His family saw that he was listless and assumed he was sick. They were all terribly worried—after all, he wasn't young anymore. But he didn't say a single word about what was really going on. He just brushed it off with the excuse that he was tired and retreated to his bedroom.
What could he say? That he owed a hundred million dollars and would be fed to the sharks if he didn't pay it back?
Saying it out loud would only cause his family to panic alongside him. Were they supposed to help him come up with a hundred million?
Even if he counted all his stocks and real estate, he could barely scrape together just over ten million. But to Faaris, that amount wouldn't even fill the gap between his teeth.
Don't forget—if by this time next year he still owed even a single dollar, he'd still have to repay another full hundred million the following year, plus interest.
If he had known what kind of person Faaris truly was, he never would've used him to go after Laila. If not for getting too deeply involved, how would he have ended up in this terrifying situation?
It was all Reynolds' fault—no question about it!
He was already dead, so why did he have to leave behind a daughter to oppose him?
Ridiculously enough, Cooper didn't direct his hatred at Faaris, the one who had pushed him into this abyss. Instead, he blamed everything on Reynolds, convinced he was the root of all this misfortune. Perhaps it was precisely because of this absurd obsession that Cooper blamed Reynolds for things that had happened two or three decades ago—and he had hated him for over twenty years. Even after his death, that hatred had shifted onto his daughter.
"Even if I die, I'll drag Moran down with me!" Cooper lay on his back on the bed, clenching his teeth as he swore his oath. Why should he suffer so miserably while she gets to live happily?
Right—her good days were coming to an end!
He suddenly sat up in bed and grabbed the phone he'd tossed aside earlier.
"Mr. Faaris, if I can destroy Laila's reputation… can that reduce the debt a little?"
He knew that Faaris hated Laila just as much as he did. If that hadn't been clear, he never would've agreed to work with him in the first place.
On the other end of the line, Faaris's eyes darkened.
"If you can truly ruin Moran, consider that hundred million your reward."
"Really?!" Cooper's eyes lit up instantly. Even if he couldn't get that money, at least it meant he might be able to keep living.
Faaris let out a cold snort.
"You can test me and see if I'm joking."
Cooper didn't have the guts to test him—and even if he did, there was no guarantee Faaris would keep his word. But he had no other options. If he wanted to be free of the debt and drag Laila into hell, he had to take the risk. And if he could really pull Laila and her company down with him, then even if he died, he'd be able to smile in his coffin.
"Boss, I have a plan…" He then laid out the flash of inspiration he'd just had.
Completely unaware that a massive crisis was looming over her, Laila was in the office, deep in discussion with her team about the post-production of Silence.
That's right—on the eve of Avengers' premiere, she was working on a completely different film.
In her words, she had already done everything she could for the superhero movie. Even if she wanted to help more, there was nothing left for her to do. So, why not shift focus and work on another film to relax a bit?
Of course, her team didn't find anything "relaxing" about producing a second movie. If anything, it was even more intense… or rather, more serious.
Laila was already known for her meticulous attention to detail when it came to filmmaking. But when it came to Silence, she was downright obsessive. She wanted every single frame to match her vision exactly. If it didn't, she'd have it redone—no compromises.
Because of this, there was a rumor circulating within the company: Avengers was just a smokescreen. The film she truly wanted to use to surpass Avatar was Silence! Why else would she put so much more effort into the latter?
Of course, only a small portion of people believed that. Anyone familiar with both films wouldn't think so. Based on box office potential alone, The Avengers was clearly the one with a shot at becoming a massive hit.
To achieve record-breaking box office numbers, a film had to appeal to all age groups. And no matter how you looked at it, superhero movies had broader appeal—young, old, male, female… almost everyone was interested in them.
But Silence? Its audience was going to be far more limited. It was almost impossible to imagine it breaking Avatar's records. And don't forget—the other male lead, aside from Roy, was an Asian man!
Within Dragon Soul Studios, Laila's preference for the East meant that there were several Asian employees. So racism wasn't exactly rampant in the company—nobody wanted to anger the boss and lose a job with such great pay and benefits.
Still, in Hollywood, the stereotype that Asians couldn't act was deeply rooted. The fact that so few Asian actors had managed to establish themselves in Hollywood over the years was likely part of the reason.
Although the news that Laila had cast an Asian lead hadn't leaked outside the company yet, quite a few employees knew. Even just based on that, many didn't believe Silence would perform well at the box office.
But how could they possibly understand how much Silence meant to Laila?
This was her very first original film. It held a completely different kind of meaning for her.
If she could, she would have poured her own bones and blood into the movie. To her, the success of Silence would be proof of her existence in this world—a mark that she had truly lived.
In truth, she simply hadn't gotten past a mental hurdle. From her earlier films, she had already done excellently. Her Lord of the Rings adaptation, while based on the original, was entirely her own take—different focus, different key battles, no relation to the original trilogy. Yet it had still succeeded and been recognized by the Oscars. Wasn't that proof that she was already a true director?
Not to mention the soon-to-be-released Avengers. The original film had grossed around $1.5 billion, and she had set her revised version's target at $3 billion. If she actually managed that, wouldn't that be even more convincing proof of her abilities?
But no—she had gotten stuck in a mental loop. She was convinced she had to make an original film, one that didn't exist in her past life, and make it a success. Only then could she let go of that knot in her heart.
╮(╯_╰)╭ Don't seek death, and you won't die. The end is near—time for the villains to start dying too.