of his tongue why she should come home, why she should make things up with Jack and convince him to stay at Jester and put this whole, crazy episode behind them. But now Lex realized there was only one real reason he wanted her home. It was the same reason he had for calling, and for feeling betrayed that he’d heard Kendall’s big news from someone else, and not from her. And it was the one reason he could never, ever tell her.

I love you.

Please don’t leave me.

Out loud he said coldly, ‘All right then. Well … good luck,’ and hung up.

Thousands of miles away, alone in Ivan Charles’s bed, Kendall Bryce, Fascination Records’ newest mega-star, burst into tears.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Over the next three months, shockwaves from Jester’s sudden, unexpected implosion reverberated through the music industry. Although Ivan and Jack’s inner circle had known for some time that all was not well between them, to the business at large it was a shock to learn just how bitter and toxic their relationship had become.

More shocking still was how quickly, and catastrophically, Jack Messenger’s career nosedived. Jack had started this war but, for reasons nobody fully understood – perhaps out of some misplaced sense of gentlemanly conduct – he seemed intent on walking onto the battlefield unarmed and undefended. Ivan Charles was not so naïve. From day one he saw the break-up of the Jester partnership for what it was – a fight to the death – and set about annihilating his former partner. Without hesitation he called every one of Jack’s acts, offering them vast financial inducements to remain with Jester, as well as slathering on the charm. Jack was a brilliant manager, but he had never understood as Ivan did the cavernous depths of insecurity that fuelled most artists. Ivan validated and praised and gushed and ego-massaged until his jaw ached. Jack couldn’t bring himself to do it, and it was a reticence that cost him dearly. While Jack adopted a ‘business-as-usual’ approach up in Beverly Glen, Ivan spent entire days on the phone, like Jerry Maguire, relentlessly lobbying and cajoling for business. He flew to Paris to schmooze The Blitz and to New York to sign a new deal with Jason Kray, a young man Jack had been grooming to become the next Michael Bublé. He relentlessly leaned on all his contacts in the press, making sure that Kendall’s face was everywhere and that her picture never appeared without Jester’s name being mentioned. Meanwhile, as final preparations began for the launch of Talent Quest, Ivan’s own face and name began to become well known, at least in England. ITV and the production company, House of Cards, set up an endless stream of interviews for Ivan. He made sure to talk about Jester and his famous acts in all of them. If the show was a success, and especially if it was syndicated globally, the new Jester would be clinging firmly to its coat-tails.

For Catriona Charles it was a period of mixed emotions. On the one hand she was delighted for Ivan, of course. She hadn’t seen him this energized since Jester’s early days. In the first week or two after Jack left, Ivan had been terribly anxious, but the business now seemed to be going from strength to strength. Kendall Bryce, who had always struck Catriona as a sweet girl, not to mention incredibly beautiful and talented, was an almost overnight sensation. Bursting onto the British pop scene like a supernova, with her debut British single going straight in at number three and advertisers clamouring to work with her, Kendall had put Ivan firmly and instantly on the map as a pop manager. Much as Catriona loved Ned Williams and Ivan’s other, classical acts, she could see that managing Kendall had catapulted her husband into a bigger, infinitely more glamorous world. It wasn’t a world that particularly appealed to Catriona. But Ivan loved it, and she was thrilled to see him so happy.

But there was a price to pay for Ivan’s success. Despite his expressed desire to spend more time at home, and especially to focus on Hector, Ivan was travelling almost constantly. Catriona didn’t think she had ever known him work so hard. If he wasn’t at the TV studios, rehearsing – the pilot of Talent Quest was going out live, to an estimated audience of twelve million – he was promoting the show, or locked in a recording studio with Kendall, or flitting around the globe signing more and more acts to the ‘new’ Jester. In the last month alone, he’d had to double the size of Jester’s London workforce and move offices to an ugly but much larger space in Hammersmith, just to keep pace with demand. Meanwhile the demands of his family took second place, and Catriona found herself effectively a single parent. She tried not to mind for herself. Things would calm down with Ivan’s work eventually. But she did feel sorry for the children, especially Hector, whose behaviour was on a downward slide again and who clearly resented his father’s long absences.

And finally there was Jack. Though she did her best to hide it from Ivan, Catriona couldn’t help but feel guilty about her old friend, especially as all of Ivan’s current success seemed to have been bought at poor Jack’s expense.

‘It’s not my fault if his clients don’t have confidence in him,’ Ivan protested. ‘I’m not putting a gun to anyone’s head.’

‘But you are undercutting him,’ Catriona pointed out meekly.

‘I’m offering a competitive rate, darling. There’s nothing to stop Jack doing the same.’

All of which might be true. But it still made Catriona feel uncomfortable, watching Kendall Bryce on television telling interviewers how much she owed to Ivan and how happy she was in England. It was only back in the summer that Jack had cornered Catriona at Ivan’s party and asked her to keep an eye on Kendall. How could he see Kendall’s defection as anything other than a betrayal?

A week before Christmas, Catriona sat at the kitchen table at The Rookery, mindlessly peeling potatoes. Tonight at seven o’clock the first Talent Quest was finally going to air. Ivan was up in London, the show was going out live; though Catriona had offered to go with him, he preferred to do it alone.

‘I’m so bloody nervous as it is, I’ll fall to pieces completely if I know you’re there,’ he told her this morning. Standing in the bathroom, his face seaweed green, the poor thing looked as if he were off to face a firing squad. ‘Is this hair dye too obvious? I feel like the roots are almost orange.’

‘It’s fine darling, very natural,’ lied Catriona. Ever since he’d turned forty, Ivan had started obsessing about the signs of ageing, from the grey streaks at his temples to the faint fan of lines etched at the corners of his eyes. Since he’d been offered the television job, his anxiety about his looks had got exponentially worse. Catriona couldn’t understand it. In her eyes, Ivan was much more handsome now than he had been in his twenties. She was the one who was going to seed. But like all her husband’s foibles, she treated this one with kindness and equanimity, and did her best to bolster his confidence.

In the end, Ivan’s hands were shaking so much that Catriona had had to shave him, otherwise he’d have appeared on screen looking as though he’d just staggered out of Sweeney Todd’s. ‘You and the kids watch it here, and make sure you Sky+ it.’

‘Of course,’ Catriona said loyally. She’d have to ask Rosie to show her how the Sky+ worked again. Last time Ivan had asked her to record Entourage, she’d somehow ended up with six episodes of Ben & Holly instead. ‘Call us as soon as it’s over, won’t you?’