Room 302
Julia returned to her room and let out a deep sigh. Bailey would never let her off the hook, so the filming period was bound to be tough for her.
She had already memorized the script inside out, and there were quite a few scenes where she had to act opposite Bailey.
Fortunately, her role didn't require her to stay long—at most, she'd be here for a month.
"Just one month, I can endure it," Julia reassured herself.
This was her first role, and she couldn't let Bailey ruin it for her.
With nothing else to do, she sat on the bed and opened the script again.
As the saying goes, "Reading a book a hundred times reveals its meaning." The more she read the script, the more she could grasp its deeper nuances.
The door opened.
Unaiza walked in, her hands behind her back. She glanced at Julia, who was engrossed in her script, and immediately went to her own locker. She placed the face masks Bailey had given her inside and locked it.
Julia knew that Unaiza would likely side with Bailey. After all, given Bailey's current status, no one wanted to offend her.
Julia understood this, so she didn't make things difficult for Unaiza and didn't speak to her.
Unaiza, however, sat down on Julia's bed. "Julia, don't take today's incident to heart. You know Bailey is going to be the future Mrs. Artis International. I can't afford to offend her either."
Julia looked up at Unaiza and gave her a small smile. "I understand."
Hearing Julia's words, Unaiza let out a sigh of relief and relaxed her tone.
"Honestly, I think Bailey is way too arrogant and overbearing. But, everyone is too afraid to say anything because she has Artis International backing her."
"The most reliable support one can have is oneself. In this world, you can't depend on anyone but yourself. Bailey knows exactly how she got her backing."
Unaiza's interest was piqued, and she leaned closer to Julia. "How did she get it? Come on, you're her sister. You must know Harry Edwards, right? Could it be that she and Harry Edwards..."
Julia placed her script beside her pillow. "Stop guessing. I'm not close with Harry Edwards. Now, get some sleep. We have an early shoot tomorrow."
Unaiza didn't press further.
Julia went to the bathroom. She would never admit it, but she and Harry had been a couple for five years. Bailey, like her mother, was a homewrecker who stole someone else's love!
She could have exposed the truth and branded Bailey as a "homewrecker," but she no longer wanted any entanglements with Harry or Bailey.
Let the past stay in the past. She considered herself blind for not seeing it sooner.
The next day marked the official start of filming, and Julia felt a bit excited.
To her surprise, the lead actress was Vivian!
Over the past five years, Vivian had been a top-tier star. She debuted at seventeen and won Best Actress at twenty, becoming the youngest to ever win the award and shooting to fame.
At the height of her career, you could turn on the TV and see her starring in different shows on multiple channels. Her movies were both box office hits and critically acclaimed.
She was beautiful, talented, and had high emotional intelligence. Even girls like Julia idolized her.
Unfortunately, Star Sovereign International, the agency she signed with, had been struggling in recent years and lost ground to Artis International. As a result, Vivian couldn't get good roles, and her popularity started to decline. However, thanks to her previously accumulated fame, she was still doing okay, just not as brilliantly as before.
The filming over the past few days had been manageable. After all, the crew hadn't fully settled into their routine yet, so Julia found it relatively easy-going.
That evening, she unexpectedly received a call from her classmate, Linda.
"Julia, can you do me a favor? I have something urgent tonight and can't make it to the nightclub. Could you cover for me just this once?"
Julia and Linda were good friends. Linda came from a less fortunate background and had been working part-time since she started college. She worked at a nightclub selling drinks.
"I'm on set filming right now. I don't think I can make it."
"It's just for tonight. You can definitely make it back by the next day. Don't worry, my job is just to serve drinks. The commission is really high. If you're lucky, you can make around $1,500 in one night. Even on a bad night, you can still make $400 to $600."
Julia was stunned by the numbers.
She knew Linda made good money at the nightclub, but she hadn't realized it was that much!
"Julia, trust me, I wouldn't put you in a bad spot. We just sell drinks and ojccasionally keep customers company. I never do anything inappropriate."
Julia was still hesitant.
"Plus, we wear masks while working, so no one will recognize you. Please, I really can't make it tonight."
Unable to resist Linda's persistent pleading, Julia finally agreed.
The most important reason was that she needed the money.
Even though she was the third female lead in the film, her pay was tied to her fame. She was only getting around $15,000, and only a small portion of that was paid upfront. The rest would come after the filming was completed.
Every time her brother Grady had a medical emergency, it cost thousands of dollars.
Recently, he had been admitted to the ICU, which cost several hundred dollars a day, quickly depleting her savings of nearly $15,000.
The money in her hand was running out fast.
**Obsidian Empire**
**President's Office**
Royce had just come out of the conference room, feeling inexplicably irritable today. He had lashed out at several people during the meeting for no apparent reason.
He couldn't understand it himself. His chest felt tight, and he had no appetite.
Back in his office, he felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. He stood up abruptly and began pacing back and forth.
Dorian stood to the side, barely daring to breathe, feeling as if an invisible fire was slowly burning in the room, ready to engulf him at any moment.
Suddenly, Royce stopped in front of Dorian. "Why aren't you saying anything?"
Dorian broke into a cold sweat. Did he dare to speak?
"Uh... President Butler, are you feeling unwell? I've noticed you haven't been eating much these past few days."
"Can't eat? Do you want me to force it down?! The meals you've been ordering lately are terrible!" Royce roared.
Dorian felt like crying. The meals had always been the same, and this was the first time Mr. Butler had complained about the taste!
"President Butler, maybe you should go home and rest for a bit? The weather has been quite hot lately; perhaps you're not adjusting well to it."
Home?
Royce immediately thought of Julia, that woman!
"Why isn't Julia back yet?!"
Dorian finally realized the reason behind Royce's unusual behavior.
"President Butler, Mrs. Butler has only been gone for three days to shoot a film."
"Three days?" Royce's eyes widened as he looked at Dorian. "Only three days?"
"Yes, three and a half days, to be exact. At most, it'll be four days."
"Why does it feel like she's been gone for half a month?" Royce muttered to himself.
Dorian lowered his head, trying hard not to laugh.
Their mighty president was missing his wife...
Feeling even more agitated, Royce waved Dorian away and walked over to his computer. He picked up his phone and sent a message to Lionel Gonzalez.
"Tonight, 10 PM, July Blossom Nightclub."