Pecking Order, page 39
Ivan didn’t feel like arguing with his brother anymore. The argument was frivolous. There was no way in hell he was going to lose his living. He was all legal, and the groundwork for his continued success had already been set. Even if his IDPromotions.com offices burned to the ground, his equipment was all insured, and the popularity of his website would continue. He could throw a party now and pocket thirty thousand dollars at a drop of a dime on any given weekend.
Once he solidified more of his real estate operations, Ivan planned to build million-dollar properties to sell. And none of that included the wages or commissions he still collected from Hutch & Mitchell Accounting, nor the six-figure party plans that he and Lucina had mapped out for late spring and then summer.
Derrick was out of his mind! He just didn’t know any better. So Ivan ignored him.
He said, “So, you’re down here again to do what, man? What do you need from me now?”
His brother paused. He said, “What if I just came back down here to hang out with you, man? Has that idea ever crossed your mind?”
Ivan said, “You haven’t done that before. Why would I think that now?”
Derrick shrugged and told him, “Everybody can turn over a new leaf, man. Even me.”
That comment got to Ivan. It showed a little bit of sincerity on Derrick’s part. So Ivan took a breath to calm himself.
He said, “Well, we don’t have any parties this week, D. We don’t have anything set up until May. I’m just promoting other people’s parties through the website right now.”
Derrick said, “It don’t matter. I’m just down here for another weekend to clear my head from L.A. for a minute, like I always do.”
Ivan asked him, “You need another hotel room?” He was still hesitant to have his brother stay over at his place. He figured it would be too much of a tease.
Derrick said, “Naw, man, let me just crash at your place. I don’t wanna spend no more of your money,” he joked.
“I’m having company over tonight,” Ivan lied to him.
Derrick leaned back and said, “Oh, okay. What, you got two, three of ’em coming over tonight? You ever had a ménage yet? You be around enough women for plenty of ’em.”
Ivan shook it off and said, “Naw, I don’t get down like that.”
Derrick said, “Shit, well, you don’t know what you’re missing, Ivan. The last time I was down here…” He stopped in midsentence and just smiled.
Ivan told himself, Yeah, that’s the kind of shit that I’m afraid of with him. I’ve kept all of my moves safe and sound and with no drama.
Ivan moved on from it. He said, “Well, since you snuck down here on me again, I already got plans for the night. So what are you gonna do?”
Derrick shrugged. “I’ll take that hotel room, then. The same one you hooked me up with the last time.”
NO MATTER WHAT, Ivan couldn’t seem to shake the family loyalty to his brother. But not everyone was family to him. When the word hit Chip Garrett at Hutch & Mitchell Accounting’s offices that Mike Adams had been chosen to do out-of-office accounting work under Ivan’s new negotiation instead of him, he wasn’t too pleased about it.
The first thing Ivan asked him was, “Who told you that?”
“Mike told me,” Chip answered, nearly screaming over his cell phone on his lunch break.
Why would he do that? Ivan asked himself. He was cruising on his way across the Coronado Bridge to pick up Lucina in his GT. Mike is so damn honest he doesn’t even know when he needs to keep his mouth shut, he thought. I’m gonna have to work on him with that.
Ivan told his fellow accountant, “Different people ask for different things, Chip. You asked me to set you up with one of my partner’s girls from a party, and I did that. Now you and Gretchen have been going out together.”
Chip told him, “Come on, cut the bullshit, Ivan. You think I want a girl over a new job position? I hear you’re gonna be doubling Mike’s salary now. And by the way, that girl Gretchen is expensive as hell, let me be the first to tell you.”
They all are, Ivan reminded himself. If not, then they’re not impulsive enough for Lucina to keep them around. They’re all there to make a guy spend on purpose.
Ivan decided to level with him. He said, “Look, the bottom line is this, Chip. You were already complaining about the workloads we were getting at Hutch and Mitchell. So what makes me think you’re not gonna do the same with me?”
He said, “This is hard work out here, man. I don’t get any easy money. I have to be on the numbers every day, even more so now. That’s why I wanted help.”
Chip told him, “And you’re just gonna assume that I can’t help you and leave me hanging to pick up Mike? Some friend you are, Ivan. And after all this time of me looking out for you, that’s how you repay me.”
Ivan said, “What do you mean, looking out for me? I always did my own work.”
“I mean that I was there when you first got hired,” Chip answered. “I was the one who helped you to become comfortable with the job, the managers, the workload, and everything at the office. You still remember any of that?”
Ivan said, “I would have done the same thing for you. But you didn’t really advance since then, man. And you need to ask yourself why. It’s not my fault.”
Chip became silent for a minute. Ivan had no idea how he would respond to that. So he waited it out.
Finally, Chip asked him, “Are you sure you don’t have any other positions?”
Ivan paused to think about it. He needed more time to do so, and while his mind was not on other ideas and issues.
“Give me a few days to think about that.”
Chip said, “Yeah, I could use a new job away from this place.”
Ivan responded, “Well, give me a call back next week sometime.”
When he hung up the phone with him, Ivan smiled to himself. He could really feel the weight of his new authority. In less than a year, he had become an official boss.
“Well, how ’bout that?” he questioned himself. Guys I used to work with want to work for me now.
He arrived at Lucina’s stone-built home and was practically walking on air.
Lucina met him inside of her doorway.
“Can a guy at least ring your doorbell?” he teased her.
“You could have if you were not late,” she told him.
Ivan smiled it off. “Here we go with that again.”
She walked toward the passenger side of his car. It was parked behind her Mercedes in the driveway.
“How do you like how it handles?” she asked him.
Ivan stopped and said, “Lucina, this car is worth a quarter of a million dollars. She better handle me like a woman in love or I’m taking her back in a week.”
Lucina was not amused. She stopped at the passenger-side door and stared at him. She said, “How come everything you say to me now has a sexual overtone? I don’t like that. And you didn’t used to talk to me that way.”
She wanted to keep her same level of respect from Ivan no matter how big he got. That was Lucina’s way. Respect was pivotal.
Ivan stared back at her. He didn’t even mean it like that. But Lucina would not climb into the car until he had something to say about it.
She is such a tough-ass, he told himself. She’s like a damn ice goddess.
He took a breath and said, “Okay. I apologize.” Then he paused and added, “I’ll just save all that for the other girls.”
Lucina shook her head as she climbed into the car with him. She said, “Anyways, I have a lot of plans to go over with you for this year. And I have a whole list of performers and celebrities that I would like for us to bring in.”
“Any Latino folks on that list?” Ivan asked her. He had already told her about his club development idea in Chula Vista.
Lucina answered, “Of course. I even want to invite Brazilian models here to San Diego to enjoy Café Seville. I also met the Chargers’ star running back, LaDainian Tomlinson. We can throw a birthday party for him next.”
That got Ivan’s attention. He asked her, “You met L.T.? I’ve been meaning to ask the other guys to introduce me to him, but I didn’t want to offend any of them by making them feel less important or anything, you know.”
“Like you say, you just ask them,” Lucina quipped.
“So, when did you meet him?”
“Two days ago.”
All of a sudden Ivan felt a wave of jealousy come over him. LaDainian Tomlinson was a huge name in San Diego. He was young, flashy, and popular. Ivan immediately wondered what his partner thought of the running back.
“So, what was he like?” he asked.
Lucina told him, “He was very polite and down-to-earth, a good Southern guy.”
Ivan hesitated before he took the wheel. He asked her, “What does that mean?”
“That means he’s not from L.A. or New York. He’s more soft-spoken and respectful.”
Okay, just leave that shit alone, Ivan told himself. It’s only business for her.
He even decided to play her all-business motto against her. He started the smooth purr of the Bentley engine and commented, “You know what, I’ve never even seen you with a guy outside of business before.”
Lucina stared back at him. She said, “And I haven’t seen you with a woman outside of business, either.”
Ivan knew for a fact that Lucina suspected he had been intimate with Ida during her brief period of working the doors with them. But outside of that, she had a point. Both of them seemed to be all business. However, Ivan had been intimate with two of Lucina’s girls on the low.
And when I see that Carolyn Padilla again, that will be one more in the bag, he plotted. If I would have asked for her phone number when I talked with her the first time…
Ivan decided to leave the business-and-pleasure conversation alone. They had nowhere to go but rocky roads with it. So he nodded and told her, “Okay. You’re right.”
He drove up the street toward McCain Boulevard and their destination for a business lunch date in Coronado.
Lucina admired the car on their way. She said, “Look how far you’ve come already, Ivan.” She sounded proud of him.
“Look how far you’ve come,” he bounced back.
“No, I’ve already been where you’re going,” she teased him.
Ivan doubted that. Lucina may have traveled more, attended more big events, and seen more luxury, but Ivan considered himself nowhere near a finished product yet.
“Are you sure?” he asked her.
She stared into his colorful eyes with hers and challenged him. “I don’t know. You tell me.”
Ivan looked away and laughed. He said, “You just hang on in there with me. You’ll see how far I plan to go in a minute.”
Part VII
The Bottom Line
Nineteen
It’s Lonely at the Top
IN THE LATE SPRING of 2004, business transitions happened rapidly for Ivan and Lucina. Ivan hired his team of business plan and proposal writers to focus exclusively on deal-making as his new strength. He added Mike Adams to his team as his personal accountant to double-check all figures and validate Ivan’s position with the respected firm of Hutch & Mitchell. And Ivan offered to cut Chip and Perry Downing in as silent investors in Gaslamp parties, where he continued to market events with smaller promoters on his website.
“It’s the easiest money you could ever make,” he told them separately. “The only thing I ask you to do in return is always promote my name and brand in a positive light. Is that a deal?”
Perry Downing was all in. Chip Garrett, on the other hand, would rather have been a paid accountant for Ivan’s company like Mike. Nevertheless, flipping a few extra thousand dollars a month on parties was nothing to complain about. So he agreed to it.
Ivan’s powerful website at IDPromotions.com stepped up its viewer growth and support another notch online by strengthening its search rankings.
“We want to make sure that if anyone even types up the name ‘San Diego,’ they end up going through our site whether they like it or not,” he told his staff.
So each week they would create new traffic-driving web pages, like “San Diego’s Hottest New Talents,” where they spotlighted the best new singers, rappers, producers, actors, dancers, filmmakers, poets, artists, skateboarders, and athletes. They also created “San Diego Wants You!” a voting page for who the people of San Diego would love to see the most in person. Ivan created that idea from Lucina’s wish list of performers and celebrities.
Ivan’s staff promoted blog competitions to post the best articles on subjects involving the people, places, and events of San Diego. They all worked tirelessly to build I.D. Promotions into a standalone brand. And with the steady blossoming of ideas, sponsorships, and advertisement, ad sales manager Eddie K. kept his eyes focused on their increasing company value.
“We may want to extend our reach past just San Diego and include everything between here and Los Angeles at some point,” he suggested to Ivan. But Ivan was adamant about maintaining their dominance in the San Diego market before they expanded.
He responded, “We have that to look forward to, Eddie. But I don’t see the point in doing that right now. We’re still increasing our share first in San Diego. We need to keep our ship steady a little while longer,” he advised his veteran salesman.
By midsummer, he estimated that the company would pull in more than three hundred thousand dollars a month, a thousand percent more than their overhead. So Ivan saw no reason to disturb their gain with hasty expansion.
In Ivan’s growing real estate interests, Jeffrey Morefield joined him to invest in a Chula Vista housing development, while they continued to search for prime commercial property to build a Latino nightclub.
However, his baseball friend Emilio Alvarez was not as ready to join in on the deal.
Ivan told him, “It’s a simple plan, E. All you need to do is to talk about representing the Spanish-speaking community every time the media sticks a microphone in your face. The team is getting a lot more attention this year with the new PETCO Park downtown. They’re really pumping the Padres up this year. And once the Latino community knows that you’re looking out for them, as soon as we open up this club with your name on it, it’ll be like herding cattle.”
At Emilio’s three-bedroom home, located in the Poway area, Audrey warned him against it.
“Ivan is nothing but a user,” she told him. “He’ll do anything to get what he needs, but what about when you ask him to do something for you?”
Christina had told Audrey all about her falling-out with Ivan and how he had left her to dry. But Emilio argued, “Ivan’s not that bad. He was the one to introduce us.”
“Emilio, he only introduced us to get you to come to his parties,” she admitted. “That’s what made his parties more popular. But he didn’t know that I really liked you, and I didn’t want to keep being used by them while he and Lucina made all of the money.”
She continued, “Now he’s trying to use you again by opening up a nightclub in your name. I mean, it’s obvious.”
“But I will be making money off of this club, too,” Emilio countered. “It’s better than having my money sitting around doing nothing. And what about if I became the main owner, since it has my name on it?” he questioned.
Audrey said, “That would be a much better idea. And then I can help you to run it.”
Nevertheless, Emilio remained hesitant, so Ivan began to discuss ideas with other Spanish-American promoters who would be more willing to jump at the opportunity.
ON LUCINA’S END, with Ivan’s guidance, they launched her own website, LucinaGallo.com, to create stronger ties to the fashion and retail industries, using her girls as models. It was another way to increase revenue, while dipping Lucina’s feet back into the modeling industry as an agent. They linked the site prominently to IDPromotions.com, with pop-up buttons for fashion, retail, and a “San Diego’s Best Dressed” page.
As their wealth, power, and imagery continued to increase within the San Diego market, Ivan began to engage in more flamboyant behavior. His rotation of exotic luxury cars from Roman Zemeckis made a loud splash outside the parties in the Gaslamp, and Ivan’s celebrity stature drew noticeable responses from the crowd.
“What the hell kind of car is that?”
“It looks like one of those new Maseratis.”
“How much is this guy worth now, anyway?”
“I don’t know, but it has to be at least millions.”
“Oh, my God, he’s so sexy!”
“Yeah, and he’s standing right there like he doesn’t know it.”
“Oh, he knows it. He’s just trying to act like he doesn’t.”
Where Ivan had previously been too busy in business to entertain most of the beautiful women who eyed him at parties, as his status continued to elevate, with more associates to handle his operations, the most enticing women were no longer ignored. And at any given moment, he would disarm them with sudden invitations to join him in the VIP, where some of the sexiest women in San Diego would become tongue-tied in his presence.
“I don’t even know what to say to you. I’m just like…surprised that you even picked me.”
Ivan told them, “Just relax and enjoy yourself. And anything you want, you just let me know.”
Instead of him making any hasty moves on them, he would collect a competition of three to five women and have them decide—through their words and actions—who was more eligible to keep him company. And before the night would end, they would always reveal themselves.
“So, Ivan, what are you doing after the party?”
Bingo!
“Whatever you ladies allow me to.”
But in all of his looseness with women, Ivan managed to stay away from any more of Lucina’s models. He spent less of his time around her crew unless it was an event where his presence was requested. He explained to Lucina that it was time for her to build up her own brand again. He noticed that IDPromotions.com had begun to overpower her. Nevertheless, a partnership was a partnership. So Ivan was forced to appear at Lucina’s Black Eyed Peas promotion, where he met back up with Carolyn Padilla.
