Chapter 42 - 41: Negotiated Termination !
Inside the melodious piano-filled cafe, Harrison Clark and Adam Martin were sitting across from each other.
“Mr. Clark, I’m really sorry about what happened last time. I apologize to you, please accept my sincere apology.”
Although he had already apologized once through Bella Ross’s phone, and Harrison Clark had conveyed his forgiveness through Bella, Adam Martin still seized the opportunity to sincerely apologize to him again in person.
Harrison Clark smiled awkwardly, “It’s fine.”
“I knew that you were a magnanimous person and wouldn’t bother with me.”
The two chatted for a while, and soon got to the main topic.
“How’s the song you mentioned last time that you wanted to sell to us? Have you finished remaking it yet?”
Harrison Clark nodded, “Almost done, I’ll send you the demo by next week at the latest.”
Adam Martin waved his hand generously, “Mr. Clark, we don’t need to listen to the demo. Let’s just sign the contract directly! Five hundred thousand for the single copyright!”
Harrison Clark squinted his eyes, “You don’t want to see the lyrics and the sheet music?”
Adam Martin shook his head confidently, “No need.”
He believed that he had shown great sincerity.
The price of five hundred thousand was quite impressive.
For a new songwriter who had written only one song up to now, it was quite fair and reasonable.
And as Harrison Clark said, they hadn’t even asked for the demo and sheet music yet, they didn’t even know the name of the song or the lyrics, and yet they were willing to pay five hundred thousand just based on Harrison Clark’s reputation. That was a strong statement.
After considering for five seconds, Harrison Clark decided to tactfully refuse Adam Martin’s sincerity.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to sell the song to Jenny Hart, but he judged that Carrie Thomas’s popularity could rise even further in a week.
Besides, now that Adam Martin was offering 500,000 without listening to the demo, it seemed high.
However, once they heard the demo of “Deep in the Night,” Harrison Clark believed that they would raise their psychological expectations.
Waiting just one week could earn him an extra ten or twenty thousand, so why not?
It couldn’t be said that he was trying to deceive others, as you get what you pay for, and that was the principle.
“It’s too hasty to buy a song without listening to the demo. Let’s wait until next week, yes, next week.”
Adam Martin was slightly disappointed, but seeing Harrison Clark’s determined attitude, he didn’t insist too much.
“Mr. Clark, you are just so modest.” Adam Martin flattered, then asked, “Weren’t you working here before?”
“Yes.”
“Is it because Carrie Thomas made ‘Boring’ popular so you decided to quit?”
Adam Martin asked with slight curiosity.
Harrison Clark shook his head, “No, I was forced to resign. I was fired.”
He had been waiting for Adam Martin to ask this question for a long time.
Compared to selling songs, Harrison Clark actually wanted to discuss this matter more.
At this moment, Jenny Hart’s voice came from behind the two, “Why were you fired?”
Jenny Hart arrived quickly.
Heery George, the big boss of Chesterton Apartment, had just slightly protested earlier, and almost lost the hard-to-please spokesperson. So, he didn’t dare to delay Jenny Hart’s time any further. After spending a short time in the company and visiting only two of the eight departments, he released her.
Jenny Hart didn’t bother to be polite with others either. Although she thanked them for understanding, she escaped quickly.
As soon as she arrived here, she noticed that Harrison Clark’s eyes brightened slightly when Adam Martin asked him about the issue, as if he was waiting to confide in someone. So she took the initiative to ask.
Although it seemed abrupt, Jenny Hart knew that this was exactly what he liked.
As expected, Harrison Clark honestly revealed the entire story without exaggeration. He simply recounted his experience of being suppressed in the company recently.
He himself didn’t care too much about that job. He only considered Linden Brown and David Mitchell as clowns in his heart, so he wasn’t too emotional about it. However, after hearing his story, Adam Martin and Jenny Hart, who needed his help, were both outraged and spoke up in defense of him.
“That Linden Brown is too overbearing.” Jenny Hart sighed, “Mr. Clark, you made the right choice to leave this company.”
Adam Martin echoed, “I think this is an opportunity for us, actually.”
Jenny Hart nodded.
Harrison Clark was puzzled, “How so?”
Adam Martin said, “Actually, Chesterton Apartment now wants to use Jenny’s promotion beyond the scope of the contract, and we were thinking about arbitration to terminate this contract. But since it would have a bad effect on our reputation in the circle if the news got out, we held back.”
Jenny Hart leaned back in her seat, resting on the sofa’s backrest, “It’s never good to break a contract for no good reason. Now that Mr. Clark has gone through this, it can be our reason to make a stand. Since my friend suffered injustice in this company, I naturally don’t need to fulfill their requirements beyond the contract.”
Hearing this, Harrison Clark came to realize a principle.These two really wanted to cling tightly to their “thick” thigh.
“After all, this is between the two of them, and I shouldn’t say much. But in my opinion, Chesterton Apartment is not a very good partner. They hope that Miss He can help promote the rental finance business, right?”
Adam Martin nodded, “Yes.”
“I’ve also heard about this. The core of this business is monthly rent payments. In addition to signing a contract with Chesterton Apartment, the tenant also needs to sign a contract with a financial credit company. After the three parties sign the contract, the financial company will settle the tenant’s rent in full to Chesterton Apartment on the spot. As for the tenants, they will repay the loans to the financial company through a mobile app every month.”
Adam Martin: “Yes, this kind of business needs social credibility, so they came to us, but they didn’t fully inform us of this business when we signed the contract.”
Harrison Clark replied: “Then it’s only natural for you to have concerns.”
He wasn’t very interested or knowledgeable about these business matters.
As long as it wasn’t all about his face, he didn’t want to owe too many favors.
While the three of them were discussing passionately, Linden Brown was upstairs, standing in the chairman’s office like a primary school student who had done something wrong.
Heery George and Mr. Foster sat opposite him with somber expressions.
The details of the situation were already known to many upper-level leaders.
The vice president who had helped Linden Brown with this matter before was quite embarrassed.
He was the first senior executive to know about it but had not taken it seriously, thinking that he had handled it well. He didn’t expect it to escalate.
Who could have imagined that Harrison Clark, who was insignificant in the company, would have connections in the entertainment industry and seem so deep?
If they had known this earlier, why bother in the first place?
“Linden, the company just hired a celebrity spokesperson, and you spread rumors about the celebrity in the company. Tell me, how did you come up with this idea?”
Seeing Jenny Hart’s firm attitude just now, Heery George had a faint sense of unease, so he was furious at Linden Brown’s appearance.
Linden Brown looked miserable, “No, I didn’t mean it that way. You didn’t see it, but Harrison Clark is really just passing time in the company. I just wanted to find an excuse to persuade him to leave.”
“Persuade him to leave? You are probably worried that Harrison Clark will use his connections in the entertainment industry to rob the position you hold, right?”
Mr. Foster said something piercingly.
Linden Brown waved his hands repeatedly, “Not at all! I’m really wronged!”
At this point, some other senior executives spoke up.
“Then you explain why you started talking about celebrities when you saw Harrison Clark on Twitter? Your words may be a bit harsh, but as far as I know, Harrison Clark isn’t troublesome. But he fought with you, isn’t there anything strange about that?”
“You say! If it wasn’t for his good relationship with the celebrity Carrie Thomas, whom you insulted, would he get so emotional? Would he take action? Do you really think the High-tech Zone Company is your personal fief? Nobody knows what you’re doing? You are deliberately trying to provoke people, get them to leave, so that your trusted confidant can take over Harrison Clark’s area, right?”
These operations were not very secretive for Linden Brown. No one who could become a corporate executive is a fool. Just need to ask some subordinates, and the matter would come to light.
Linden Brown did not hide it deliberately either, as this is standard operation in the workplace.
Other people did it, and he used the same means to get rid of the disobedient before. It has never been a problem.
Other senior executives in the company knew but didn’t care or intervene.
But now they had to intervene.
So someone brought up these well-known but unspoken matters in public, as if to declare a death sentence.
Linden Brown finally became afraid.
He realized that the matter with Harrison Clark might be an opportunity.
The fact that the company set the main marketing venue in the High-tech Zone for Jenny Hart showed that the company’s strategic focus was changing.
So his position naturally became attractive, and the other faction within the senior executives was trying to take action against his camp.
He looked at the vice president who had helped him earlier.
This person was his support.
His support could not just watch as his trusted confidant was skinned alive; how could he establish authority in the company later?
The vice president waved his hand, “Enough, you two are overdoing it. We are all working hard for the company, trying to create benefits. There are not so many conspiracy theories. The origin of the problem should be from a few days ago when Harrison Clark took sick leave but was spotted by other colleagues in the internet cafe. Linden Brown thought that Harrison Clark’s work attitude was problematic, so he wanted Harrison Clark to resign, right?”
Linden Brown kept nodding, “Yes, yes! I admit I didn’t handle it well. I should have just used the company’s rules and regulations to talk to him. However, the matter of offending the celebrity was just a coincidence. Harrison Clark hardly has any friends in the company, we couldn’t have known about his social circle.”
Heery George put an end to this “struggle session” for the time being, marking the end of the matter.
“Forget it, Linden, whether you have ulterior motives or not, you know it in your heart. We’ll discuss it later.”
At this moment, the office door was pushed open by Heery George’s secretary from outside.
The secretary looked a bit flustered and hesitated to speak.
Heery George: “Speak.”
“Adam Martin just contacted me, saying that after careful consideration, they cannot accept the job offer for the additional contract to endorse financial products, and they hope to negotiate the termination of the contract with us..’1