Charlie IV
Chapter 32
Rick had been back home just short of two weeks. Kate was in the kitchen so she answered the phone that was ringing. "Hello?"
"Katie!" Johanna didn't know who was going to answer but she was happy to get her.
"Hi, Mom."
"Where's Rick?"
"Outside walking Charlie. He needed to be taken outside and do his business to be a good boy. Why?" Suddenly Kate was curious.
"Your father and I need you and especially Rick in our office as soon as you two can get here. Bring Charlie with you as well, of course."
"What's up, Mom?" Why did they have to go to their office?
"We need to discuss this contract that Rick brought back with him. The one thing I can tell you is be thankful that Rick didn't sign this thing."
"Rick said he was going to get a million dollar advance for his next book. ONE MILLION, MOM!" She stood no chance of making that kind of money ever.
"That's not the point. The point is in the wording of this contract. So call to tell us when you're coming and we'll be ready. Just get down here when you can and make it soon." Johanna hung up on her to reinforce the urgency.
[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]
"Your mother didn't say why just to come down to see them?" Rick was driving with Charlie in the back seat standing there with his head between them watching where they were going. His window didn't roll down so this was the best he could do and he liked it. Plus Kate would pet him from time to time.
Kate patiently said again, "Nope. She just said she wanted to talk about your contract with Black Pawn in person and that's all I got out of her."
"They kept telling me it was just a standard contract," Rick mentioned.
"Except it was Gina that kept canceling your books for our wedding," Kate reminded him.
"Sebastian Ehret, the president of Black Pawn, said that it was just a simple misunderstanding. It all worked out eventually," Rick pointed out. Granted it had taken a few weeks but it worked.
Kate didn't want to say that Ehret was lying but there was just something about that phone call with her mother that was bothering her.
[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]
Rick parked the truck out front and Kate got out. She opened the back door and lifted Charlie out so he didn't have to jump and watched him go directly to their front door so he could be let in. He was ready to greet her parents.
Just as expected Charlie charged inside and ran straight to whoever was closest which turned out to be Jim this time.
Rick and Kate saw that beer was waiting for them so now Kate was worried since they obviously needed alcohol. Rick was sitting next to Johanna, Jim was on his other side, and Kate was next to her mother.
"Let's start with the good news. The contract is a three book deal. For the first book you get a million dollar advance. If you fail to meet the deadline they sue you to get their million dollars back and add interest and a fine. But you'll make it no problem." Johanna waved that off and continued with the next part.
"Second, if the sales of the book make a certain mark – mostly meaning you make it onto the best seller list enough times – the next book will be a 1.5 million advance. Again if that book makes a certain mark that's above the previous book sales they'll provide you a 2 million dollar advance for book number six."
"I like everything so far, so what's the bad news?" Kate was waiting for the shoe to drop and ruin everything.
Johanna looked at Jim; it was his turn to speak.
"They've built it into your contract. And it's hard to find. Think tab A has to go into slot C, unless by a certain date you use tab B to place into slot F. I had to create a chart to chase it all down. Whoever did this knew what they were doing.
"Basically if you sign this contract you have 6 months to move to New York City and provide Black Pawn with your primary address. If you don't move within that time you give back your million dollar advance plus interest and pay a penalty."
"WHAT!"Kate yelled at her dad.
"It gets better," Johanna told them.
Kate looked at her in disbelief. "BETTER! How can it get better than that?" Meaning any worse.
Jim cleared his throat. "It would appear that this Gina Cowell is your new editor. But that's not all she is. She also has the authority to advertise your books in any way she sees fit and based on this contract you'd sign over your life to her, Rick.
"If, for example, she says you will ride a horse down the middle of Central Park naked, you're obligated to do that. If you don't, you would be required to return your advance, whichever one that is since this will last all three books over three years. Plus interest and penalties."
"SCREW THAT BITCH!"Kate screamed.
"Can they really do this?" Rick didn't get it. Why would Black Pawn do such a thing?
Jim nodded. "They can if you sign this…thing. Whatever Gina comes up with to promote your books, you will do or else. Then say you don't give back that advance. They sue you for three times that amount and ruin you financially, perhaps forever.
"This thing does not have you in mind. This is all Black Pawn.
"You're basically their slave and will do whatever you're told to do. Conceivably they could tell you to divorce Katie and if you didn't they take back their advance, charge you interest and penalties, and then ultimately sue you for breach of contract." Jim was finally done.
Kate shrieked, "LIKE HELL!"
"I don't get it. They've been good to me to this point. Even Ehret was decent." Rick really didn't get it. "So what do we do now?" Did he have to take his book to other publishers and start all over again if they even agreed to publish his book or books?
"You leave this with us and we'll make changes to this mess of a contract," Jo told Rick. "We in turn will send it to you overnight, have you put your initials where we indicate, and send it back to us overnight. We then look it all over yet again and if necessary send it back to you for more initials. Or we send it on to Black Pawn and wait for their response."
Jim clarified what he saw in this mess. "This thing is not a contract. I mean it is, but it isn't. It reads as a contract and if you sign this, it will be a contract. But it's more a slave contract than a contract to publish books you write. Oh, they will do that but you have to do what this Gina person tells you to do or else."
"So Gina knows what's in this thing?" Kate questioned them both.
"Most definitely. She'll have complete control if she so desires in order to promote your books." Jim didn't see how she couldn't know.
"Does Ehret know about this?" Rick was still in shock. Too often all he believed in was the good in people. It was why he had been the helper in that trailer park. He couldn't say no to them.
"I know what I'm thinking and I don't like it," Jo told him. "Just leave this thing with us. Let us make the changes and send it back to you, then send it back to us. We're your lawyers, let us handle this. This is what we do for a living."
"Fix this, Dad, just fix this," Kate pleaded.
"Oh I will, trust me I will." Jim was going to scrutinize each and every word before he fixed it and sent it to Rick to initial all the changes.
[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]
Kate had to work on homework at her parents' house and Charlie seemed really happy to be home again. Jo was making dinner and Rick was sitting in the living room with his laptop in his lap, working on his next book.
They spent the night in their old bedroom and left to go home in the morning, secure in the belief that her parents were going to fix this.
"Next time you go to New York City I want to go with you. I want to kill Gina. I don't even know what she looks like. Please tell me she's an ugly old lady." Kate looked at Rick while he drove.
He shook his head. "Early 30s maybe, not as tall as you, blonde hair, big chest."
"Great! A big titted blonde bimbo. Just my luck!" Kate didn't think it was good luck. "Dad better fix that thing or I'm going to disown him." That had Rick chuckling.
Rick was mostly in shock and Kate was pissed as hell.
"She could tell you to divorce me? What kind of shit is that?" The more Kate thought about it the more angry she got.
[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]
Two weeks and one day later Rick was home when FedEx showed up with something he had to sign for. Charlie wanted the driver to pet him but he mostly just ignored Charlie and left. It came from Jim and Johanna and had their office name on the return address. That told Rick what was in it.
He was still turning pages at the kitchen table, putting initials everywhere he found a yellow highlighted area with a line to put his initials above, when Charlie went nuts and charged the front door. Kate was home from class.
Kate was delayed reaching him because of Charlie but she showed up eventually. "What are you doing?" She walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder. "Is that Dad's changes?" He was putting initials where there were yellow marks.
"Yup, he's made a lot of changes." Rick joked about it. "I may run out of ink first."
"Just keep initialing. I'll order pizza unless you want Subway instead." Kate leaned over his shoulder and kissed his cheek.
"I'll take a club with bacon, please, and Lays potato chips. I think we have sodas," Rick told her and focused on putting his initials and turning pages.
"Subway it is." She kissed his cheek again. "You stay, Charlie." Kate left to go get their early dinner.
[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]
Kate was curious. "How many times did you have to initial?"
"I didn't count them. I just know it was a lot. I'm going to take this into work tomorrow and send it overnight via UPS instead of FedEx. I don't want to be seen wearing UPS and going to FedEx."
"Good thinking, your job pays the bills. So what happens if Gina tries this again?" Kate asked him.
"That's what we have your parents for."
"Free lawyers, gotta love it. Did you know Mom and Dad worked for the single largest law firm in LA before they quit and moved out here? Black Pawn or Gina may think they're messing with small town lawyers who don't know anything. They're in for a shock." Kate grinned. No one messed with her parents.
She was home the next day and found out Rick had sent back the contract to her parents to look over one last time before sending the changes back to Black Pawn.
[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]
Charlie went nuts while Rick was sitting in the dining room watching TV which told him Kate was home. "Charlie!" He got petted, hugged and kissed, and then he was gone, looking for his precious tennis ball since Kate was home and would play with him.
"SUMMER VACATION! One year at MSU down, one to go. So what do we do for summer vacation?" Kate sat down next to him and ignored the TV.
"Since I still have to work on the weekdays, that leaves weekends to do something. We can get our RV and go somewhere maybe. I think I'll let you plan this one. I'm done planning trips for a while. I did our honeymoon so I'm all planned out."
"And an amazing honeymoon it was, too. Our first anniversary is coming up." Kate gave him a huge nudge since she was expecting an amazingly thoughtful gift from him on their wedding day.
"When did we get married again? I don't remember," Rick teased her and got punched in his arm for that comment. He smiled at her. "My brain's up here, not in my arm. Though the pain's helping me remember."
"It better or I'll have to hit your mind again," Kate warned him.
Just then the phone rang. "I'll get it." Kate was up and ignored Charlie who had the ball. "Hello?"
"Katie!" Jo was always happy to talk to her daughter.
"Hi, Mom!" Kate jumped out of the way when the ball came bouncing into the kitchen followed by Charlie. "Sorry. What did you say?" She had missed it because of Charlie.
"Two weeks ago Black Pawn returned the contract that Rick signed. I'm sorry to say we need you two to come back here. Didn't you finish your classes today?" Jo asked, thinking Katie had the time.
"I did. Rick wants me to plan a weekend trip using our RV. Is this good news or bad news?" Kate questioned her.
"Just get here when you can, Katie. We'll tell you. Pick up your RV and go somewhere after we talk."
"OH GOD!" Kate took that as bad news. What was wrong with Black Pawn?
"Just get here, Katie. Talk to you later." Jo hung up on her.
"Well SHIT!" Kate trudged back to Rick, dodged the ball and Charlie, and landed next to him to tell him what her mother had said.
[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]
They drove down to Laurel very early on Saturday morning and stopped at their office. Charlie went right to the door. He at least was happy to be there. Rick and Kate maybe not so much.
"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad." They were both at their desks petting Charlie who was naturally soaking it up. "Let's hear it. I want to know if we're going back to Biloxi again or over to New York City to kill someone. I'll get Rick to plan the perfect murder."
"Dad?" They were being too quiet.
"For all intents and purposes what they sent back was virtually the very same contact with the same stipulations. Only instead of tab A into slot C, it's tab M into slot K if that makes sense. Basically it's the same thing, just hidden in different areas using different words. Nothing has really changed any."
"WHY?" Kate didn't get it, she really didn't.
"I don't understand." Rick was stunned. "What's the point of it all?"
"We do have a response ready," Jo told them, "but we need to walk Rick through it and he needs to sign it. Once he does we're going to take it to the local courthouse and file it. Then have that copy delivered to Gina Cowell."
Jim spoke up. "We want to sue Ms. Cowell in Ellisville which is Jones County's first county seat and not Laurel, Jones County's second county seat. She wants to play so let's play."
Rick was taken aback. "Sue her?"
"We can do what we did last time and send it back. But we believe that won't accomplish anything. We'll just have dueling overnights with changes to the contract. Until we force something it's possible nothing will ever change.
"She may not actually want it to go to trial and settle out of court and we get the contract we want and not the one she wants," Jim suggested. "You sign before you leave for vacation and we'll start the process."
[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]
Rick had signed and now the three of them were driving to Biloxi. They would stay at the very same RV park and then hit the other beach with Charlie again. They'd stop at her parents' house on the way home just to check in and see if they had really done it.
"How did you get shoulders of steel?" Rick was rubbing on sunscreen her back and had already teased her by pressing his fingers under the side of her bikini top and touching her breasts since he knew she loved to be touched.
"I'm pissed is what I am. I can't get my mind off of the possibility of Gina ordering you to divorce me if you had signed that thing and my parents hadn't spotted it." Kate was still seething. "Aren't you?" He should be if he wasn't.
"I'm more concerned about what Black Pawn will do now that I've sued her. Do I have to find another publisher because of this? What if they're behind this and they want to fight? What if it isn't just Gina?"
Kate spun around to look at him. "I hadn't thought of that. Do you really think Black Pawn would work like that? You're not the only writer they publish. Did they do the same for them too?"
"That's something your parents are probably already checking into."
Kate couldn't relax, not really. Even Charlie wasn't helping her. What her dad had said just kept rolling around in her brain. Ruin her marriage, steal her husband. All because of a contract?
[:] o-0-O-0-o [:]
"Ms. Cowell? We have something being delivered that is signature required."
"So just sign for it and bring it to me," Gina told the receptionist.
"I'm really sorry but he says I can't. He needs you to sign for it."
"Fine." Gina hung up and stormed her way to the front desk where she was asked to show ID which forced her back to her office to get her purse. By the time she returned to the front desk she was fuming. She signed the form and waited impatiently.
"Thank you." He took back his clipboard and handed the overnight envelope-like package to her personally. She was too angry to notice that it didn't say FedEx or UPS on it or any other delivery service. "You have been served." He turned and walked away leaving Gina in shock.
"Served!" Gina ripped it open right then and there. "HE'S SUING ME?"If Gina was angry before she was furious now. "TEN MILLION DOLLARS?" She was ready to explode!