Chapter 867: Chapter 273: The Opportunity Is Just Right
"Watch closely, three of a kind with a pair," Lily placed her cards on the table, then looked at her dad triumphantly, shaking the remaining cards in her hand, "Warning, only two left."
"Hmm... pass." Scanning his cards with a frown, Adrian said helplessly, then looked at Kate sitting opposite.
"No." Kate said calmly, her delicate face showing no expression as she placed her cards face-down on the coffee table.
"Yes! Triple!" The little one shouted joyfully, slamming her cards onto the coffee table, then giggling eagerly reached for the sticky notes on the other side, about to stick one on her dad’s face, even waving her arms: "Hurry, no cheating, Daddy!"
"Do you like doing this so much, Lily?" Adrian couldn’t help but ask. Apart from his eyes, his face was covered with sticky notes, dangling like shreds from a shredder.
"Stop babbling, wait till I finish sticking." The little one protested unhappily, sticking out her tongue to lick the sticky note several times until it was soaked on one end with saliva, then carefully assessing her dad’s face position before smack, pinning it to his right temple.
"Since it was Daddy who invented the game, naturally he should try it a few more times himself," Lily said, pleased, clapping her hands after finishing her task.
Looking at his daughter’s gleeful expression, Adrian couldn’t help but feel both amused and helpless, alright, he shouldn’t have taught her the punishment game of "Fight the Landlord" and sticky notes in the first place. However... he glanced at Kate, who also had sticky notes on her face but far fewer than his, who was still calmly shuffling the cards, although the corner of her mouth slightly twitched up.
"Alright, baby, it’s time for bed, it’s very late." Adrian said, to which the little one shrugged and raised her hands to her dad.
"Aren’t you too old to be carried to your room?" He said, but still picked her up, kissed her cheek, and walked upstairs.
He came to the little one’s bedroom, tidied her bed, and watched over her as she washed and brushed until she climbed into bed, then got up to leave: "Good night, dear, sweet dreams."
"Daddy," Lily suddenly called out to him, blinking her eyes in the dim room, "will you be staying here tonight?"
"Well..." Adrian scratched his head, "that depends on your mom."
"Oh, alright," the little one sighed, "When will you persuade Mom to come back? It’s not like you at all, Daddy."
"Oh?" Adrian raised an eyebrow in surprise, "What is Daddy usually like?"
"Hmm..." Lily was about to speak but suddenly became alert, looking her dad up and down, then suddenly pulled the blanket over her head, "I’m going to sleep."
Blinking, Adrian left with a chuckle, closing the door behind him. Alright, even if the little one didn’t say it, he could guess; a big meanie, always bullying Mom, always thinking he can control everything, invincible balbalbal... These were either from Lily’s own conclusions or instilled by Kate or Charlize, not objective at all, but...
Adrian suddenly realized it was a big issue, not a problem now, but when the little one hits her rebellious phase, who knows? The growth of a child, in a sense, is a process of rebelling against their parents, from obeying everything to gradually building their own personality and worldview, rejecting their parents at every turn.
Everyone is an independent individual, no one belongs entirely to another by nature, not even a child to their parents. Adrian managed to keep the women around him with all sorts of means, a halo of influence, and power. So family education is vital in determining whether a child can grow into an outstanding person. Parents always want their kids to grow in the way they’ve planned because it’s beneficial, but children prefer seeing the world through their own eyes, even if wrongly, as it’s instinct as an independent being.
If things aren’t managed well, conflicts are inevitable. Adrian has always been careful to portray a strict yet approachable and communicative father figure in front of Lily and his daughters. Though, the latter two seem to be going well, but the first... well, who can help it when there’re so many aunts?
In this scenario, Adrian can’t precisely grasp his daughters’ psychological state, making it hard to predict how Lily might change during her rebellious phase. If by then, anything about him and Little Emma slipped...
Not telling Lily about what happened between Dad and Emma’s sister was a decision made with Kate and Little Emma separately; no one can predict the little one’s reaction, being precocious yet still young. So to prevent any mishaps, it’s agreed to keep it from her for now, until she’s a bit older, with a more complete worldview, then it’s not too late to explain.
"Even so, it’s like a ticking time bomb." Adrian muttered as he walked down the stairs.
"What are you talking about?" Kate, still tidying the living room, looked up and asked.
"Hmm... nothing," course Adrian wouldn’t mention it now, "I was talking about the media, always exaggerating things, even the most reputable outlets do it."
"Aren’t they your watchdogs?" Kate teased slightly.
"Not all of them." Adrian shrugged, "If I’d known they’d put my name on it, I should’ve listened carefully instead of nodding casually."
"That’s what you get for your own actions." Kate gave him a glance, her tone even more mocking.
Adrian couldn’t help but roll his eyes. After so long, she was still so blunt, but then again, it was indeed his own doing. The situation was simple; although October is mainly a booming TV season and the second off-season for movies, many films still opted for release, such as the low-budget collegiate comedy starring Leighton Meester, "Accepted."
Of course, with Halloween at the end of the month, horror films were also plentiful, among them... Bossworth’s new gruesome thriller: "Saw."
As mentioned before, the movie was pretty mediocre in its first few dozen minutes, not much different from standard horror flicks, except maybe in suspense. But in the last minute, when the initially presumed corpse stood up to declare the game over, the film suddenly elevated to another level.
This shockingly manipulative feeling, toying with everyone including the audience, took over 99% in the previous life, so how could it not now? Thus, even though the film received mixed reviews post-release, some critics mocked it as a self-perceived divine pervert’s vulgar game, ordinary viewers still spread it as the best thriller of the year.
With Bossworth’s new team working increasingly well, even if "Saw" didn’t participate in events like the Sundance Film Festival to boost its notoriety, their marketing allowed it to gross 7 million on its first day, recouping its costs effortlessly, leaving no need to care about those reviews.
If this were all, it’d be manageable, as having both critical acclaim and box office success, plus being a low-budget film, isn’t easy to come by. Since both can’t be had, it’s natural to choose the more profitable part. The problem arose when they listed Adrian’s name in the screenwriter section during distribution, even if third after the two other writers, it was still publicly released.
This granted some people room to attack—well, maybe not attack, but endlessly declare in their columns or other media platforms that the script of "Saw" didn’t match Adrian’s ace screenwriter status; it’s a downright mistake.
As they continued leading readers to associate with the notion of "The ace screenwriter showing signs of declining," debating whether it was appropriate for such a well-known figure, a big-name director, philanthropist, patriot, and media mogul, to have written an anarchist story.
As many who love him, detest him; while before they might suppress discontent due to his power or work, once given a chance, they’d undoubtedly leap at the opportunity to lash out a bit.
Of course, this doesn’t hold much practical effect, mostly just to annoy, given he’s a media tycoon. Even so, Adrian still felt, how to say, caught in the crossfire. During the script discussions, he used a brainstorming format, and for many scripts, this was how he communicated with other writers, everyone sitting together drinking beer, chatting, then piecing the storyline bit by bit.
When discussing the "Saw" script, Adrian didn’t participate much, merely threw out an outline, letting them discuss, occasionally steering the topic. He spoke most at the end, suggesting an alternative entrance for the mastermind, such as designing a person supposedly dead at the outset, with blood all over, then dramatically standing up at the end to declare the game over—a much more shocking reveal.
In any case, most of the work was done by the screenwriters, but when the movie was completed and ready to be released this October, Bossworth asked Adrian if they could leverage his fame for promotion. Adrian originally thought they would just say something like the Miracle Director was optimistic about the movie, but he didn’t expect them to put his name under the writer’s credit. If he had asked a few more questions at the time, he definitely wouldn’t have agreed.
"Well, I brought this on myself," Adrian shrugged, changing the topic, "By the way, are you planning to take a break for the next few months?"
"Is there a problem?" Kate picked up the cleaned plates and went into the kitchen. Whenever Adrian came over, she never kept the maids at home and insisted on tidying up everything herself.
"Of course not," Adrian followed her into the kitchen, leaning on the doorframe, "I just think there’s a script very suitable for you, and I hope you would consider it."
"I already have a movie contract, Ed," Kate said without turning her head.
"So what? Sophie is also directing her first feature film but still agreed to be the female lead in ’Da Vinci Code,’ just a slight delay," Adrian shrugged and said.
For high-grossing movies, Adrian never misses the chance to seize them. So when Dan Brown’s novel was freshly out and hadn’t been released, he sent someone to negotiate the adaptation rights. This year, he even had Universal collaborate with DreamWorks to start filming. Of course, the male lead would be Hanks, and the female lead naturally would be the newly crowned actress, Sophie.
Although Sophie is transitioning to directing, starring in a high-quality movie from time to time doesn’t hurt her. Thanks to Adrian, rumors like "an actress winning an award will cause a decline" have no ground to survive.
"I’ll think about it," Kate said in a calm tone.
Adrian couldn’t help but touch his nose and again changed the subject: "So, you and Lily will be at the party in a couple of days, right? You’ve turned it down twice now, and everyone’s finding it strange."
"Haven’t you prepared an excuse for me?" Kate finally turned to glance at him, then quickly looked away.
"Of course, but continuously refusing isn’t good, is it?" Adrian continued to persuade, "It’s just a party; it’s no big deal. Besides, you still haven’t given Megan any advice."
The party he was referring to was a regular gathering among several mothers, where they discussed children to strengthen their bonds and exchange insights. Even if they couldn’t become as close as family, at least they wouldn’t be at odds with each other. Looking across Hollywood and even the entire United States, only Adrian could orchestrate such an event.
These gatherings were always held regularly, and practically no one ever missed them until Kate broke the tradition. After she left his mansion over the Little Emma issue, although she settled down after some internal struggle with Emma’s and Charlize’s persuasion and agreed for Lily to stay, she still refused to meet Adrian.
It’s been almost three weeks now, and October is more than half over. She missed the two mother gatherings in this period. For this reason, Adrian had to devise excuses for her, intending to keep the matter confined, which Charlize had specifically suggested for Kate, and he had agreed. However, missing three times in a row was a bit much. In fact, when Kate missed the second time, Gwyneth was pushed by others to probe indirectly.
Just last week, Kate finally relented, allowing Adrian to visit to see his daughter — without staying overnight — even though there was still no intention of returning, it was a good progress. Naturally, Adrian took the opportunity to make further efforts. According to the plan, he was going to Europe next.
"I’ll consider it," Kate repeated her phrase.
"Hey, Kate, you can’t just brush me off like that," Adrian called out, "I need a definite answer."
"I said I’ll think about it," Kate frowned and turned her head to glower at him, "If I don’t consider it, how am I supposed to give you a definite answer?"
She turned her head back immediately, as if she had no desire to look at him even for another second, so Kate didn’t see the corner of Adrian’s mouth lift.
Even though it was just a brief moment of over ten seconds, he clearly saw her eyes reflected a hint of hesitation. What did that mean? It meant she was serious about considering, not just brushing off. She was indeed hesitant. This was... wonderful!
"Alright, Kate." Adrian stepped forward and hugged the first woman he loved after his rebirth from behind. She trembled slightly, then her body stiffened but didn’t push his hands off nor turn her head.
"I know, some things can’t go back, and I absolutely won’t deny some mistakes, but... I still hope you can return," Adrian rested his head on her shoulder, "I know this request is rude and shameless, but I still have to say it because... that’s what I truly think."
Kate said nothing, but from a side view, it seemed she closed her eyes, and her chest heaved, clearly in turmoil.
"Can I stay over tonight?" Adrian then asked softly in her ear.
The woman in his arms quivered, and he could see from the back of her neck that her throat moved obviously, and her breathing became slightly heavier.
After a moment, Kate slowly turned around and looked up at Adrian closely, "...You should go back."
As she said this, she tried to move away but didn’t extend her hand to push him.
"Don’t be like this to me, okay?" Adrian said gently, holding her tighter.
"I should be saying that to you, Ed!" Kate became somewhat agitated, "Every time it’s like this, always pushing me to make choices, always forcing me to make the choices you want! Move aside! I warn you, if you keep blocking the way, I’ll call the police and tell them you’re attempting to rape me!"
As she finished this sentence, she realized the inappropriateness of her words. Looking at Adrian again, his eyes had turned dangerous. The next second, before Kate could react, he grabbed her and pressed her onto the kitchen table, sweeping things off with a crash.
"Stop, Ed!" Kate struggled in panic, "Let go of me!"
"Shh, Kate, keep your voice down," Adrian wore a wicked smile, "Don’t wake Lily."
With that, like many villains, he leaned over to lick her cheek.
"Damn it, you bastard!" Kate was both angry and anxious, flailing her arms and legs even more fiercely, "I warn you, Ed, I was trained in action scenes; if I hit your vital parts, you’re done for."
Despite this, the internally fragile yet outwardly tough Kate didn’t realize her panic carried... a bit of anticipation.
"It’s fine, I won’t give you a chance," Adrian laughed heartily, grabbing her thin t-shirt and tearing it with a ripping sound.
A short scream echoed through the air. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian () to cast votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)