Chapter 239 Ms. Jolie Guides Me?
"I heard from people on the crew that he's been coming to see Aaron a lot lately, but actually he's here for Thalia."
"Why is he here for Thalia?" Remy wasn't too clear about what was going on in Emerald City.
When Luca heard this, he felt Remy had asked the key question. He scooted over and said seriously: "Well, you don't know this, but Thalia's family is loaded. She just threw down 2 billion dollars to plug the production's funding gap. Plus she's in this business herself, so wouldn't investors be falling over themselves to get on her good side?"
"Rich, beautiful, talented, and nice too - she's basically a future tycoon, right?" Luca's words left Remy shocked. After a long pause, he looked at Luca and couldn't help asking: "Did she pay you or drug you? The way you're praising her, you could be her official spokesperson."
"Am I?" Luca was confused. He was just telling the truth! How was that bragging?
"What do you think?"
He'd met Thalia twice, not close friends. Thalia came from money, grew up pampered in luxury, and her personality was indeed different from others who were all coy and affected. She knew how to scheme and manipulate, but she didn't bother with it.
That attitude of being above fame and fortune was quite captivating in these extravagant settings.
On the other side, Aaron looked at Rainey with mixed feelings of worry and joy. The joy was because once he got to know Rainey, his next production wouldn't lack investors. The worry was that Thalia was hard to please.
Every time Rainey came, it was for Thalia. If this kept up, how could he handle it?
"Aaron."
"Mr. Ward, Thalia's scenes are done, just the final wrap-up shots left."
Rainey wasn't worried. As long as the show hadn't aired, there'd be plenty of chances to meet, right?
"No rush, I'll work around Aaron's schedule."
"Mr. Ward, why don't you try contacting Thalia yourself?"
Rainey would like to, but he was afraid William might be around when he contacted Thalia. If he reached out, it would only hurt him, no benefit.
Besides, William was deep and inscrutable, never showing his emotions, with sharp instincts. Before he even opened his mouth, William might have already figured out the whole situation.
"Aaron, when businessmen chase fame and profit, they also need to be cautious."
Aaron broke out in a cold sweat, thinking, don't I know what you mean?
What caution? You just can't reach Thalia, right?
After Aaron and Rainey exchanged pleasantries, mixing truth and fiction, Rainey left. Aaron sat in his chair and drank a whole bottle of water.
Remy sat in his chair fanning himself, watching Aaron and Rainey's back-and-forth end. He turned to Gregory: "Do you know who that guy was?"
"Rainey."
"Besides that?"
Gregory looked at Remy questioningly and said: "You'll find out eventually."
The circle of tycoons wasn't big - there'd be plenty of chances to meet in the future.
...........
Kurt had pinned his hopes on Nora for days, but hadn't seen any concrete results from her. He pretty much knew this wasn't going to work out. Zephyrine had been a wealthy wife for years - she had plenty of ways to handle these things. Dealing with someone like Nora would be easy.
But right now, both Kurt and Zephyrine knew they shouldn't waste time on these unimportant people. Nora wasn't worth worrying about.
Emerald City had no shortage of entertainment venues. Not to mention the various private clubs William had built at huge expense - just the entertainment venues developed by business partners could keep them busy with something different every day of the year.
Angelina, as William's right hand, managed most of the Celestia Group's affairs and was basically William's representative in Emerald City. Since Kurt couldn't get to William, he could only place his slim hopes on Angelina.
At nightfall, summer rain hit, washing over the entire city.
The day's blazing sun meeting the evening's downpour didn't cool things down at all - instead it got more stifling.
"Ms. Jolie, the car's stopped at the entrance and can't come in. We'll need to walk a bit."
Seeing the pouring rain, secretary Zane added: "The shower should pass quickly. Should we wait?"
Angelina had been entertaining clients that evening and had drunk too much. Standing drunk on the damp, hot steps, the heat rushed straight to her head: "No need, let's walk. It'll help me sober up."
Seeing this, Zane said nothing more. He opened his umbrella to hold it over her head, but a black umbrella with a Mercedes logo got there first.
"Ms. Jolie."
"What brings you here?"
"Probably the bitter winds from Siberia," Kurt joked lightly.
Angelina laughed softly: "Kurt always jokes. Calling it bitter winds - doesn't that not match your status, Kurt?"
"What status I have now, Ms. Jolie knows better than anyone."
Kurt outranked her, so Angelina couldn't very well take his umbrella. After all, she wasn't William. Kurt was still an old-guard industrialist - his level aside, she still had to show him respect on the surface. She couldn't drag William down.
Angelina took the umbrella from Zane instead.
Walking through the rain with their umbrellas, Kurt spoke bluntly: "Ms. Jolie knows my situation. The company's waiting for funds to survive. As for Mr. Brown, since those photos came out last time, he's been impossible to reach. Ms. Jolie, if you can, could you help me out?"
Angelina walked calmly forward with her umbrella: "Kurt, you know Mr. Brown doesn't like outsiders prying into his private affairs. As his subordinates, we shouldn't go looking for trouble. I understand your urgency, but I can't promise I can get Mr. Brown to see you. I can only try."
In the adult world, not agreeing clearly meant refusal.
Kurt understood what Angelina's words meant.
He walked beside her, tilting his umbrella to avoid the wisteria hanging from a garden wall.
"If it's possible, could Ms. Jolie give me some guidance?"
"I'm lost in the fog myself - how dare I presume to teach Kurt?" Angelina's steps were faster than usual today.
From the alley entrance to where the car was parked was just three to five minutes. Angelina and Kurt stood by the car. Zane opened the door, waiting for Angelina to get in. She looked at Kurt: "Kurt, whoever tied the bell must untie it."
..........
At 3 AM, someone knocked urgently on Nora's hotel room door. The urgent sound made her afraid to open it, until her phone on the nightstand rang.
She answered. Zephyrine's voice came through: "It's me. Open the door."
That low voice made Nora's whole body tremble. She was scared, but didn't dare not open the door.
"Zephyrine, it's so late - what's going on?"
Zephyrine didn't speak. She put the bag she was carrying on the TV cabinet in the room, along with an invitation: "Tomorrow night, legal circle cocktail party. This is the invitation. You should know what it means."