Chapter 200: Chapter 198: Fox
"I know, that’s not what I meant." Elliana Lyle shook her head again.
At this moment, her mind was tangled up like a mess of cords, hard to untangle, perhaps knowing that Shane Southwell was the man behind it all was too much of a shock for her.
Shane Southwell killed her mother, injured Hannah Collins, and because of him, Nancy also went missing. She really couldn’t accept it all.
She hated herself for being powerless now.
Luna said, "Bella always leaves something unsaid when she speaks. Oh! Is that why you wanted to keep her around?"
"Yeah."
Elliana covered her head, pressing her forehead tightly against the table.
"Don’t worry, I’m here." Luna patted her back, comforting her, "Let’s start with Adrian Young and Victor King. You just focus on making money, otherwise, what do I have to work for you? Friendship?"
Luna’s words were quite annoying, yet because of them, she didn’t feel as down as before.
Looking into Luna’s eyes, she always felt reassured. Luna, though unreliable, was very dependable. She knew Luna wasn’t short on money, after all, Luna’s brother was a world-class tycoon.
From past experiences, she knew that in times of crisis, Luna would protect her with her life.
Including Norman Bennett and even Hannah Collins.
How lucky she was to have met these people.
"Alright, I’ll work hard to make money and get you the best equipment." After saying these morale-boosting words, she still added, "Luna, it’s great to know you."
Luna said, "Of course, why don’t you divorce Norman? We could partner up to stay single for the rest of our lives."
Elliana: "..."
She turned her head immediately, pretending nothing happened, and said, "Forget I said anything."
But to be honest, she still wanted to know if Luna, who should be of age by now, had anyone she liked.
"Luna, do you have someone you like?"
Luna paused for a moment, then said seriously, "Far away, yet right in front of me."
"..." Elliana: "You’re serious, huh!"
"Alright, I can tell you, but I won’t say any names. Just to give you an idea, he’s a policeman, and I’m a thief." Luna pursed her lips, looking at her, and asked, "Do you think it’s possible?"
That question stumped her. Seeing Luna’s serious look, she thought for a few seconds before saying, "As long as you turn over a new leaf, it’s possible."
"Hmph!" Luna picked up her coffee and drank it all in one gulp, making it seem like she was drinking vodka. She put down the cup and said with a slight pout, "Then it’s not possible. Besides, my brother thinks he’s too old and won’t let me hang out with him."
Too old? She tentatively asked, "How much older?"
"Not much, just six or seven years older."
Luna was just twenty now, and being seven years older, that made the guy only twenty-seven, which was still acceptable.
So she patted Luna on the shoulder and said, "Don’t give up, if you like him, go after him. Don’t you usually disregard your brother?"
"Sigh!" Luna sighed heavily and said lazily, "But he’s still my brother. I can’t make him die from anger, right? Making him die from anger doesn’t do me any good, except inheriting his wealth."
After a moment of silence between them, Luna banged the table, slightly louder, "Alright then, let’s work. Let’s leave the first stage to Galen Collins. Once I’m better, I’ll continue investigating George Lyle. You just focus on making money."
"Okay!"
Then Luna said again, "Give me six hundred thousand to spend first. I have my eyes on some black technology."
"..." In the end, Elliana reluctantly agreed, to be honest, she hadn’t saved much money. Her paycheck had never been released, Norman Bennett told her to just use whatever she wanted.
But the credit card swiping was too detectable by Norman Bennett, it wasn’t free at all.
Noticing Elliana’s helplessness, Luna said, "Later on, with your own studio, what’s there to worry about? Hire some people to earn money for you. Doesn’t Norman Bennett have people under him earning money for him? Why can’t you learn from your pillow-mate?"
Elliana inwardly thought: ... At your spending rate, I feel like I can’t afford to support you much longer.
...
After leaving the café, Luna hailed a taxi and went back on her own, insisting that she didn’t need Elliana to send her off.
There was nothing for her to do right now, so she went to check on Norman Bennett.
As she entered the office, she was lucky to see the man.
Habitually she threw herself into his arms and then recounted what had happened that morning.
After her explanation, the man also helped her find out what her questions were.
The first point was why Bella believed that Roland’s girl group was merely a tool to make shareholders withdraw?
Bella clearly mentioned that Shane Southwell’s secretary asked her to accompany, as a way for her to earn extra money, yet her definite tone didn’t make sense afterwards.
There were only two outcomes, either Bella lied, implying she knew some internal affairs, or it was Bella’s extreme understanding.
Obviously, both she and Norman Bennett leaned towards the first possibility.
The second point was, why did everyone in the girl group agree to go abroad, except for Bella, and those who went had vanished?
Seeing Bella so afraid of Shane Southwell indicated that it wasn’t Bella who didn’t want to go, rather it was because she was too afraid to go.
And for her to willingly speak out these truths, her conditions had to be met, such as becoming a star.
Norman Bennett laid everything out for her, and Elliana understood that Bella had held something back, not telling everything.
But the one smart thing Bella did was to mention some useful things, so that even if she revealed what she was hiding later, it wouldn’t delay her matters.
So she couldn’t do much about Bella.
Elliana weakly said, "Got it, we’ll let her flaunt for a while."
Leaning against the man’s chest, she always felt at peace, relaxed entirely.
She couldn’t use forceful measures on Bella, after all, it was illegal, otherwise, she would’ve agreed with Luna’s suggestion.
Luna’s idea was to tie Bella up, starve her for a few days, then use Yan Xue as bait.
But later Luna dismissed her own idea, since Bella’s temperament was clear.
A master of deceit, in short.
Sometimes even Luna couldn’t distinguish which lies Bella deliberately orchestrated, feeling like everything was under Bella’s control.
Even at the end, Bella somehow won.
"Norman, I’m so tired!" She rubbed against his chest like a spoiled cat.
"Rest and relax, don’t worry about anything for now, let Galen Collins and Luna Sutton handle it." Seeing her about to argue, the man stroked her hair, helplessly saying, "If you are bored, why not visit your studio?"
On second thought, it wasn’t a bad idea. She could arrange work for Bella too, before leaving she couldn’t help but say, "Norman, I’ve sent Lana to Vicars. I want to stay at the hotel, Moonlake is too far, what do you think?"
Norman replied gently, "Hasn’t it all been arranged already? You do as you see fit."
Which meant, why ask me when you already made arrangements? But that was Elliana’s own interpretation.
She felt a bit embarrassed at the moment, but still shamelessly said, "Alright then, I’ll listen to you."
...
――― July Media.
This place was her personal studio, no less in scale than other companies, though it only occupied one floor, it was big enough.
After all, she didn’t have many departments.
In the office, Elliana sat in the boss’s chair, and in front of her stood Bella.
She came to work quite promptly.
Just now, she’d already talked to Victor King, there was a drama missing a seventh female lead, with quite a bit of screen time, and it was a fox demon role, just right for Bella.
So she discussed it with Bella.
Surprisingly, Bella was immediately displeased, "A seventh role? A supporting role?"
She replied with a forced smile, "Just debuted, having a role at all is good enough. Yet you’re picking and choosing?"
"Didn’t you debut with a lead role too? I don’t believe you can’t get me a lead role!" Bella argued back.
Upon hearing this, Elliana just found it amusing, "I debuted as a lead role, but even if I messed up, Norman Bennett would back me up." Then she asked in return, "If you mess up, do you think I would back you up?"