“Hi, baby,” he whispered as he went in to kiss her cheek. Tina noticeably pulled away from him before his lips touched her face.

“I told you not to call me that here,” she whispered back with irritation. She took her seat next to him as he quickly mumbled an apology.

Sitting across the table from her, Dana witnessed the exchange as did Helena, who hadn’t stopped leering at Tina since she stepped through the door. Tina caught her eye and offered a polite smile to the alluring media mogul.

Helena smiled back and nonchalantly returned her attention to Aaron who was finishing up the conversation they had been engaged in before the arrival of the last two staff members.

Once the everyone set their phones down, Helena was seated at the head of the table while Aaron remained standing to address the group.

“Glad to see everyone could make this meeting on such short notice. All of you already know Helena Peabody, one of the majority shareholders of our parent company, Peabody-Shaolin. Helena is in town for a few days and has requested I call you all here because she has some exciting announcements to share with us. So I’ll just go ahead and give her the floor. Helena, floor’s yours.” Aaron sat down and Helena cleared her throat.

“Good afternoon, to you all.”

“Good afternoon,” the group replied.

“Please accept my sincerest apologies if this impromptu gathering interfered with your daily routines. Let me be the first to congratulate you for all your hard work and dedication these past few months as we have seen Alphaville profits burgeon considerably since it was acquired by Peabody-Shaolin almost two years ago. I especially want to recognize the efforts of Ms. Tina Kennard in making some profitable acquisitions of her own to the Alphaville label.” Helena locked eyes with Tina. The intensity of the British bombshell’s penetrating stare caused her to blush while her colleagues looked on and verbalized their own congratulatory words.

“‘Wonder Woman’ is the fastest climbing single on the American charts from Alphaville in the company’s history, and shows no sign of slowing down. In just two weeks, our London offices will prepare to license the record in Europe starting with the U.K. and the following month, our contracted streaming services will release ‘Female Rejuvenation’ to what, I am certain, will be a warm reception of potential consumers.”

Eric beamed with pride at the blonde he thought was his girlfriend.

Just then, Aaron’s assistant entered the conference room pushing a wheeled cart holding two buckets filled with ice and chilled champagne while the label secretary rolled in another cart with 8 champagne flutes.

Helena continued. “Aside from that, I wanted to come down and personally inform you all that my mother will be resigning her position as CEO and chairperson of Peabody-Shaolin. She has appointed me as her replacement and I will take over in a few short weeks. I have some ambitious visions for the company and will be focused on acquiring additional labels for us to manage under the Alphaville umbrella. My first order of business has been moved and passed via the board of directors.”

By this time, all of the flutes had been filled and passed around the table. Helena lifted the glass placed in front of her and pointed it towards Tina.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in congratulating Tina and her wonderful ear for lucrative talent as I am naming her the newly created position of Executive Vice President of Artist and Repertoire for Alphaville Records! Congratulations Tina, and a job well done, darling!”

“To Tina!” everyone cheered.

The blonde was speechless as the flutes clinked together and her coworkers sang her praises. Eric used the opportunity to his advantage and pulled her in close by wrapping his arm around her.