Chapter 65. Sharon’s Dark Plan
Lily looked at the wound near the corner of Sharon’s eye and said with concern, "Sharon, you really took a risk this time. Weren’t you afraid Jacintha might actually ruin your face?"
Half-lying on the hospital bed, Sharon responded coldly, "If you want something, you have to pay the price first. You’ve been with me in the entertainment industry for three years now. Don’t you understand that principle yet?"
"But… but there must’ve been a safer way to handle it."
"Safe? If I only cared about my safety, it would’ve been too late. Every artist in the entertainment world is scrambling to climb to the top of the pyramid. If I don’t quickly eliminate the threat, I’ll be the one getting cast aside."
Sharon always believed that if she wanted to be ruthless to others, she had to be even more ruthless to herself. Only by doing that could she remain standing in the industry for the long haul. Though she had been raised like a princess in Wulfhart, the wolves of Wulfhart never truly respected her. If it hadn’t been for her parents saving Raphael’s father, she might be living worse than a stray dog now. That’s why, only when she had countless fans and was glorified by the elite of human society, would Wulfhart show her respect.
Of course, Sharon had made sure to act with caution when plotting against Jacintha. The day before they officially shot the scene together, she had secretly ordered the props team to replace the candelabrum with a lookalike that was much lighter.
So if she got hit by the altered candelabrum, she would at most suffer a minor injury. The wound she sustained was just at the end of her eyebrow, but she deliberately had Lily claim it was at the corner of her eye. That way, people would think she might have suffered serious damage to her eye.
If Sharon had injured her finger or toe, people would have likely brushed it off as a minor issue, just a quick bandage and done. But the eyes are an incredibly vital part of the body, especially for an actor. That’s why Raphael was so tense, to the point of rage.
Lily brought the soup to Sharon and said, “Sharon, we’ve finally managed to kick Jacintha out of the film. I don’t think Mr. Wulfhart will want to see her again either.”
Sharon smiled without replying, simply enjoying the soup. Outside the hospital room, Raphael stood in the hallway. After finishing his phone call, he didn’t return to the room right away. Instead, he kept fiddling with his phone, looking restless and conflicted.
Lucas - the man who had been following him - spoke up. “Mr. Wulfhart, the doctor said Miss Rosenthal only suffered a mild concussion. A few days of rest and she’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry so much.”
Raphael furrowed his brows tightly, his voice edged with irritation. “I’m not worried about her. I’m thinking about Jacintha…”
Realizing he had misspoken, he abruptly fell silent, his expression turning grim. Lucas quickly lowered his head, pretending not to hear anything.
Moments later, Raphael asked coldly, “Has Jacintha called you?”
Lucas carefully observed his expression before answering, “No, she hasn’t.”
Raphael’s brows knitted even more tightly as he continued fidgeting with his phone. He opened the call log, no missed calls from Jacintha. He checked his messages, still nothing from her.
He scowled, unable to suppress his anger. “When she came asking for money, she was as docile as a kitten, nodding to everything I said! Now that she’s seduced Jason, she thinks she has his backing and dares to openly defy me!”
Lucas immediately pieced things together and realized exactly who “she” referred to. He said, “Boss, would you like me to give Ms. Jacintha a little reminder?”
Lucas’s word “reminder” was, in truth, a warning, or more accurately, a threat.
But what exactly did Lucas want to threaten Jacintha about? Naturally, it was to intimidate her into stopping her nonsense and quickly calling to apologize, bowing her head and admitting fault to Raphael. Otherwise, she could forget about having peace.
Lucas immediately reached for his phone to call Jacintha, but Raphael angrily pushed it away, "No calling! I want to see how long she can stay stubborn. When that time comes, she better not dream of crawling back to beg for my forgiveness!"
Lucas silently thought: you look more like you're waiting for Jacintha to come and plead with you.
Although Raphael had forbidden any call to "remind" Jacintha, as a smart assistant, Lucas certainly wouldn’t just sit idly by. If he wanted to continue being valued by Raphael, he had to help him solve his problems.
After Raphael returned to the hospital room, Lucas secretly sent Jacintha a message: "Ms. Jacintha, now would be a good time for you to call the boss and say whatever you want."
The point of Lucas’s message wasn’t the content of the call itself, but rather to make it look like Jacintha was the one who took the initiative to reach out to Raphael. As a devoted assistant, Lucas felt anxious on his boss’s behalf.
Lucas’s message sank like a stone to the bottom of the sea; even by nightfall, he still hadn’t received a reply from Jacintha. And he didn’t dare tell Raphael about it either.
Around 7 p.m., Raphael returned to the Wulfhart estate for dinner.
Laura quietly said to Raphael, “I don’t know what happened to Jason, but ever since he got back home, he’s been gloomy. I asked him about it, but he kept saying he was fine. You’re close to him. Could you talk to him for me and see if something’s troubling him?”
Raphael thought to himself, “He’s not in trouble. He’s upset because I scolded him in front of everyone.”
But he didn’t dare speak the truth to Laura. He simply nodded. “I’ll try to talk to him.”
When he reached the second-floor balcony, just as Laura had said, Jason - usually so playful and carefree - was now hunched over, squatting on the ground, his fingers fiddling with Kaelthor’s pot of purple chrysanthemums.
That particular type of chrysanthemum was something Kaelthor cherished deeply. It was a rare species, notoriously difficult to care for. When in bloom, its petals were as fine as silk, its hue and pattern reminiscent of ink brush strokes, serene, yet captivating.