Chapter 1016: Chapter 1016: Director Locke, The Lady Has Spoken
Bertha Swift lay in the understated luxurious loft guest room, facing the five-ter-wide floor-to-ceiling window. Opening the curtains would fill the room with sunlight.
In the past, Bertha Swift would have been very happy about that, but now her eyes were hollow as she stared at the ceiling, her mind full of her bank balance.
After paying the penalty for “The Doctors” to Adam Piers, she was left with the previous 300,000. But after deducting her credit card debt, she only had 130,000 left, and after spending so recently, she had just over 120,000. After paying three years’ rent, she was left with 27,600 in her account.
It seed like she was better off than she was recently, but the problem was that once shooting for “The Doctors” began, she’d have to stay with the crew for three to five months, and she needed this money to last her five months.
This wasn’t even the most critical issue. The real headache was that Maria White clearly wasn’t thinking straight when she signed the contract. Blinded by the understated luxury and low rent of the room, she hadn’t considered other issues.
Just then, Bertha had carefully reviewed the contract and found that the property managent fee and utility bills were self-managed. While the contract itself was reasonable, the property managent fee was outrageously expensive, actually costing five per square ter.
The entire apartnt, both upstairs and downstairs, totaled 435 square ters. She calculated that the monthly property managent fee was 2,175, which, divided by two, was 1,087.5. Multiplied by five months, that was 5,437.5.
And this was just the property fee. The utility costs here were also higher than in ordinary neighborhoods. If 500 per person per month, then for five months, it would be 2,500.
Adding up to over 7,000, this ant she only had 20,000 available to use.
20,000 over five months…
Previously, this probably wouldn’t cover a day’s expenses for Bertha Swift, but now it had to last her five months, and she couldn’t be sure the remaining salary from “The Doctors” would be paid after five months of shooting.
The more Bertha thought about it, the more worried she beca, and the more annoyed she grew, but there was nothing she could do about it now other than sigh endlessly.
While she was pulling her hair out, Maria White, living next door, was still in excitent mode, having opened a live stream to show her fans her new residence.
Upon finishing her sigh, Bertha ca out to see Maria White animatedly presenting the kitchen to her fans, apparently ready to cook a al.
She was so shocked that she rushed downstairs and motioned to Maria off-cara with a cross.
Confused, Maria White mouthed to Bertha, “What’s wrong?”
“No cooking. It wastes electricity—and with your cooking skills, you’d just ruin the kitchen. Calm down. I’ll go out and buy instant noodles for you,” Bertha told Maria in a low voice.
Maria’s mouth twitched, waste electricity? No way!
Bertha nodded vigorously, “Yes, way.”
Maria, “…”
Following this, Maria witnessed the extent of the miserly habits of this once-rich heiress, and she found herself doubting whether Bertha had ever been Adam Piers’ forr fiancée.
But Bertha had no concern for her doubts and instead focused on various small and large money-saving matters, eventually driving Maria to the brink of madness.
Unfortunately, both were indeed broke, and even if driven crazy, it couldn’t be helped.
After eating instant noodles for two days, Bertha began hoping that “The Doctors” would start filming soon, so she could have free boxed als.
But things didn’t go her way. Since a woman had caused a scene during the last script eting, there had been no montum from the “The Doctors” crew, whereas David Locke’s scandals erupted in waves, breaking out like a volcano.
…
Rose Valley.
Mary Scott had been trapped at ho for two days. Today, the third episode of “Detectives and Wilderness” was airing. Due to the explosive popularity of the first two episodes, a once-overlooked show now had high heat.
Coupled with Brian Joule’s inherent draw, the viewing numbers continually climbed.
What should have been a cause for happiness left Mary feeling anything but; the entire comnt section was filled with insults towards David Locke.
The better she perford on the show, the louder and nastier the insults towards David Locke beca.
This made Mary’s heart ache imnsely.
Previously, when netizens insulted her, it hurt her too, but it felt entirely different compared to now. Worse yet, after David Locke left that morning, he repeatedly urged her over the phone not to get involved.
And from that day on, David Locke hadn’t returned from wherever he’d gone.
She couldn’t pry any answers from him. Her anxiety and stress made her mouth break out in sores, but reporters camped outside Rose Valley ant she couldn’t leave, only fret.
Now, her variety show’s comnts were full of curses at David Locke, and after repressing herself for so long, Mary couldn’t endure it any longer. She took out her phone, logged into Twitter, ignored the thousands of private ssages and comnts, and began drafting a post on her hopage.
Three minutes later, Mary reviewed her drafted content and clicked send.
Five minutes later, Mary found herself locked out of her hopage, as alerts continually flashed on the closed app until it eventually forced her phone to shut down.
Just before the screen went black, she caught sight of a ssage that made her tense up and head downstairs.
anwhile, at the company, David Locke hadn’t had much rest for two days. The wave of attacks against him was extrely professional and demonstratively organized. Even though he had his own PR team, he was caught off guard.
Worse still, the video from that night of him with Lilian Saxton and others had been destroyed. Despite sending the content to Master Brandon, who said it could be recovered, it would take ti.
But how much ti, nobody knew.
Without the video restoration, any further explanation by David Locke wasn’t believed by netizens. Instead, aligned by their compassion for Mary’s experience and guided by organized ghostwriters, they heavily insulted him, with calls to boycott his film.
“The Geisha” was a sensitive topic from the start, and with people intentionally interfering, it had already been blocked. If he was further boycotted across the network because of his private life scandal, the release of “The Geisha” would beco a problem.
If “The Geisha” couldn’t be scheduled for release and was shelved, then no matter how adequate the funding for “The Doctors” was, it would still be futile.
Understanding these implications, David Locke realized he couldn’t afford to lose this battle.
If he lost, both “The Geisha” and “The Doctors” would collapse, amounting to a loss of several billion.
He couldn’t afford to lose.
As David was mired in stress, the PR head nearby suddenly let out a soft exclamation. Though sleep-deprived, David’s always-working mind snapped to attention. “What happened now?”
The PR manager looked a bit uneasy towards David Locke, “Director Locke, your wife has spoken.”
“What?” David Locke frowned tightly, didn’t he tell that silly woman not to speak up? Why is she so disobedient!
While muttering in his heart, David Locke quickly opened his phone and went straight to Mary Scott’s hopage. The first thing he saw was Mary Scott’s latest Twitter content, “Mr. Locke is not good at all, he’s both dull and wild, with a bad temper, but he stayed by my side when I was in trouble, so if you curse him because of , my heart will ache. Please give us so ti, trust , my judgnt isn’t bad, and the man I love won’t be too terrible.”
Mary Scott’s remarks were not particularly clever, but the love she felt for David Locke was deeply embedded in every word, making it impossible to hate.
She neither praised David Locke for his talent nor demanded everyone to support him, she only asked for so ti and firmly believed that the man she loves is not too bad.
David Locke stared at the screen for a while, eventually unable to stop the corners of his mouth from turning up. Although he didn’t want Mary Scott to get involved, her unwavering support made him feel completely different.
For a mont, David Locke felt that his heart was filled with a sour swelling emotion.
The PR manager waited for a long ti without hearing David Locke speak, and instead saw him strangely smiling at his phone. Feeling uneasy, he shivered and cautiously reminded, “Director Locke, your wife has spoken, should we take this opportunity to release so announcents to whitewash you?”
“No need.” The PR manager’s words brought David Locke back to his senses, and he replied coldly, he didn’t need to whitewash himself at the expense of his wife.
The PR manager was frustrated; why not take such a great opportunity? But when she t David Locke’s icy gaze, she could only shrink back and listen to him continue, “Have soone keep an eye on the news trend on Mary Scott’s side, and if anyone starts to direct malice towards her, stop it imdiately.”
“But on your side…”
“Continue with the previous rhythm on my side, I have my arrangents.” David Locke said and stood up with his phone to head outside.
Watching David Locke leave, the PR manager stood in place with a gloomy look until a subordinate behind her shouted “Mavis,” bringing her back to reality and she sat back at the computer.
David Locke walked out and imdiately dialed Mary Scott’s number, but after several tries, her phone was off. This made his heart, which had been sweet monts ago, hang in suspense, and he quickly called his mother.
Mrs. Twain answered her son’s call with a rather impatient tone, “What is it now?”
Since David Locke’s so-called ‘lover’ showed up at the script eting last ti, the traditional Mrs. Twain had a huge issue with her son.
Even if she hasn’t quite accepted Mary Scott, she absolutely wouldn’t allow her son to betray his wife publicly, it deeply violates family values!
“Mom, where’s Mary? Why is her phone off now? Can you check upstairs for to see how she’s doing?” David Locke was completely focused on his own little woman.
Mrs. Twain coldly snorted after hearing, “Now you care about your wife, where were you when you were flirting around?”
“Mom, I wasn’t flirting around, even if I did, that was in the past, after marriage, I even quit gambling.” David Locke hurriedly explained himself.
“Ha, so you an you did it in the past? Scumbag!” Mrs. Twain said and hung up abruptly.
Staring at the phone screen turned black, David Locke’s head was filled with his mother’s last word, “scumbag,” pressing down on his throbbing temples, he dialed the villa’s landline number.
But he waited for a long ti with no one answering, until his father, showing so conscience, sent a ssage saying they’re not at Rose Valley.
It scared David Locke, reminding him that since Mrs. Twain left the script eting, she hasn’t shown her face; he was too focused on Mary Scott to notice they had moved out of his villa.
Feeling helpless, David Locke continued to dial Mary Scott’s number, but it was still off, and now he couldn’t sit still at the company, imdiately instructing Martin Jonah to get a car to go back to Rose Valley.
Martin Jonah was a bit hesitant, “Director Locke, reporters are everywhere outside the company, and it’s the sa at Rose Valley. Going back is too dangerous for you.”
“Go.” David Locke tossed Martin a decisive word.
Seeing this, Martin Jonah dared not delay any longer and rushed to arrange a car.
Once in the car, David Locke wished he could fly over imdiately, but when you’re anxious, things tend to go wrong; their car was tailed by reporters shortly after leaving the company.
In this situation, there’s no way to get back to Rose Valley, fearing they’d be blocked as soon as they got near.
Martin Jonah looked at David Locke becoming increasingly agitated in the back seat and asked worriedly, “Director Locke, what happened?”
David Locke ignored his assistant and continued to dial Mary Scott’s number, but it remained off, and no one answered the landline.
Sowhat understanding his boss, Martin Jonah guessed what might have happened and quietly suggested, “Is it hard to contact your wife? Maybe you should ask Lawyer Jones for Miss Ford’s contact information? I rember Miss Ford and your wife are very close, and they live nearby; why not ask her to check?”
David Locke’s dialing hand suddenly paused, and he growled fiercely, “Why didn’t you say earlier?”
Martin Jonah, “…”
Ignoring whatever reaction Martin Jonah might have, David Locke dialed Benjamin Jones directly and asked, “Benjamin, give Miss Ford’s contact information.”
“I don’t have it.” Benjamin Jones was busy with a new case. Seeing David Locke’s call, he thought it was connected to his recent scandal, assuming he wanted a favor, but he couldn’t believe David was asking for Catherine Ford’s contact, imdiately refusing without hesitation.
Benjamin’s reply finally snapped David Locke out of it, he took a deep breath, “I an no harm, just need Miss Ford’s help for sothing.”
“What requires my girlfriend’s help? You don’t seem to be aware of your notorious reputation, huh?” Benjamin was not cordial at all.
David Locke almost choked, given another ti he would hang up, but he couldn’t; he cald himself and explained to Benjamin, “I can’t reach Mary. I’m being followed by reporters. Could I trouble Miss Ford to visit my villa and see if Mary is alright?”
“Why do you need Catherine’s number for this? I’ll forward your ssage.” Benjamin roughly understood David Locke’s intent and, after saying so, hung up and called Catherine.
It’s the weekend, and Catherine Ford was with Alice doing so early education in the neighborhood when she got Benjamin’s call. She was quite surprised by the intention but agreed imdiately.
When Catherine Ford arrived at David Locke’s villa, she repeatedly pressed the doorbell for over ten minutes, but received no response. She called Benjamin to inform him.
Benjamin conveyed the exact ssage to David Locke, who felt like he was going crazy, and couldn’t care about anything else, he instructed Martin Jonah, “Stop the car.”
Martin Jonah uneasily looked at David Locke, “Director Locke…”
“Stop the car.” David Locke repeated, ignoring Martin Jonah.
Not sure what David Locke intends, but seeing his almost burning eyes, Martin Jonah didn’t dare delay and promptly stopped the car. The next mont, David Locke pulled him down from the driver’s seat, “Go find soone to divert the reporters at Rose Valley.”
“Huh?”
Martin Jonah uttered in a daze, the car whizzed away nearly brushing past him; by the ti he snapped out of it, there was no trace of the car, leaving him to curse under his breath, “Crazy, crazy!”
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