Chapter 41: Far Removed

"I’d equally like to invest in the movie. Two million dollars."

Niall’s words stunned the duo, their eyebrows rising in sync with their widened eyes.

Though they understood Niall must’ve earned some royalties from his book, both couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea that he’d ever be paid that high.

Even if one factored the royalties he’d also get for his hit song into the mix, two million dollars was still a huge amount to be so willing to expend as a rising artist.

Unknown to them though, Niall wasn’t a big spender. Asides the one million he’d paid to have his contract terminated at Goldleaf Talent Agency, the rest of the funds he’d gotten from his book remained untouched.

Added to that, he had saved quite a lot over the years as an actor. Though not nearly close to a million dollars, it was still in the high hundreds of thousands.

All that, coupled with the royalties he was about to get from not just GrooveBox, but from several other music streaming platforms in the coming months, would have him cross well over the amount he planned to invest into the movie.

Leaning back into his chair though, his head tilted downwards slightly and completely unaware of the reaction he was getting from Henry and Victor, he continued speaking;

"I also think we should focus on targeting the AFI FEST in October,"

"That way, we can have enough feedback for the movie without having to invest in a Premiere." he raised his gaze up, a thoughtful expression on his features.

"But of course, it’s just a suggestion. Given our budget though, I think it’d be worth some proper consideration. On both fronts." he gestured to Henry whom had now equally leaned back into his chair.

Clearly, he was contemplating Niall’s suggestions.

"I can never say no to more money so, be my guest. It’d be all the better for the movie." he replied after a brief while, a thin smile tracing his lips.

"As for the latter..."

"...we’d probably have to speedrun through pre-production to achieve it. But then again, I’m sure you were already aware before you suggested it, right?" the man gestured in kind.

"Yeah," Niall nodded in acknowledgement.

"Still, if we can’t, we can just go for a standard Premiere. The ball’s in your court." he simply proposed.

Mulling it over a bit more, Henry then spoke;

"Alright. Might be a bit finnicky, but I can make it work,"

"In the meantime," the man rose from the chair smoothly while adjusting his jacket.

"You’d both best get to work on securing that cast." he flashed the young artist and his agent a daring smile.

Then he made his way out the door whilst gesturing vaguely;

"I’ll keep you updated on my end as things go, and I expect you’ll both do the same."

No sooner had he said that, the door gently clicked shut.

"Well," Niall turned his attention towards Victor, a thin smile on his lips.

"I guess we’ve got our work cut out for us." he said to the man.

"I guess we do." Victor nodded in acknowledgement.

Then Niall spoke;

"Say, regarding the main cast... well, specifically, my fictional band members,"

"Mind leaving that to me?" he casually requested.

Evidently surprised, Victor reeled it in, his expression morphing into genuine curiosity;

"Sure. You have a couple people in mind?"

"Yeah. I do. Might take some convincing to get them on board, but I reckon I can do it." Niall leaned his head over the couch.

’More than that though, I think they could really use the uplift.’ he inwardly remarked, a hint of nostalgia surfacing on his features.

*

For as long as Joaquin Hall could remember, he had always hated his older step-brother, Henry Hall.

It was one thing to be born out of wedlock, then forced to integrate into a family where you had no choice but to bear the crushing expectations of several generations before you at the tender age of thirteen.

It was another to live with a privileged, legitimate older brother whom had once never had to worry about where his next meal would come from once in his life, whining about ’chasing his dreams’.

And though that phase of Henry’s life had died out faster than a flickering candle in his teenage years once he’d realized the legacy he had to carry, Joaquin’s disdain for him had only skyrocketed to new heights.

Given how hard he worked, and how much effort he had to put in to get people to acknowledge that he was just as worthy of their family’s last name as his brother, it infuriated him to no ends that Henry was afforded so much leeway.

Leeway that could never be afforded to him given his background. One mistake could be all it would’ve taken for him to find himself back on the cold streets of Chicago, barely struggling to make ends meet.

And the worst of it all?

Henry was bound to get most, if not all of their family’s inheritance. Solely because he was the first child, and not because he was competent enough to lead the family business to new heights. At least that was what Joaquin believed.

Then, out of the blue, Norman Hall, their father had sprung up a condition to determine whom would succeed him as the CEO of Hall Enterprises.

A condition that truly got Joaquin’s blood pumping and hell-bent on securing their family’s business for himself, especially after all these years of trying to usurp his older brother.

Currently exiting a meeting with a couple shareholders of Diamond Productions over a movie they had plans on releasing sometime in the final quarter of next year, Joaquin’s personal phone buzzed in his pockets.

Retrieving the device and seeing that it was from one of his many informants;

"Make it quick. I have to be at another meeting in the next thirty minutes." he commanded, his tone clipped and concise.

"There’s been reports that Henry Hall is investing in a new project at Vrael Productions. He also just stepped out of HTA a couple minutes ago with what we presume might be a movie contract."

Joaquin’s step came to halt, pausing right before the already opening elevator full of people. Then he pivoted and proceeded to go down the stairs, his strides brisk;

"Any details on what the movie might be?" he demanded.

"No." came the response from the other end of the line.

"Then what do I pay you for?" Joaquin’s tone turned chilly as he continued;

"Contact me again without concrete information, and it’s over between us."

No sooner had he said that, he immediately hung up and pocketed the phone.

Despite believing his older brother was not as competent as he was, reality had often proven to Joaquin that Henry was indeed resourceful.

In spite of his dreams of becoming a Hollywood director squashed by his father very early on, he had still managed to salvage what little of that dream he had to make a production company that had proven to be rather successful within its initial months.

In fact, if not for him constantly sabotaging the man’s effort in every surreptitious way possible out of the fear of his progress overtaking his, Joaquin was well aware that Henry would be the frontrunner to win the succession.

Even the fact that he’d created Diamond Productions had been born out of spite for the man, one he utilized for more direct confrontations if required.

Simply put, Joaquin was sparing no effort in preventing his brother from prospering even in his most profitable business venture, one he’d vowed to continue doing until he’d completely demolished the man’s spirit and claimed the throne for himself.

Yet, without so much as a twitch in his facial expression, he made his way to the parking lot, located his vehicle was situated and drove off to the next meeting.

*

(Three days later...)

[Polaroid] had completely dominated the Indie Sensations chart, the song settling on the number one spot.

Having racked up a cumulative total of twenty million streams and rapidly rising, the song had overtaken the previously ranked song by a staggering ten million streams.

This increment was largely as a result of the [Polaroid] trend becoming immensely viral on TicToc, leading to a sudden surge in the song’s stream count.

Given that the trend could be done by anyone in literally any age bracket, it made even more sense that it was sweeping through the masses like a tidal wave.

Not only that, prices of polaroid cameras themselves had suddenly shot up by double the price, an aftereffect of TicToc’s major platform influencers wanting to perform the trend as accurately as the original.

It was then to be expected, that asides that truly impressive feat of sorts, there was equally an increased discourse on TweetTalk about Niall’s career as a multi-talented artist and if he should simply stick to one path or continue as he was.

This, in addition to the feature Feyre Publications had released on their platform, resulted in yet another surge in sales of [The Token of Fate], albeit it was only in the mid tens of thousands, a number that was quite meagre when compared to the hundreds of thousands they’d previously sold.

Yet, far removed from it all was Niall himself.

Having arriving at his destination, all the way the down in New York, he casually strolled into a small café for an open mic music session.

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/Caer07