Chapter 192: Chapter 192: Discarded Piece

Jessie Sterling had spent a couple of extra days abroad with Victor Morgan. When she returned the day before yesterday and started unpacking, Jessie also had the gifts for Wendy Lawson and the others mailed to Wendy’s house.

Now, Wendy Lawson was messaging Jessie Sterling, telling her about unboxing the package.

“This is so much! And milady, the gifts you asked me to forward—they’ve all received them. Everyone’s so grateful, hahaha. They’re all saying you’re too generous,” Wendy Lawson said in a voice message to Jessie Sterling on WeChat.

Jessie Sterling had been about to say it was the least she could do. When people helped her, it wasn’t out of obligation, but kindness. She was just returning the favor with gifts; if anything, she was the one getting the better end of the deal.

But before she could say it, her attention was caught by Wendy Lawson’s use of the word “milady.”

Jessie: “Milady?”

’Why does that sound so much like something Quincy would say?’

When Wendy Lawson received Jessie’s one-word question, she realized with a start that she’d had a slip of the tongue in her voice message, letting out the nickname she secretly used for her.

Wendy Lawson: [Ahem, that was just a slip of the tongue…]

Jessie Sterling: [It’s fine. Quincy has called me that before.]

’Though Quincy prefers to call me a money-shredder and a childish brat.’

Wendy Lawson breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that.

“By the way, milady, do you know what’s happened to Liam Lawson?” Wendy Lawson asked in her next message.

Jessie Sterling hadn’t been paying attention to him. After finding out that Liam Lawson was the one who had tried to set her up that night, she hadn’t actually taken any action against him.

It wasn’t that she was some kind of saint, ready to turn the other cheek.

Rather, the moment she learned that Liam Lawson had contacted Leo Goodman and they were conspiring against her, she knew he could only be Leo Goodman’s disposable pawn.

’Perhaps the promises Thorne Pictures made to Liam Lawson were just that tempting, or perhaps Liam Lawson was just all flash and no substance. He clearly didn’t consider that if this whole affair blew up online and truly dragged me through the mud, could he really expect to come out of it unscathed?’

’If the plan was to pin the crime of exploiting young artists on the boss of Apex, did he, the “exploited” young artist, think he’d still have a future career? With the reputation of being a kept man, could he really attract the kind of big-spending “girlfriend fans”? Thorne Pictures would have to have money to burn to be willing to launch the career of such a “bad investment”—a “low-quality stock” they knew was a lost cause from the start, right?’

’Liam Lawson had no chance of a successful debut, and his former company, which he had royally screwed over, wouldn’t just let him off the hook.’

The massive penalty for breaching his contract alone, Jessie figured, would be enough to ruin him.

’To put it bluntly, he was just some guy who made money through his online accounts. Now that he’d had a falling out with his former company, and since those accounts belonged to the company, he was left with virtually no source of income.’

’For someone so desperate to become an overnight sensation, to have his world come crashing down like that… you don’t have to imagine it to know how awful that must feel.’

“No, I haven’t heard. What’s wrong with him?” Jessie asked casually.

Wendy sucked in a breath. “He’s in a really pathetic state right now.”

The people who went to Paris with them had started a group chat without Liam Lawson.

Since Daisy Woods and Liam Lawson were from the same company, Daisy had been sharing daily updates in the group about the situation between Liam and the company.

“Daisy says that when Liam first went up against his former company, he was incredibly arrogant, not worried at all about the contract penalty. But now he’s completely changed his tune, groveling and begging. Today, he even went to the company to plead with their boss to let him off the hook…”

Wendy Lawson’s voice came through the phone. “We’re guessing he must have had a falling-out with the people at Thorne Pictures. They were in contact with him privately, but nothing was ever put down in a contract. So basically, he just got played.”

Jessie Sterling wasn’t surprised to hear this.

’The moment Liam Lawson decided to get involved in these underhanded games between powerful players, he was destined to become a disposable pawn.’

’He was just too foolish and let himself be completely taken in by empty promises.’

“But him begging like that isn’t the worst of it…” Wendy was still sharing the fresh gossip she’d heard with Jessie. “The really bad part is the boss at Daisy’s company. He’s always had a reputation for having connections, you know, on both sides of the law. The company took a huge, humiliating loss because of a nobody like Liam Lawson, and when the boss found out, he probably took matters into his own hands. TSK, Daisy said their company had a team-building event today, and she saw what Liam looked like. Oh my god, apparently he was beaten up so badly he had to come beg to see their boss while hooked up to an IV drip.”

Jessie raised an eyebrow. “How are you so sure it was his company’s boss who did it?”

’Actually,’ Jessie thought, ’there are probably quite a few people who’d want to go after Liam Lawson.’

’Never mind anyone else; she’d just been too busy to think about him, but now that he came to mind, even her own hands were getting a little itchy.’

Wendy Lawson didn’t catch the real meaning behind Jessie’s question and immediately sent a voice message: “Isn’t it obvious? Daisy said their boss had already told people at the company that he was going to destroy Liam Lawson as soon as he got back.”

Jessie: “…”

’Since it wasn’t clear who was actually behind it, she had a feeling Daisy’s boss might be taking the blame for someone else.’

’Thinking back to the night Arya Thorne had called her, ranting hysterically about Leo Goodman, she figured that besides hating Leo, Arya must also hate Liam Lawson’s guts by now.’

’She had to bite the bullet and protect the former, but the latter was just a nobody. Arya Thorne would probably have no problem arranging for someone to take care of him.’

’But that was just her guess. She had no proof.’

“So how is he now?” Jessie asked.

Wendy: “A total mess, anyway. Besides, he’s such an ungrateful backstabber. What company would ever dare to hire him now? You look away for one second and he’d sell you out. His reputation is completely trashed. It doesn’t matter if the truth is that he conspired with Thorne Pictures to set you up, or if he really was a kept man—who would want to get involved with garbage like that?

And their boss is savage. He still hasn’t taken back Liam’s social media account. I heard the boss wants him to see all the backstage messages for himself—who knows how many people are flaming him every day. What’s even more savage is that Liam is still trying to clear his own name. He’s not even thinking. In this industry, who can clean up their image without a marketing team and an army of paid commenters? He’s all alone, and he thinks he can turn things around? The moment he posts anything, their boss gets people to flood the comments and stir up trouble. His little schemes are no match for Daisy’s boss!”

Jessie: “…”

’Looks like Liam Lawson really is an absolute idiot.’

’A wise man knows when to yield to circumstances. He couldn’t even grasp the situation right in front of him, yet he still thought he could come out on top. He really thought way too highly of himself.’

After finishing her chat with Wendy Lawson, Jessie was just about to arrive at her destination for the day.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep