Hollywood Zenith



"Hello, Paige" The call was quickly connected.

"Hello...Who is this? Calling so early in the morning." Paige was still half asleep when she answered the phone. She checked the caller ID, which uplifted her annoying mood.

"Oh, Sister Delphina, Is there a new limited edition product coming out?" Paige suddenly became enthusiastic. Delphina thought Paige didn't change much; she often asked for her when she needed some limited-edition fashion product.

This was how they became friends in the first place, and Delphina knew quite a lot about Paige, including how much she fancied Samuel.

"That's not the case; I want to ask you for something."

"Oh? Do you want to ask me for a favour? That's a first." Her words interested Paige, but she didn't directly agree with them. After all, she didn't know what Delphina was talking about.

"Let me talk to her. You are talking way too long." Maia snatched her phone. They were sleeping together, not because they were buddies, but because they drank too much last night. It was only possible as they were going on about Samuel, the womanizer, and the maids must have put them in the same bed.

"Huh." Paige reluctantly gave her the phone; she knew about her shortcomings in dealing with such people. Besidebesides, it was six in the morning, and she needed her beauty sleep.

"Sister Delphi, this is Maia."

"Huh? Are you with Paige? That's a rare thing." Delphina was honestly surprised. She knew them both, so she knew for how long they had been on each other's throat; this was no secret to anyone at their level.

Today's call was getting more interesting, but Delphina was short on time.

"Before that, what do you need?" Maia asked directly.

"Can you get me in contact with Samuel Rothschild? He is your friend, right?" Delphina was also blunt.

"What? Sami, why?" Hearing his name, she exclaimed, waking up Paige in the process.

"Something is going on. You can check the news, but it is only a misunderstanding, so I want to resolve it peacefully. I am asking for a meeting as soon as possible." There was an urgency in her voice, unlike her cool, calm persona; Maia analyzed that something big must have happened for her to be like this.

"If it's about business. You can contact his office." Maia didn't think it was right for her to interfere.

"I could, but it will take time. , Besides, they will be hostile, so I went to Paige as she is the closest person to him." Delphina thought about it a lot.

She knew Samuel's nature, but the same couldn't be said about her, she never wanted to fight this battle, and if someone arranged a personal meeting with him, it might be an opportunity. She needed strong allies to fight the succession war, and someone like Samuel was perfect. She was not sure about his wealth, but his mind was unrivalled.

It was not her who thought about it. Whenever people discover that Achilles Investment was started when he was just a kid, they shudder at his prowess in the business empire. A monstrous talent which could turn the tides in her favour.

"Ok, I will see what I can do but don't think I am doing this for you. With the mess you have made, it's only fair if he wants to take revenge; he could see your frustration in person." Maia hung up. She already got the gist when she turned on the television, where they were parading Samuel like a criminal.

"Why did you accept to help her!?" Paige was furious hearing their conversation. She was also worried about Samuel, but Maia just gave her a wide smile before speaking.

"You idiot, do you think he was caught? He must have done it on purpose! If he wanted to escape, no one could catch him!" Maia said proudly. Paige also realizes that her faith has wavered, which makes her frustrated.

How could they not know what Samuel was capable of? And it became certain when another explosive news broke a few hours after his arrest.

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"Breaking news! A piece of evidence came to light in the hot assault case. It's the video evidence leaked to every major news outlet a few minutes!" The reporter singing praises of Jake and his family suddenly interrupted the program to announce.

It was not just one station; every station received the same clip through an anonymous source claiming to be a fan of Samuel. It was obviously Abigail's doing, but that's not important; Samuel had already arranged it, so she only followed his orders.

Soon, they began playing the clip. It started recording when Samuel sat opposite Jake; the audio quality was low, but it was edited with subtitles for those who didn't know French.

It captured everything, how Jake degraded his employees and how he was two-faced about it and smiled the whole time to not raise any suspicion from the guests. Many people became furious with his sexual comments; how could they like someone like him?

They were also surprised when Samuel finally spoke French like a native, but a crucial portion of the video was cut, but now many people noticed it. It was Samuel's blatant provocation; Abigail decided it would not be suitable to show, so she employed her team to sneakily edit it.

Finally, in the last part, when Jake grabbed Samuel's collar while spouting profanities was shown after which they knew who started the fight first. Samuel might have gone overboard, but it could have been taken as self-defence.

With this new revelation, media sentiment shifted heavily. Only a few channels tried to argue against it, and those were under the VITA corporation management, but every other one turned on them instantly. 

And just as Samuel expected, the company's stocks started to fall significantly. The fact that Jake was the chairman's son and how he blatantly proclaimed he would be promoted didn't sit well with many investors.

They started to let go of the stocks, and on the receiving end, Abigail and her subordinates were there to capitalize on this opportunity. She also contacted large investors trying to take the stocks off their hands, and seeing the chaos, many of them agreed because she was offering better prices than the market.

With that, the stage was set; for a few days, Samuel's company would keep the pressure which would compress the price, and that was when he would swoop in and take his prize!

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...

The man carrying something entered the station and started looking around. He knew time was of the essence, and soon, he found his target.

While everyone stared at him, he confidently walked inside carrying something heavy on his shoulder and went straight to the investigation department. He knew he needed to avoid rumours, so he walked toward Samuel and others and asked to step inside the room again.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Chief, I think there is something wrong!" Kayla added. She could roughly guess the shape of the thing inside his bag.

"Let's go inside." Samuel, who was more perceptive, led everyone inside. He could already 'feel' what was about to happen. They went inside, closed the gate, and closed the binders for privacy.

  Kayla received a phone call and was heading outside, but Samuel interjected her.

"Kill the cameras while you are at it," Samuel asked her, and seeing how serious he was, she decided to follow his orders. Everyone else also didn't voice any opposition, which made things easier.

"Greetings, young master; I am Charles, Master Joshua's secretary. I came to resolve the misunderstanding." Charles bowed with one hand over his heart. Lucas was shocked to hear his identity; the chairman's secretary respectfully bowed at the man who hit his son. What kind of identity this man has?

"Can you leave this room? I want to talk to him privately." Samuel asked, and even though the minister and the chief were reluctant, they decided to step out.

"Thank you, young master." Charles was grateful for his indiscretion. 

"Don't thank me, It's not a simple 'misunderstanding', right?" Samuel sat down, crossing his leg, looking imposing. The pressure he was giving was immense, but Charles held his ground; he couldn't fail here, not right now!

"My boss knows, so I brought the culprit with me. I will personally look over him till your name is cleared." Charles revealed what he was carrying, an unconscious Jake who looked even more beaten since the last time Samuel saw him.

"Oh, I am sensing you already know who I am," Samuel said with a smile. He didn't expect them to move this fast or be ruthless to his son. It could all have been avoided if this rascal had been punished since childhood; such a trait wouldn't have manifested if he knew his limits!

"Yes, we deeply apologize for this but never intended it to happen."

"If I were someone else, my career would already be over. That's just how ruthless your ungrateful young master was. Do you think it will all be over now you came out begging for forgiveness?" his voice was not loud, but the aura emanating from his body condensed with sharp killing intent.

Charles sighed; he knew what Jake did was wrong, but Samuel could have prevented it by being more discreet. This was why he didn't like dealing with rash people. They didn't know how to act in public!

"It was not a violent outburst." Samuel smiled menacingly, saying what Charles was thinking about. Charles, who was quite confident up to this point, was scared; he knew his poker face, but how could such a young man read his thoughts perfectly?

"Enough chit-chat; let's get to the main subject. I want to meet Delphina Arjo." Samuel asked, and unbeknownst to him, the other party was thinking the same thing!