America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

Having sung an a cappella rendition of "Scarborough Fair," Silsa Ronan stopped and, tilting her head, turned to Martin and asked, "Did I sing alright?"

Encouragingly, Martin said, "You sang quite well."

Looking around, Silsa noticed people in the front hall and what appeared to be surveillance cameras, which made her feel that it wasn't appropriate to perform something like the splits.

She was just about to ask Martin where his office was when Bruce approached from behind.

Martin gestured to Silsa and asked, "Is there a problem?"

Bruce nodded, glanced at Silsa, and considering she might be one of those involved, said, "Someone just stalked the two of you and took photos secretly."

Silsa froze, confused. Taking photos with a camera was something she often did, so how had she become the one being secretly photographed?

Martin inquired, "Who was it?"

"It's not clear yet," Bruce briefly explained, "Disney Studio is crowded, and now with phones that have powerful cameras, it could be a fan of you or Silsa. I had the bodyguards follow them quietly. They're more professional at this than using guns."

Martin, who was able to remain calm, said, "Let's wait a bit."

But Silsa was deep in thought. After a moment, she said, "Teacher, I think it's Emma Watson. No one else in this studio's cast would be so audacious."

The more she thought about it, the more she felt it was true. "You might not know, but Emma Watson was already spoiled by the entire Harry Potter cast..."

Martin pointed at her and said, "Be patient, and we'll find out soon."

Silsa pulled out a chair and sat down opposite Martin.

It wasn't long before Bruce's phone vibrated. He stepped aside to take the call, spoke for a few minutes, received a message, then forwarded it to Martin.

Martin looked at the message, which included a photo of a woman in her twenties.

Bruce returned and said in a low voice, "This person tracked you from the entrance of the restaurant all the way to the exterior of the studio, then headed to the set of 'Noah's Ark'."

Silsa started to speak, but a glance from Martin made her immediately shut her mouth.

Bruce continued, "She waited around near the studio for a while before meeting up with Emma Watson and entering the studio together."

Martin said, "Find out what relationship she has with Emma Watson."

Bruce went off to make a call.

Silsa asked, "Teacher, may I take a look too?"

Martin opened the message and showed her the photo.

Silsa recognized her, "That's Emma Watson's assistant. I'm not sure of her name, but I've inquired carefully about the people around Emma Watson, there's no mistake."

Mentioning Emma Watson made her blood boil, "She must be targeting me!"

At Disney Studio, it wasn't difficult for Bruce to gather information. He quickly returned and said, "This person is named Alanna, one of Emma Watson's entourage."

Martin nodded and stated, "Emma Watson has extreme animosity toward Silsa. Her assistant secretly taking photos is definitely problematic. What are they trying to do?"

This is Hollywood, and it was quite obvious. Bruce asked Silsa, "You're not 18 yet, right?"

"17," said Silsa smartly. She guessed Martin and Bruce's thoughts just from the question, "Is Emma Watson trying to cause trouble using my underage status to call the police?"

Martin shook his head, "That would be too troublesome. The simplest way is to release the footage. Starting rumors only requires a word, but dispelling them means running yourself ragged."

Bruce added, "No matter how you deny such things, they leave behind ugly gossip."

Martin thought for a moment and then said, "Just in case, we should act preemptively."

That's when Silsa said, "I can explain."

"We'll involve you where necessary, no need to hurry," Martin said, looking toward the front desk, and raised his voice, "I just saw you were recording..."

The girl at the front desk quickly stood up and said, "Sorry, we didn't mean anything by it. We just wanted to keep it as a memento."

They all had signed relevant agreements, and if this footage were given to the media, it would be very troublesome.

Martin asked, "Do you use Twitter?"

The girl hurriedly replied, "I have a Twitter account."

Martin instructed, "Post the video you just took on Twitter. Silsa, you retweet it, Old Cloth, you retweet Silsa's... uh, let my friends know, they can retweet if there's nothing else, and inform Jody to post it on TMZ."

Bruce eyed the surveillance in the front hall, "We can post that video too."

Silsa had been all ears, taking it all in. She asked, "By releasing it first, are we preventing them from having anything to release?"

Almost so," replied Martin.

The girl at the front desk posted it, and Silsa immediately retweeted it, followed by Martin who also retweeted Silsa's post. Then the two of them contacted their friends to spread it further.

Bruce went to the security room to extract surveillance footage and planned to contact Jody later.

When Martin retweeted the video of Silsa singing, he added a tweet.

"Selecting actors for a new project, here's a girl brimming with talent and eager to learn."

Soon, many people liked the post, and after contacting some of his friends, celebrities like Mene, Leonardo, and Nicholson also retweeted the tweet and the video.

......

"Noah's Ark" film crew, in Emma Watson's private rest area.

Alanna connected her phone to the computer, opened the photos and videos she had just taken, and showed them to Emma Watson one by one.

Emma Watson was smart and self-centered, pointing to the screen, "This one, and this one too, yes, pick out these that look a bit ambiguous, specifically those."

She then watched the videos, "Edit this part out specifically."

Alanna did as asked, selecting the photos and cutting the videos before transferring them onto a USB drive and asking, "What's next?"

Emma Watson took the mouse, opened the TMZ webpage, and said, "Contact TMZ, sell the photos and videos to them; with TMZ's style, they will definitely publish them."

On the TMZ webpage, there were contact details for the news hotline.

Alanna noted it down on her phone and started to make calls.

After a brief conversation with the other side, she announced, "The people from TMZ have scheduled a meeting with me."

Emma Watson nodded, "Go ahead."

Alanna left the rest area, exited Disney Studio, and met with a male editor from TMZ at an outdoor café on Grand Avenue.

After a quick review of the pictures and videos, they quickly agreed on a deal.

The male editor rushed back to his company, where he and his colleagues drafted a news article and uploaded it to the TMZ website.

But strangely, today's review process was a bit slow, and the news did not pass the internal audit immediately.

In the deputy editor's office at TMZ, Jody, responsible for the day-to-day news operations, was busily working when a notification popped up on the website's backend, alerting her to new news that had triggered the warning keywords she had set up.

Jody paused her work to open the notification and discovered that it was a news item about Martin.

She looked at the pictures and watched the videos, and the face of Bruce suddenly crossed her mind.

The damn Old Cloth surely wouldn't want to see Martin's scandal exposed!

The content in the images and videos featured Martin and a young actress—Jody remembered her; it was Silsa Ronan from England, or was it Ireland?

Because of the angles, Martin and Silsa Ronan looked somewhat intimate, and they were seen entering somewhere together.

The accompanying text specifically mentioned that Silsa Ronan was not yet eighteen years old.

At a glance, Jody understood that someone wanted to target Martin; the images and videos were selected for angles that could easily lead to misunderstandings and speculations.

She temporarily blocked the news from going public.

Jody picked up her phone and dialed Bruce's number, "Old Cloth, I have news about Martin here, it's a scandal, and you wouldn't want the scandal exposed, right?"

Bruce, quick to react and ignoring Jody's ramblings, asked, "The one about Martin and Silsa Ronan?"

Jody smirked triumphantly, "Exactly, Old Cloth, come over early tonight, otherwise... heh, you know the consequences."

Bruce reminded her, "Stop getting excited and go check out Martin's Twitter; there's content related to this."

Jody picked up another phone, opened Twitter, and saw that Martin had updates. She immediately clicked to view them.

It was a video of Silsa Ronan singing to Martin, filmed not long after the compromising photos and videos Jody had just reviewed.

Jody said, "Someone wants to deliberately smear Martin or Silsa Ronan?"

Over the phone, Bruce asked, "Did you receive news about Martin and Silsa?"

"I just stopped a news item from being published..." Jody briefly recounted what had happened.

Bruce said, "I have something else here; I'll send it to you soon. You're the professional, you'll definitely find a way to smooth this over and get it out."

After thinking for a moment, Jody already had an idea, though she didn't say so, "I'm feeling a bit out of it right now, not very clear-headed, and I can't think of anything."

"You..." Bruce understood that she wanted him to make a sacrifice again!

Cursing the accursed unwritten rules silently, he said, "Okay, I'll come over tonight, wait for me at your place."

Jody chuckled, "Oh, I've thought of a way, Old Cloth, see you tonight, let me handle the news for you first."

Putting down the phone, she called the editor responsible for releasing the news, directed them to Martin's Twitter, and the new video Bruce had sent, and suggested integrating everything with the earlier photos and videos for publication.

All the videos and pictures were combined into one news story, and the headline was also changed.

"Martin Davis suspected of planning a new project, scouting Irish actress Silsa Ronan. Insiders reveal that the new project is likely a musical..."

The headline seamlessly connected to the video of Silsa Ronan singing "Scarborough Fair."

After the story was published, it did not attract much attention, but those who did pay attention were focused on the so-called new project of Martin.

At Disney Studio, Martin and his team returned to the studio area.

Bruce had already told Martin and Silsa about the situation at TMZ.

Silsa said, "Coach, I won't let that bitch get away with this!"

Martin said to Bruce, "Have someone keep an eye on Emma Watson, but don't alarm her." He then turned to Silsa, "You too."

Silsa responded, "I'll listen to the coach."