[AUTHOR NOTE: A generous Patreon has bribed me for 1 extra chapter each day for the next 4 days, so be sure to thank them.]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I agree, you should," Rowena replied while flashing her signature smirk.
"What are you planning?" Adam asked suspiciously.
"Me? What makes you think I'm planning anything, babe?" Rowena asked innocently.
"You only flash that signature smirk of yours when you find something interesting," Adam explained.
"Do I?" Rowena asked in the same innocent tone before adding, "I hadn't noticed."
"Uh, huh," Adam replied before looking back at Emma and asking, "So you agree that we should offer Koki the job?"
"I do," Emma nodded before adding in a worried tone, "Though Rowena thinks we will have to offer her something specific in order for her to accept."
"You mean helping her take down Leiko?" Adam replied and as he saw Emma's surprise, he said, "Stacey already warned me about it and you don't need to beat around the bush when it comes to telling me things you're not sure about. Just tell it to me straight."
"Understood," Emma replied before saying, "Taking down Leiko could be a bad move for us."
"Why?" Adam asked as the others listened in.
"Spector Entertainment is a new entertainment company. Sure, you could claim it's just a rebrand of Royal Entertainment, but Royal Entertainment was on the verge of collapse when you bought it and you yourself are an unknown in the entertainment industry, other than the fact that you're dating Lorelie and Rowena," Emma began to explain.
"The other entertainment companies are already unhappy with us because of the contracts that you have given Lorelie, Rowena, Aphrodite and Kasumi. You're setting a new precedent in the entertainment industry and according to Erkath, who works closely with different entertainment companies, some celebrities, particularly the big-name ones, are already insisting on renegotiating their terms."
"We warned you this would happen," Rowena remarked while once again flashing her signature grin.
"Because of this, you have already managed to make the other entertainment companies hate you, while you've only been the owner of an entertainment company for a little over a week," Emma added in exasperation.
"As Rowena kindly already pointed out, we were expecting this when Adam offered us those contracts, but how does this tie in with offering Koki the manager of Spector Entertainment?" Lorelie asked.
"Well, first off, she might not even want to take on the job as the manager of the most hated entertainment company in the industry," Emma replied before continuing.
"Then there is the fact that, as Rowena suggested, we will probably have to offer to help her take down Leiko and with her Alpha Entertainment.
While I'm not specifically against this since the business world can be a dirty place, I would suggest that if we did do this, we leave no way for it to be traced back to us.
The other entertainment companies already hate us and Leiko even tried to prevent your ownership of Royal Entertainment. If the truth comes out and Spector Entertainment is linked with the collapse of Alpha Entertainment and possible imprisonment of Leiko, the other entertainment companies might see us as a dangerous threat and band together to bring us down."
"Emma is right," Lorelie suddenly said before continuing, "As I once mentioned in your chat, babe, the entertainment industry is not a nice place. If the other entertainment companies see us as too big a threat, they will work together to take us down.
While they might not like us right now because of what you have done with our contracts, they probably don't see us as a threat and expect Spector Entertainment to quickly go under because the contracts you gave us are too generous. They probably then plan to swoop in and try and sign me, Rowena and Kasumi.
However, should we be shown to actively make a move against another entertainment company and even take them down, they will reevaluate our threat level towards them and move from simply observing us to attempting to eliminate us, after an entertainment company with three divas is not something they can ignore."
"So basically what you want is for us to gather enough incriminating evidence against Leiko that she is arrested and Alpha Entertainment is shut down?" Adam asked before adding, "Won't that cause trouble for Matriarch Maiya? She and Leiko are siblings after all?"
"It certainly wont look good for her if her sister is arrested for fraud and whatever else we find on Leiko," Eri agreed nonchalantly.
"You don't seem to be bothered about that," Adam remarked.
"Matriarch Maiya has never done anything for me, so what do I care, though she is the lesser of two evils when you put her next to Counciler Aimi," Eri replied.
"True, the last thing we want is that bitch becoming the new Matriarch," Aphrodite said with a frown.
"So what do we do?" Stacey asked.
"We could alert her beforehand and give her a heads up of what's to come so that she can prepare for it," Emma advised.
"What good would that do?" Stacey asked.
"From what I have seen back on earth regarding how politicians deal with the aftereffects of family members who break the law, they tend to employ a strategy of proactive distancing, transparency, and emphasising personal responsibility to manage damage when a family member breaks the law. So by letting Matriarch Maiya know of the events beforehand, she can limit the damage she receives and get ahead of it," Emma explained.
"Ok, sure, but all this is dependent on if we can get ahold of said incriminating evidence," Stacey remarked.
"Well, why don't we find out?" Adam said with a smirk before asking, "Spector?"
"Since the events at Alpha Entertainment, I have successfully been able to gather evidence of multiple crimes conducted by Alpha Entertainment," Spector replied before continuing, "These crimes include but are not limited to, Fraudulent Trading & False Accounting, Bribery and Corruption, Money Laundering, Tax Evasion, Misleading Advertising, Corporate Manslaughter, Breaches of Licensing, Cyber-Enabled Fraud, Failure to Prevent Data Breaches, Modern Slavery, Workplace and Harassment/Sexual Misconduct."
"What the absolute fuck," Aphrodite cursed in disbelief as all the other women wore shocked expressions before Aphrodite asked, "How on Eccinda did you get evidence for all that?"
"Ever since I gained access to Alpha Entertainment's network, I have been monitoring all activity taking place there," Spector began to explain.
"After Alpha Entertainment's security captured the Noir family members, Leiko ordered a full check on all their systems and personnel, while she herself personally checked every datadrive that was within Alpha Entertainment's vault, allowing me to view what was on each of them and cross-reference them with available public data."
"Why the heck were you still monitoring their systems?" Rowena asked.
"I am constantly monitoring every system I have ever gained access to. This includes your personal unibands," Spector replied.
"Is that how you managed to access my uniband when I wasn't on the ship and start a conference call?" Rowena asked in surprise.
"Affirmative," Spector replied.
"Fucking OP AI," Aphrodite cursed.
"I take that as a compliment," Spector replied.
"Ok, I can understand some of those crimes," Lorelie stated before asking, "But what's up with Corporate Manslaughter, Modern Slavery, Workplace and Harassment/Sexual Misconduct?"
"Corporate Manslaughter is included in the crimes because there is evidence of Alpha Entertainment covering up people who have been killed due to failure to maintain safe working standards," Spector began to explain. "Modern Slavery accounts for many of the staff and even some celebrities who are being paid well below the minimum wage and, in some cases, even exploited. As for Workplace and Harassment/Sexual Misconduct, many employees have made complaints against colleagues or senior employees and yet the company has done nothing to investigate or discipline those responsible."
"Fuck!" Aphrodite cursed again before adding, "I had heard the rumours that Alpha Entertainment was a bad place to work, but I had no idea it was this bad."
"Well, I think this should be more than enough evidence, don't you?" Adam asked with a smirk and as Rowena saw Adam's holographic image smirk, she couldn't help but frown and ask.
"You knew about this, didn't you?"
"What could possibly make you think I knew anything about this, babe?" Adam asked innocently in a tone very reminiscent of Rowena's own innocent tone from earlier.
"Uh-huh," Rowena replied, though she did so with a flirtatious smirk.
"So do we contact Koki or Matriarch Maiya first?" Emma asked.
"Koki," Lorelie replied, causing everyone to look at her before she added, "Matriarch Maiya might have been very accommodating during our time in the Felidae Galaxy, but she messed up several times, such as when she allowed the components of Spector Unit Six to fall into the hands of Counciler Aimi's faction. Also, she is not one of us, like Koki will be in the future."
"I suppose if she is willing to offer herself to Adam and become his concubine, she could be classed as one of us in the future," Tephe suddenly said, causing Adam and Emma to look at her in shock and bewilderment.