Behind The Spotlight Chapter 266
"Miss Seraphina, the Chairman is done with his meeting. You can go in now," the secretary announced to Lila, who was waiting in the lounge room, sipping her tea.
Lila nodded and stood up. She walked toward her father's office.
Yesterday, they had just finished their first-quarter conference, and ANT's trajectory was going well. Their company had steadily improved its status in the entertainment industry, and many celebrities were interested in signing contracts with them.
However, news suddenly erupted that the company might be sold. A well-known news publisher had written an article stating that the owner of Apex Network Talent was interested in selling the company.
Despite keeping her composure, Lila was obviously surprised. She had immediately contacted her father, but his secretary answered her instead. The secretary told her to go to Silicon Valley and visit the headquarters of Database Giant in Northern California.
Naturally, as the CEO of ANT, Lila wanted to get straight to the matter and personally booked a flight to Northern California to see her father.
Lila and Elijah Edward didn't have a close relationship, and their interactions were mostly about business.
Out of Elijah's children, Lila possessed the greatest potential. So, even though he had no intention of helping any of his children build their careers, he had let Lila take over the CEO position of ANT.
There was another reason why he had put her in that position: his daughter didn't have any ambition to fight for his inheritance. She simply didn't see any reason to.
If Lila wanted to, she could probably start her own company and prosper.
So why had she accepted Elijah's offer to be the CEO of ANT? Lila wanted to pay back a favor. As much as she hated to admit it, Elijah had provided her with an excellent lifestyle and education after her mother died. She didn't suffer from hunger anymore, and she studied at a nice school. She owed him for that.
At first, Lila only wanted to work properly without being attached to her position. She knew that being the CEO of ANT wasn't because of her own hard work and that she didn't truly deserve it.
But it had been more than five years now since Lila became the CEO, and her feelings had changed. As much as she wanted to deny it, she had put everything into making the company prosper.
Now that ANT was being sold, Lila couldn't accept that her position would disappear. It was painful to let go of all the things she had worked for.
"It's me, Lila."
She knocked on the door and stated her name.
"Come in."
She stepped inside the office. Elijah's office was full of vanity, almost everything was made of incredibly expensive items, such as gold and diamonds.
"Lila... I can see that you're changing." Elijah smirked when he saw his daughter's expression. Lila was good at keeping her composure, but he could see a crack today.
"Are you really selling ANT?"
"You haven't even taken a seat, and you're already asking me that?"
"I want to know." Lila didn't sit down.
"Yes," Elijah answered.
"...Why?"
"Isn't it obvious? You should know the answer better than I."
"..."
Lila pursed her lips.
Indeed, the reason why Elijah had bought Apex Network Talent was to sell it at a higher price. The reason why he had let Lila lead the agency was to make it better, he believed that Lila could do it.
She closed her eyes to calm herself.
"How much?"
"$3 billion."
In 1992, ANT was only worth $780 million. In 2000, it was $1.2 billion. A year later, it was about $1.7 billion, perhaps even $2 billion depending on how people evaluated it.
Overall, the potential of ANT had improved significantly, and many celebrities in the agency had become superstars in recent years.
'$3 billion? No wonder he's selling it. It's almost twice the valuation.'
If Lila were in his shoes, she would probably sell it for that amount too.
"But I'm not planning to sell it just yet. Actually, two sides want to acquire it. It's the Wallmart family and the Blackstone Corporation. General Group is also interested in acquiring the agency but they haven't offer an amount yet."
Three heavyweights.
"What about me? Will I keep my position?"
"It depends on the new owner. But the shares I rewarded you are yours alone. You can sell them or keep them if you want."
After that, Lila left the office. She realized that Elijah was completely serious about selling the company.
She took a deep breath and left the building. She kept walking until she left the building, her mind in utter turmoil.
Just like Elijah, she understood that selling ANT for more than $3 billion was worth it. Elijah had tripled his investment in just a few years, that was a victory no matter what angle you looked at it.
However, Lila's chest tightened, and she found it hard to breathe.
Since when?
Since when had she become so attached to ANT that she couldn't accept her father's decision?
She had hated her father for what he did in the past, and she hated him even more now. But she had no plans of taking revenge, simply because she couldn't blame Elijah for every single bad thing that happened in her life. Elijah was just heartless, but he wasn't a devil who would intentionally destroy his children's lives.
He just hadn't felt like helping Lila and her mother back then.
He also didn't feel anything about Lila's current predicament regarding ANT's future.
'...I'm free now.' A soft chuckle escaped her mouth.
Suddenly, a droplet hit her head as the sky turned dark. Rain gradually began to fall, and Lila stopped in her tracks. The cold drops of rain were driving her crazy.
"I should have punched him," she muttered.
"Do you want me to punch him?"
An umbrella suddenly protected her from the rain. Lila raised her head and saw Collin standing in front of her. He was holding an umbrella, making sure that Lila wouldn't get wet.
"You can't. My father will send you to jail," she smiled weakly.
"He made you cry. He deserves a punch because of that." His green-brown eyes expressed deep worry. He extended his hand and gently wiped Lila's tears.
"I'm crying? I don't think so. I think it's just from the rain."
"You're right. I made a mistake. They were not tears, but raindrops."
"...Why are you here?"
"I knew that something wasn't right when I saw your expression yesterday. I called your secretary, and she told me that you went to Northern California. I deduced that you were going to Silicon Valley, but I didn't expect to see you out on the street, walking in the rain."
"... My secretary is the one who booked the flight for me."
"I see." Collin nodded.
Lila moved closer and hugged Collin tightly. Collin patted her head reassuringly.
"The rain is getting stronger. My face is getting wet."
"You're right."
Collin kept holding the umbrella.
In the middle of the rain, the couple remained right there together.