King of Hollywood-Chapter 595 - 3 Don’t Reject Me

Despite Michael Jackson’s departure soon after and his lack of a clear stance, Adrian knew it was only a matter of time. Michael surely knew some of Sony’s schemes, but not clearly. Now that Adrian had explicitly explained the potential actions Sony may use—these events largely occurred in his past life—if Michael still didn’t understand, that would be incredibly stupid.

Michael did not actually want to sell off Elvis and The Beatles’ record rights. With the lessons from ’95, he knew these weren’t things he could hold onto long-term. It was just that the people at Sony were too greedy, offering to buy something worth $2 billion for half its price. However, it was also true that Sony had always wanted to wrest back the rights to Elvis and The Beatles’s records from Michael, initially promised to give back half the record rights as a lure to align with Michael. So, offering $1 billion was quite normal.

Since Adrian had warned him and sincerely offered 2.2 billion, it was almost certain that Michael would seize the opportunity to let go.

Adrian didn’t overly care about indirectly helping Michael Jackson with this issue. What he wanted were just the rights to those records. Regarding Michael himself, Adrian had neither liked nor disliked him. A person who could lead an era definitely had extraordinary qualities. Truly talented and indeed a good person, Michael was a standout among African Americans. Adrian did not skimp on his respect in that regard.

But was he really so flawless? Of course not. Take vitiligo, for example, Michael’s skin did start turning white from it but that didn’t mean he had no desires somewhere deep in his heart to become Caucasian, especially after facing so much injustice due to his skin color.

Well, let’s not talk about that. Regardless, Michael Jackson still deserved to be called great. If Adrian managed to buy those records, the spotlight on him would lessen significantly. Some events might not occur, and the later years could possibly change, potentially leading him to further success.

Michael might still need some time to consider, but nothing would deviate from Adrian’s predictions, just like how Jessica eventually chose the third solution.

Adrian had arranged everything well for her; besides him and her, no one else knew about the pregnancy—oh, wait, Cameron knew too. After all, Dark Angel wasn’t a show that was filmed and aired episode by episode. They had to finish filming the second season before Jessica started showing and without any excessively vigorous movements, something naturally Cameron had to be communicated about.

"Damn it! What the hell, Ed! I warned you about this when you were in New Zealand! Why did you still let this happen?!" Cameron was very angry upon hearing the news and yelled at Adrian.

"If I remember correctly, you were reminding me about Jessica’s age, and clearly, you remembered it wrong," Adrian replied with a shrug, then consoled him, "Come on, James, I’m not irresponsible. Keeping this under wraps for now is also for her future."

Facing this unscrupulous man, Cameron had no temper left and could only start making adjustments to the filming of Dark Angel. Fortunately, most of the necessary scenes had been shot. There weren’t many action scenes left to adjust slightly. Plus, the script had a subplot of the female lead getting pregnant which was never realized for various reasons. Now they could modify it slightly to create two versions of the screenplay. If they could complete the filming before Jessica’s abdomen became noticeable, they would use the original script; if it became evident, they would use the successfully pregnant version.

As for Jessica, after she had given her answer, Adrian had pacified her quite a bit, and for now, she felt temporarily at ease. As long as her brother, who liked to frequently visit and play at her sister’s place, didn’t catch on, there would be no issues. It wasn’t difficult; Jessica had once mentioned her brother was also interested in pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. Giving him a role to distract him would work well, and "The Fast and the Furious" was a perfect fit.

A theme that could be turned into several films definitely had its merits, so there was no reason to overlook "The Fast and the Furious" series, and the investment wasn’t too substantial, which was perfect for New Line to handle. Moreover, Vin Diesel was under his command, Jordana was still deeply connected with Dennis, and it would be a perfect opportunity for Penelope to play the female secondary lead — her films in Europe were more artistic, and such films were certainly not popular in Hollywood. It would be better to start with some commercial films to build up her popularity, even if she were just a flower vase; this was a conclusion Adrian had drawn based on his memories.

If Joshua were a bit older, he might have been suitable to try out for the police officer role, given his facial features were quite similar to Jessica’s, and he could be considered bright and handsome. Unfortunately, he was still somewhat young and would have to settle for a more ordinary role as a racer.

In any case, this was all within Adrian’s grasp; thus, there was no need for excessive concern. After arranging everything at the company, he currently focused most of his energy on someone who had once almost exceeded his control.

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"How does it feel?" Adrian’s voice rang out beside her, and then he sat down next to her, his familiar scent enveloping her instantly, causing Natalie to be momentarily distracted.

However, she quickly adjusted, put the screenplay down, took a deep breath, and said with lowered eyelids, "It’s... great, excellent. There’s a kind of... severe feeling inside it, just like the name of the screenplay."

She was telling the truth. After reading the screenplay, Natalie was quickly captivated by the tenacious and resilient female character. As a girl who had played many roles and was mature for her age, she had her own judgment concerning the quality of screenplays and roles. This screenplay was truly enticing — although sometimes the final filming outcome could differ from how it reads — if it hadn’t been a screenplay given to her by Adrian, Natalie would have had her agent fight for the role immediately.

"Tell me about your understanding of the character." At that moment, his hand reached out and wrapped around her waist, making her body suddenly tense up, and she let out a breath uncomfortably, but soon adjusted and relaxed again.

She glanced at Adrian, who was surveying her with a gentle smile and an appreciative look, no different from before, as if the events of that day never happened.

"A strong, even stubborn girl, like a weed, carrying the heavy burden of family on her frail shoulders. She tends to be very cold because she must remain strong in front of her brother, sister, and mentally unstable mother, but her eyes should convey stubbornness and resilience, no matter how desperate or dangerous, nothing can stop her," Natalie refocused on the character, ignoring the hand stroking back and forth on her waist.

She had agreed to Adrian’s terms that day largely due to his dominant position. Natalie was very clear that facing overwhelming pressure, even with all her wits, she still had no power to resist. She was intelligent and pragmatic, never hesitating to compromise when necessary. Foolish actions like recklessly confronting unbeatable opponents were not something she would engage in. Moreover, with time and the nature Adrian had always shown, he would eventually shift his attention towards others, and by then, she could seek an opportunity to free herself, besides...

Despite compromising because of Adrian’s threat, Natalie had considered his terms, yet whether he would fulfill them, when, and in what manner were all uncertain issues. Hence, she hadn’t dwelled on it too much, focusing all her energy on studying to calm her uneasy heart until today when he placed such a script in front of her.

Such a story that could resonate with people and such a distinct character made even Natalie’s heart flutter slightly, thinking about Adrian’s accomplishments and apparent intentions.

Thus, after the incident at the end of September, although they often communicated, they hardly met in person. Even when Adrian visited New York to see his uncle during the New Year, he only greeted Natalie over the phone. The long duration and his intimate familiarity with her body sparked Natalie’s desire completely with just a little teasing.

"Beginning of next month? Why?" Natalie couldn’t help but wonder.

"I think you wouldn’t want to rush around the set in thick clothes during the sweltering summer, right?" Adrian said with a smile, "Moreover, I have more than one movie to produce this year, so I must finish shooting ’Winter’s Bone’ within six weeks. You must fully immerse yourself in the role by then, and besides... if it gets postponed to next year, you’ll be another year older."

Natalie’s heart raced involuntarily; his words confirmed her earlier guesses.

"I understand," she said after a pause.

"Yes, I know, but there are many ways to supplement protein, and you don’t have to be a strict vegetarian. As for your parents, couldn’t you just keep it a little secret from them?" Adrian spoke quickly, then tenderly kissed her lips: "Don’t reject me."

The words she had almost spoken were swallowed back. Taking a deep breath, Natalie chose to compromise again, but added, "It must be something I can accept."

"No problem," Adrian laughed heartily.

How to influence an extremely smart and egotistical person? It was simple: make her gradually compromise on things she insisted on, like making love in the study or giving up strict vegetarianism.

Vegetarianism was deeply rooted in her life, as her entire family were vegetarians; making her compromise on this was like creating an opening in her heart, which could eventually be completely broken down with careful digging. These changes were subtle and small, which is why they didn’t easily alarm her, and step by step, she would fall into his control.

Like Adrian had once said, when she continuously breaks her own lower limits in front of you, there will be no lower limits left. Sophie had proven this thoroughly, and it was entirely feasible to apply it to Natalie. He didn’t see anything wrong with it; since she had agreed to his terms, nothing he did could be considered excessive, and besides, just being in bed couldn’t fully capture the beauty of making love; and in terms of vegetarianism, if one foolishly believed like some vegetarians that plant protein could completely replace animal protein and that consuming plant protein was healthier, they were utterly wrong.

However, this required that he could restrain her while showing her the benefits, ensuring her obedience.

Thus, after the end of September, Adrian had someone go to Missouri to gather insights, then based on the feedback received, he organized the outline for ’Winter’s Bone’ and let the screenwriters complete it according to his vision. After dealing with the IT bubble issues, he called Natalie from New York and handed it off to her.

Of course, he also took the opportunity to savor her long-missed body; Adrian hadn’t lied—he truly missed her.

The novel ’Winter’s Bone’ would likely come out in 2006, and a few years later, it would be adapted into a movie. Considering suitable roles for Natalie, Adrian promptly used it, as both her appearance and aura were perfect for it. Just thinking about the achievements this movie had obtained, Adrian’s plans to reassure Natalie by offering an attractive sweetener first were clear.

But this sweetener wasn’t so easy to secure; Adrian naturally had his arrangements, just as he had said that day.

"You will like the life I’ve arranged for you, Nata." (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit qidian.com to vote and support. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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