Chapter 182: Chapter 182: Sullen Anger

“So the ’Young Lady’ who was hanging out with Wendy before is the boss of Apex Films? Wow! That’s actually pretty amazing. No wonder Wendy never said anything. The boss of Apex seems really low-key.”

“I saw that Daisy Woods and the others all posted videos. That night was a party for the group that went to the Paris fashion show, right? Wendy also said she brought the Young Lady with her on the spur of the moment. It wasn’t at all like what the marketing accounts claimed, that the Young Lady was on a private date with Liam Lawson.”

As soon as Wendy Lawson’s short video came out, netizens realized the behind-the-scenes boss of Apex Films wasn’t actually that old. They started calling Jessie Sterling “Young Lady,” just like Wendy.

In an instant, the initial online narrative of a “female boss keeping a kept man” began to shift without anyone noticing.

Not everyone was a fool; people had their own minds.

“So, Liam Lawson found out the Young Lady’s identity and tried to cozy up to her?”

“Hahaha, you guys have to go see the latest video Daisy Woods posted! It’s the restaurant’s security footage. I have no idea how she got it. From start to finish, the Young Lady had zero contact with Liam Lawson. And her bodyguard, hahaha, he subdued Liam the moment he tried to get close, okay?”

“It’s obvious now. Today’s whole fiasco was a huge conspiracy. Mmm, some man was desperate to marry into a rich family and it backfired spectacularly.”

Jessie Sterling hadn’t expected Wendy Lawson and the others to pull off a move like this online, and it seemed to be working quite well.

Although there were still plenty of paid commenters in the comment section trying to muddy the waters by claiming she and Liam Lawson had known each other for a long time, not many people seemed to be buying it.

「Back in China, at the Thorne Pictures building.」

Arya Thorne still hadn’t left work.

It was only after she got to the office today that she learned Leo Goodman had made a move.

Leo Goodman really didn’t know Jessie Sterling’s identity. After all, Jessie had been very low-key since taking over Apex Films.

Leo Goodman had a father-in-law in the broadcasting regulation department, so for years, he’d had a lot of clout within the company.

But even for someone like him, finding out Jessie Sterling’s identity wasn’t that easy.

However, Leo Goodman was slippery and never left a trace. Even though he didn’t know Jessie Sterling’s background, when he had someone arrange this little drama, he never mentioned Jessie’s name. He didn’t even provide a clear photo of her face.

Acting so cautiously, it was indeed difficult to pin anything on him.

When Arya Thorne first heard the news, she was furious.

She was now Leo Goodman’s superior, but he never treated her as his boss. He didn’t inform her of anything and just had the people under him carry out his orders directly.

She was angry, but there was little she could do.

After all, Leo Goodman had been entrenched in the company for decades; she, who had only been managing things for a few years, couldn’t possibly shake him. Besides, even her own father had to think twice when dealing with Leo Goodman, as he was one of the company’s old guard.

Making any kind of mistake would alienate all the company’s veterans.

However, when Arya Thorne realized that this incident could be a perfect opportunity to strike a blow against Jessie Sterling, she decided to turn a blind eye. She pretended not to know and even gave the situation a little push.

’An opportunity to hit Jessie Sterling and drag all of Apex down with her? Why wouldn’t I take it?’

But Arya Thorne never expected things to go sideways.

That group of influencers, led by Wendy Lawson—people she wouldn’t have given the time of day to before—had actually jumped in and ruined everything.

The influence of a single top-tier influencer might not compare to a top-tier celebrity, but when a whole group of them stood up to talk about this, it wasn’t something Thorne Pictures could just casually suppress.

Arya Thorne had no intention of lowering herself to contact Wendy Lawson and those influencers. She went straight to the entertainment agencies behind them.

Even so, Arya Thorne still felt she was showing them considerable respect.

But things didn’t go as she’d hoped.

In Arya Thorne’s mind, she had already been gracious enough to contact them personally. If those agencies had any sense, they should have known what to do.

And the result?

Not a single one of them played along!

How could she not be furious?

Arya Thorne sat in her office and slammed the phone down, the force so great it seemed like she could have smashed the desk phone to pieces.

Her expression darkened as she recalled the undisguised sarcasm in the voice of the person on the other end of her last call.

“President Thorne, I’ve heard so much about you. I hear your company poaches people from little companies like ours by any means necessary? From the looks of it, that’s no different from using a fall guy. Someone like you, why would you need to cooperate with us? We may have a lot of artists under contract, but they have minds of their own. We can’t control them.”

“Oh, and by the way, I wouldn’t dare try to control them. If I actually did, who knows? The next time President Thorne needs to pass the buck, wouldn’t we just become the scapegoats?”

How could Arya Thorne not be angry?

It wasn’t so much that the other party refused to help that angered her, but that her pride had been trampled underfoot.

’What the hell is this!’

Arya Thorne threw a tantrum in her office, but she couldn’t just pin all the blame on Leo Goodman.

After all, Leo Goodman’s actions represented all of Thorne Pictures.

She couldn’t just stand by and watch Leo Goodman drag Thorne Pictures down with him.

This whole situation—where she couldn’t stand him but couldn’t get rid of him, and was even forced to clean up his mess—was making Arya Thorne sick to her stomach.

Jessie Sterling knew nothing about the power struggle between Arya Thorne and Leo Goodman at the company. She scrolled through her phone for a while until she got tired, then went back to bed to lie down.

She didn’t know if Victor Morgan had the day off or if he was just too worried about her to go out, but he hadn’t left the house.

But it also seemed like he had no intention of acknowledging her.

Jessie Sterling wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but she had a feeling.

When she was going upstairs just now, she’d called out to Victor Morgan, but he hadn’t even glanced back at her.

Lying in bed, Jessie Sterling tossed and turned, unable to sleep even though she still felt drowsy.

Jessie Sterling couldn’t resist the urge to bother her sister.

[Jessie Sterling: I don’t know what’s gotten into Victor Morgan. He suddenly just stopped talking to me!]

Quincy Sterling replied quickly; she was probably not too busy at the moment.

But Quincy Sterling didn’t immediately question Victor Morgan. She knew all too well how infuriating Jessie Sterling could be sometimes.

[Quincy Sterling: Are you sure you didn’t do something?]

Jessie Sterling proclaimed her innocence.

[Jessie Sterling: Please!!! I woke up today to someone trying to screw over my company. When would I have had the time to do anything to him?!]

[Quincy Sterling: You want me to ask him for you?]

Unlike Jessie Sterling, she wasn’t one to beat around the bush. If she wanted to know something, she’d be direct and ask point-blank.

Jessie Sterling: “…”

For a moment, she wasn’t sure if she had come looking for a sister to confide in or one who would just make more trouble for her.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep