“We’ve been photographed.”
I looked. Sure enough, it was a picture of me
standing next to the car at a rest stop. The
caption read: “Amy Sterling, Best Supporting
Actress nominee, enjoys a joyride with her
sugar daddy.” Pure malice.
“I’ll take care of it.” Alex stepped out and made
a few calls. Ten minutes later, he returned. “It’s
handled. Probably one of the other nominees.
who bought the trending topic.”
Other nominees… I checked the list. There were
five of us. I barely knew three of them. The
<
other one was…Sarah.
Of course. I’d left the industry, but she was still
obsessed with me.
As we were leaving, the car wash owner
beamed at us. “I’ve seen you with a lot of cars,
Mr. Lancaster, but never with a lady. Is this…?”
“Ray Sterling’s sister, Amy.”
“Oh, Ms. Sterling!” the owner exclaimed. “I
visited Mr. Sterling’s new garage last month.
His car collection is truly impressive…”
I smiled and nodded.
Wait.
New…garage?
Alex and I went back to my house. As soon as
we stepped inside, a throw pillow came flying at
<
“Alex Lancaster, you jerk!” Ray yelled, jumping
- up. “You tricked my sister into living with you.
while I was away!”
Alex: “…
“Ray,” I said, rubbing my forehead. “Shouldn’t
you explain yourself first?”
“Huh?”
“Are we going bankrupt?”
Ray froze, then looked at Alex.
“Don’t bother,” Alex shrugged. “Old Zhang let it
slip. She knows.”
“You!” Ray fumed.
“So you didn’t sell your cars, you built a giant
garage and moved them there.”
L
“Well…”
“And Dad’s antique paintings and calligraphy?”
“We bought a new house for the family. We’re
moving in when Mom and Dad get back for the
holidays. I just moved some of the stuff there
early…” Ray’s voice trailed off.
“Anything else?” I clenched my fists.
“I’ll explain,” Alex said. “I asked Ray for a
favor.”
Ray breathed a sigh of relief. “Good looking
out, bro.”
“But he’s the one who came up with the
bankruptcy and arranged marriage story.”
Ray: “…”
“Amy, it’s like this,” Ray said quickly. “I did lie
<
to you, but it was actually a plan between me, Alex, Mom, and Dad.”
“After we learned about how you were treated
unfairly in Hollywood, about the bullying, the breakup…we were worried…
I was stunned. “You knew? You never cared about the entertainment industry.”
Ray sighed, putting his hand on my head. “Silly girl, I wasn’t interested in that world, but you were there. How could I not pay attention? I was checking entertainment news 800 times a day.”
“And him,” Ray pointed at Alex. “You might not know this, but he’s liked you for a long time.”
I stared at Alex, speechless.
“He had a crush on you since college. But you
were young, and he’s…well, he’s pretty
<
cunning. I was worried you’d get hurt, so I…
interfered a little.” Ray coughed. “But I didn’t
expect him to wait all these years.”
“Remember, before you left for Hollywood,
Mom and Dad tried to set you up on a blind date? You refused to go.” Ray sighed. “That
blind date was with him. I figured he seemed
genuine enough, and he’d make a decent.
brother–in–law… When things went south for
you in Hollywood, Mom and Dad were ready to fly back. But we knew you. You’d pretend
everything was fine, and you definitely wouldn’t
go on another blind date. So we agreed, to help you move on, we’d pretend we didn’t know and
give you and Alex a chance to…well, to give
him a chance. As for the people who bullied
you…I’ll take care of them.”
“What?” I was stunned. “What are you going to
do?”
“What do you think I was doing on my ‘business
<
trip‘? I bought the rights to that TV show,” Ray
said with a smirk. “No way am I letting them get away with bullying my sister. That show is never airing.”
“I also contacted the director who got fired. The script still has potential. I’ll get him to reshoot it.”
I looked back and forth between my brother and Alex, who was frowning slightly.
“That seems impulsive. Did you consider the return on investment?” he asked.
Ray exploded. “There’s an ROI on getting revenge for my sister? And…what have you done for my sister? You have no right to
criticize me!”
Alex’s phone chimed. He checked it. It was a
voice message. “Mr. Lancaster, the acquisition
of X Entertainment is almost finalized. We’re
<
waiting for you at the office if you have time.”
X Entertainment? Wasn’t that Jason and
Sarah’s company?
Ray was also stunned. “Why are you buying an entertainment company?”
“Didn’t you want to start one? Consider it a
housewarming gift.” Alex said it as if he’d just
bought me a head of lettuce for dinner.
Ray: “…”
“And you criticize me? You bought their entire
company!”
Alex said calmly, “The company is profitable,
and Amy’s interested. It’s better than buying a
TV show that will never air.”
Ray:
<
Me: “…
After Alex left for his office, Ray turned to me,
his eyes narrowed. “Amy, be honest with me.
After all this time, do you…like him, even a
little?” He leaned closer. “If not, I’ll get rid of
him right now. I’m good at that sort of thing.”
Did I like him? Everything they’d said, every
moment we’d shared, flashed through my mind
like frames of a film.
Maybe…I could be brave enough to try again.
