Chapter 581: Chapter 302: Then I Will Destroy You
The silence in the study was profound. You could hear not just a pin drop, but even a single strand of hair. The man and woman facing each other across the desk remained silent, engulfed in a strange atmosphere.
Finally, Natalie lowered her eyelids and took a deep breath, “You taught this, Ed.”
Adrian didn’t speak, still looking at her very calmly, without any emotional fluctuations or even a change in his posture. This made her slightly uneasy; in fact, as soon as he had spoken earlier, she had been unable to catch any of his emotions—not even a hint. This was not good; it ant she would be unable to judge his reaction, therefore unable to respond appropriately.
“I am very sorry, and I regret,” Natalie continued, adopting an expression of openness. No matter what, it was impossible to stop now, and since it was Adrian who had initiated this confrontation, it was better to be open about it. Beating around the bush would only backfire.
Adrian remained silent, still not moving at all, watching her as if he wanted to see right through her. This feeling was terrible. Though Natalie also struggled to keep herself from moving, her hands involuntarily clenched twice.
“If you don’t want to talk, then let’s leave it at that for now,” she said, eventually standing up and walking towards the door, with a breath of relief in her heart—once she stepped through that door, she would have won.
As she placed her hand on the doorknob, a hint of a smile even crossed her lips. But at that mont, Adrian’s voice, inconveniently, rang out, “Wait.”
The man who had been sitting there stood up, ca over from behind the desk to face her: “Even if you don’t think of yourself, you should consider…”
He leaned down and whispered a few words into her ear. Natalie, who had maintained her composure, was first stunned, then her face turned pale, with a look of disbelief mixed with horror in her eyes.
“How can you… how can you…” her lips trembled slightly, and despite trying to control her emotions, her voice still beca sowhat shrill, “How can you do this?”
“Why can’t I do this?” Adrian returned to his desk, leaned against the edge, shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent tone. Despite showing no emotion, he emanated a sense of looking down from above.
How could this be? Natalie’s body trembled slightly, her chest heaving greatly. This was completely beyond her plan, and she didn’t know how to respond for the mont. Why had it co to this?!
“Don’t forget, Ed…” She bit her lip, staring at him, “We… at that ti… I was just…”
“Oh? You’re planning to sue ? Where?” Adrian continued to shrug, “New York? California? Or Connecticut?”
(Note: Among similar cases, Connecticut’s sentences are the most unpredictable, with the minimum being only nine months.)
“Yes, you can make a big fuss, but so what? I just need to put together the most luxurious, largest team of lawyers, and that would be enough. There might be many lawyers eager to make a na for themselves through a lawsuit on your side. But I have many friends too, in the State Parliant, on Congress Hill, on Wall Street—they’d all be happy to do a favor—as long as—I can afford the price,” he continued expressionlessly, “and it’s just a matter of spending a little money to bribe the jury—not all of them, just enough to disrupt the others’ thoughts, an easy task.”
Natalie’s face was devoid of any color, but Adrian went on, “Alright, even if everything goes against , if I’m convicted, sentenced by a judge, and it’s in New York, I’d be out in three days maximum. As for reputation, just wait a couple of years, let things cool down, then produce a couple of art films, and they’ll naturally start praising again because—’art’ and ‘the artist’ are different matters. Charlie Chaplin, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Jean-Luc Godard—they all prove it!”
(Note: Chaplin’s predilection for teenage girls is an open secret, and Hollywood at that ti isn’t comparable to now; Polanski fled the United States in the ’70s and has never dared return, only able to stay in France, and in 2009 he nearly got arrested and extradited in Switzerland—his case is one of the top ten scandals of the 20th-century entertainnt industry; Woody Allen, who dallied with his adoptive daughter and married her, is also part of the top ten scandals of the 20th-century entertainnt industry; as for Jean-Luc Godard, one of the defining figures of the French New Wave movent, he is one of Europe’s first anti-Semites.)
He leaned forward, and an oppressive feeling imdiately bore down on her, “And you, the clever Miss Natalie Portman, what will you gain? Of course, you could choose to retire, to leave the entertainnt industry and the United States, go to Israel, go to Europe, finish your degree and beco an obscure lecturer or professor—maybe after a few decades, you’ll have left behind so works, but I won’t let you go that easily. I will nail you to Hollywood’s pillar of sha, ensure you are rembered in a different way, I will find you, I will ruin your friends, your family, your—everything!”
The room fell silent once more, the only sound echoing was Natalie’s coarse, disordered breathing. Her face pale, she looked at Adrian with a dull gaze, devoid of her usual agility.
“You have one week,” after such silence, Adrian’s voice rang out again, “You have one week to think it over, starting today. Now, you may leave.”
With a click, the study’s door closed, but Adrian, who was leaning against the edge of the desk, did not get up. He remained as before, expressionless and silent. Several seconds passed before he suddenly slamd his fist onto the desk with a loud bang, his face turning ashen.
Adrian maintained this posture like a statue, motionless, until Charlize’s voice, accompanied by the sound of the door opening, reached his ears: “What happened? I just saw Natalie looking sowhat distraught… Ed?”
“The first ti.” He slowly lifted his head, squinting at his female secretary, “This is the first ti.”
“Hm?” Charlize was puzzled.
“Out of control.” Adrian exhaled the word, but as soone who had been by his side for several years, Charlize instantly understood what he ant.
“It’s perfectly normal, Ed,” Charlize ntally organized her thoughts, “After all…”
“It’s not normal at all, it’s strange,” Adrian shook his head, “She wanted to leave, then she should just leave. I don’t need such a woman by my side. Yet, I reacted so vehently, as if reason ceased to exist in that instant!”
“Ed…”
“This is definitely not a good thing. If there’s a first ti, there will be a second.”
“Ed…”
“I’ve always had this feeling that sothing is wrong, I must have mistaken or confused sothing.”
Adrian started pacing the room, deeply furrowing his brows, seemingly caught in a strange mood he couldn’t escape from. Charlize, standing beside him, couldn’t get a word in edgewise.
“I need to carefully study this, I can’t let…”
“Ed!” Charlize suddenly grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked it fiercely, her hazel eyes filled with urgency, “Listen to , Ed! You’re not God, you can’t control everything. No matter how well you plan, no matter how sharp your insight, there are always changes, always surprises! When surprises happen, one should adjust the plan and move forward, not dwell on how the surprise occurred. You taught that, have you forgotten?!”
After she blurted out all she had been holding back, she realized she had lost her composure and then turned her head away. Adrian stopped his rambling and stared at her, blinking, his eyes flashing an odd expression.
After adjusting her breathing, Charlize lifted her head again, her voice much softer and gentler: “Stop thinking about all that, okay? Whatever conflict you had with that girl, it doesn’t matter anymore. You’re just a bit confused. What you need is rest, you can do sothing else to distract yourself… If you want, no matter who you want to co over, no matter how many people, whatever you want to… how to play, whatever tricks, I can be with you… Forget all that…”
As she spoke, she reached out, caressing his face, her eyes carrying a firmness and a rare display of full tenderness.
“… No,” after a long while, Adrian finally spoke again, gently wrapping his arms around Charlize’s waist, “Having you is enough.”
————————
“Nata, co down for dinner.” The voice of her mother calling from the doorway snapped Natalie out of her daze, and she looked around bewilderedly before realizing she was in her parents’ house on Long Island.
It took her several more minutes of disorientation before she recalled how she had left Adrian’s mansion in a daze, how she had sat idle in her hotel room all afternoon, and how she had boarded a plane back.
“I’ll be right down, Mom,” she managed to squeeze out a smile, trying her best to appear normal.
“Are you really okay, Nata? You don’t seem to be in the best of states,” Shelly nodded and then added with concern.
“It’s nothing, Mom, I’m just… a bit tired, you know, aside from my college courses, I also have… plenty of events to attend.” Natalie gestured as she spoke, then decisively stood up and, looping her arm through her mother’s, walked towards the dining room. “If you’re worried, then I’ll keep you company on the way down.”
“Alright then,” Shelly smiled and patted her head, “Don’t put so much pressure on yourself, Nata. Had I known this would happen, I should have firmly declined those events for you.”
“It’s okay, Mom. The effect of the Star Wars Prequel will pass soon, and then I can dedicate all my energy to my studies.” Natalie maintained her smile as she joined her mother at the dining table.
“You could always take a break from your acting career to focus entirely on your studies,” Ed comnted gruffly, already seated there waiting.
“Ed!” Shelly called out disapprovingly, then consoled her daughter with a pat, “Don’t take it to heart, dear. Your dad is just not in the best mood today.”
Only then did Natalie notice that her father was frowning deeply, as if troubled by sothing.
“What happened, Mom?” She asked as she served herself so of Sarah’s salad.
“This afternoon, two people from the tax office ca to see your dad, they were saying sothing about…” Shelly was interrupted before she could finish, “Shelly!”
“What’s wrong now? Don’t I even have the freedom to speak?” Shelly set down her plate in dissatisfaction, “Just listen to what those two arrogant n had to say? Actually…”
“Enough, Shelly, I don’t want to talk about this now!” Ed raised his voice, annoyed as he looked at his wife, then quickly glanced at his daughter.
Shelly realized her misstep and then looked at Natalie, who started fiddling with her food quietly, and hastily changed the subject: “Alright, alright, we won’t talk about it.”
What they didn’t know, however, was that when Shelly ntioned “two people from the tax office ca to see your dad,” it hit Natalie like a thunderclap. If she hadn’t still had so strength in her hand, her fork would have dropped to the floor.
“I’m done,” Natalie said abruptly after a few bites, setting down her utensils and standing up.
“Are you finished eating?” Shelly asked, surprised at the sight of the still mostly full plate.
“Sorry, Mom, I’m just not very hungry. It’s probably because of the ti difference from flying between Los Angeles and New York yesterday and today. I just need so good rest,” Natalie offered a strained smile, then turned to her father, “I promise, it’s not because of what you said, Dad.”
She moved her lips as if she wanted to say sothing more, but in the end, she turned around and hurriedly left the dining table.
Retreating to her bedroom and locking the door behind her, Natalie frantically searched for her phone, then walked into the bathroom, gritting her teeth as she started to make a call.
“It’s Ed,” Adrian’s voice ca through quickly.
“You bastard! What have you done! You said I had one week; why did the IRS co looking for my father this afternoon! You untrustworthy jerk!” Natalie yelled desperately.
“What? Nata? What’s wrong?” A hesitant question ca from the other end, laced with a familiar laziness in his tone.
Natalie paused briefly, but the fear and anger welling up inside her spurred her to shout again.
“You said there were two people from the IRS looking for your father this afternoon?” Adrian finally understood, “That wasn’t my doing. If I said I’d give you a week, then you have my word—you will have a week. I believe I still have that much credit—today was just the first ti I’ve gone back on my word. Don’t worry, I will make sure to find out the specifics and give you a call by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. That’s it then.”
After he finished speaking, he hung up, leaving Natalie standing dazed in the bathroom.
It was a particularly hard night to endure. Despite her attempts to hypnotize herself, she couldn’t fall asleep no matter what, and she still lay in bed with red eyes as the sunlight stread into the room. Every ti she closed her eyes, Adrian’s threats beca reality, waking her up in a state of terror.
Damn it! Why is this happening! Natalie cried to herself, clutching her face. She locked herself in her bedroom all morning long, not wanting to do anything amidst the enveloping feelings of depression, dejection, regret, and even despair.
In this state of panic and fear, at 2 PM, her phone, which had been silent all morning, finally rang. The sudden ringing startled Natalie, but it also cald her a bit. Gritting her teeth, she chose to answer.
“Nata? I’ve had soone look into it; it’s not related to your father,” Adrian’s calm voice resonated in her ear, “The IRS is going to your father because a colleague of his had previously provided them with false docunts, and they need to thoroughly understand the situation. Additionally, I’ve used so contacts to look out for your father, so don’t worry about him being implicated.”
“You!” Natalie’s eyes widened in shock and anger, as the sowhat rational side of her understood what he was implying.
“No need to thank , it’s just a small favor. If there’s nothing else, then I’ll hang up. Also, please be reminded, you only have six days left.” And with that, the call ended, not leaving her a chance to respond.
Natalie stood there, holding her phone, suddenly raising it as if to smash it on the floor, but after holding it aloft for a long ti, she deflated and threw it onto the bed.
Idiot! Idiot! You idiot! How could you lose your composure like that! Even if he made contact with people right after you left, there’s no way they could have gotten to the IRS that quickly, and coming directly to your door would be like completely tearing face. Why couldn’t you see that! Why! She slid down against the wall and hugged her head, tears finally spilling uncontrollably down her face. Why is this happening? Everything was planned so well, why has it all gone so wrong?!
Even after years of not being able to fathom him completely, she still managed to grasp so of his personality traits. Adrian had a strong desire to control and a sharp insight, coupled with surprising talent. He could always make won throw themselves at him seamlessly and act according to his will. But he was also very arrogant; if soone rejected him, he wouldn’t bother to spend any more effort on that person. As his power and influence grew, this beca increasingly evident.
She had used this to her advantage in her plan—taking a humble position, appearing sincere, pointing out the main issues on his side, and then clearing herself—after all, it was true to an extent; he already had too many won around him, and this excuse was indeed factual.
Typically, Adrian would surely try to hold on, and once she persisted, he would let go even if reluctantly. It was a matter of his reputation, and there was no need to fuss over a woman. If he decided to suppress her? Even better. Adrian didn’t rule Hollywood with an iron fist; Lucas, though friendly with him, wouldn’t replace an actor because of him. Natalie could fully brand herself as a tough girl who doesn’t yield to power, naturally attracting many admirers—after all, she was Jewish.
It could be said that she had anticipated his various reactions and had corresponding strategies planned. But she had never expected his response to be so extre, not only blatantly uncovering her calculation but also issuing such threats. Damn it! Why did it happen like this?! Where did it go wrong! What should I do now!! (
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