America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 539 Bondage

Nighttime, Sherman Oaks, in a mansion on the south slope.

Louise stood alone behind the bar, rapidly shaking the cocktail shaker in her hand, and slammed it down on the wooden bar with a thud.

The sound startled a pair of wild mandarin ducks awake.

Martin turned his head and said, "Hey, honey, so much resentment?"

As Kelly Gray, who was squatting down, leaned against the bar, she steadied Martin and said, "I was just elected to the Georgia State Legislature, can't you congratulate me properly?"

Louise unscrewed the cocktail shaker, poured three cocktails, and said, "His girlfriend's twin sister lives next door, and I'm afraid they'll come knocking on our door."

"Perfect." Perhaps emboldened by her involvement in politics, Kelly leaned against Martin: "We can bring them in too."

Martin, a serious man, lightly flicked her forehead and said, "Don't spout nonsense."

Kelly picked up her glass and fed Martin a drink. "I apologize, is that alright?" she said. "How are you going to congratulate me?"

Martin had already thought it through and said, "Let's have a good talk tonight."

Kelly was taken aback, thinking to herself, "Who uses communication to congratulate someone?"

Louise understood, and laughed heartily, saying, "She doesn't need that, you can just talk to me."

"You guys..." Kelly understood: "Then let's not waste time. Without good communication, there's no emotional release!"

The villa became lively.

After celebrating Kelly's birthday, the three of them sat side by side on high stools, drinking and chatting together.

"It's been so long since we've been together like this." Louise poured drinks for the other two. "In the first two years after you came to Los Angeles, the three of us would get together all the time."

Martin said, "I come here often now."

"Much less," Louise said softly. "I actually miss the old days."

Kelly gave her a light pinch: "That means you're getting old."

"You're the old one!" Louise pinched back with one hand and tore at Kelly's mouth with the other. "You're the old woman!"

Kelly, not to be outdone, exerted force, and the two of them fell to the carpet with a thud, shouting at the same time, "Martin, come help me!"

Martin pulled out his phone, brought up the camera app, and pressed record: "Use some force! How can you break it if you don't use force? Kelly, you're at a disadvantage. Grab her hair, grab Louise's hair now! Damn it, I told you to grab the hair on top!"

The two men released their grip simultaneously and grabbed Martin, dragging him onto the carpet.

The noise gradually grew louder, seemingly shaking the ceiling.

After a long time, Kelly and Louise each grabbed one of Martin's arms and rested their heads on them.

Seeing that the two were having a great time, and that this was a moment when their emotions resonated with him most, Martin got to the point: "Consul Erica has been elected a senator?"

This female politician, who once held up a pink water bottle, is a representative figure of the Georgia Democratic Party.

Kelly half-jokingly said, "It wasn't easy; those water bottles from back then laid an excellent foundation for her."

"I want to get Harvey Weinstein," Martin said directly. "I remember he's also affiliated with the Democratic Party."

Kelly frowned: "Why?"

Martin had been suspecting: "I think the shooting incident on the Nolan set last time was related to Harvey's foot gang. The real target was me, but I was always careful about firearms, so the unlucky one turned out to be that Englishman..."

He said, "How can you be on guard like this every day? If I'm even slightly careless, I'm finished. And if I'm finished, Davis Studio will be finished too."

Louise propped herself up: "You mean, if all your projects fail, neither of us will be able to make money off you, right?"

Martin doesn't overestimate the importance of communication: "Tell me, what do you think of my taste in film and genre selection?"

Kelly and Louise fell silent. They had been investing in the films Martin chose, and over the years they had not only made a fortune, but as Martin climbed the ladder and his commercial appeal grew stronger, their future profits would only increase.

Finding a replacement for that isn't difficult; you could just use a clown statue. But finding people and projects that fit that description is incredibly difficult.

Kelly chuckled: "See? I told you, he's cunning. He's using that stuff and interests to tie us together for ulterior motives."

Louise, however, was still thinking and said, "I won't do it if it's just the three of us."

"Not just us, I've united many people and forces..." Martin embellished the current situation, along with his own thoughts and plans.

He said, "Remembering that Representative Erica's work is based on advocating for and protecting women's rights, this is an opportunity for her."

Kelly remembered the kettle from back then.

Martin said, "If it works well, this will bring a hundred times, even a thousand times, more prestige than the kettle!"

There are factions within the Donkey Party as well. After considering it for a while, Kelly said, "We can give it a try. We don't need to be at the forefront. If things don't go well, we can just give up. The influence of the Cola Cult is growing, and no one will ignore you."

Louise chimed in, "To be honest, Harvey's net worth might not be as great as yours, not to mention his influence in various states. He's stronger than you because of his years of accumulation. In another five or six years, you'll be able to take him down yourself."

Martin put his arm around the two of them: "There's another possibility: I won't last five years before he takes advantage of me."

Kelly rolled over and sat up: "We've sacrificed so much for you, now it's your turn to reciprocate!"

The following morning, when Martin left, his steps were slightly unsteady. At that age, he was like a wolf or a tiger, which was really a little scary.

…………

WarnerMedia, the recording of the new episode of "The Helen Show" has finished. Helen, who is considered one of the three major female talk show hosts in North America alongside Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres, came out of the studio to remove her makeup.

The assistant knocked and came in, saying, "Boss, Damian called and wants to invite you to lunch."

Helen didn't hesitate: "Reject it. I don't have time for him. Tell the driver to get ready and take me to Beverly Hills. Martin made an appointment with me."

The assistant immediately went out to make arrangements.

An hour and a half later, Helen arrived at Martin's house as agreed.

Martin had already instructed the chef to prepare lunch.

The two had gone through the Burbank High School incident together, making their relationship closer than that of ordinary friends.

Martin invited Helen into the restaurant so they could eat and chat.

Helen asked, "You said you had important news, that you had inside information to leak to me?"

"Old friend, just watch it." Martin picked up the remote and turned on the TV in the restaurant. The LCD screen started playing the video Ivan had bought.

When Helen saw Harvey Weinstein's chubby face, she subconsciously put down her knife and fork, focusing all her attention on the screen.

This was a scheme involving both coercion and deception. Despite the woman's repeated refusals, the tall, strong, and fat man said things like, "It's no use shouting your lungs out," and pressed down on her with his massive size and weight.

Helen is a woman, and strictly speaking, she is also a member of the entertainment industry. She has not only heard about unspoken rules, but has even experienced them firsthand.

In this industry, beautiful women are almost impossible to escape.

The goddess in the eyes of her fans is nothing more than one of those who actively fawned over the big boss on his red sofa.

But as Hollywood has evolved, it's now more about mutually agreeable transactions.

There are too many beautiful women in the entertainment industry; if not this one, there are countless others.

If you don't take the initiative, countless others are already lining up to do so; there's no need to force it.

But the person in the picture seems to particularly like simple, crude, and direct methods.

The video ends with the fat man's temptation and warning.

It's the same old story: they'll offer her opportunities and roles, but if she doesn't follow their arrangements, her acting career will be completely ruined, she'll never get ahead, and there could even be more serious consequences.

After the video finished playing, there was a recorded phone call. The person on the other end of the line identified himself as Matt Damon and gave a stern warning to the victim.

Helen could hardly believe it: "It really is Matt Damon, he doesn't look like that kind of person."

Martin said, "The person who used to do this job was Ben Affleck, but Ben isn't intimidating anymore."

Helen nodded slightly: "It's been a long time since I've heard any news about Ben."

"Me too." After the shooting, Martin had asked people to check on Pete and Ben Affleck's latest whereabouts, but they couldn't find them; Los Angeles is too big.

He asked, "What do you think of its news value?"

"It's so big it's immeasurable, it'll have an explosive news effect." Helen is no longer the young reporter who risked her life carrying a camera and rushing around. Now that she's successful, she's unlikely to take such a huge risk: "But if things go wrong, she might blow herself up."

Before Burbank High School, no one could stop her from reporting this kind of news; she would do anything to get it out.

Martin put himself in her shoes: "So, we can't be the ones rushing ahead."

Helen's words changed again: "If it's appropriate, I wouldn't want to miss out on news like this."

Martin pointed to the TV screen: "How about letting her be on your talk show?"

Helen said, "As long as the timing is right, no problem." She thought for a moment, "It would be best to find several more."

Martin nodded slightly: "We're trying to figure something out. Until then, we'll remain silent."

Helen said, "The silence we have now is for the sake of an explosion in the future."

Helen said goodbye and left shortly after lunch.

Martin received a call from the community committee, and a vice chairman immediately paid him a visit.

"Mr. Davis, I have come here today mainly to inquire about something." The vice chairman knew that the community was full of wealthy people, so he spoke with particular politeness.

Martin said, "Mr. Brandt, please speak freely."

Brant smiled and said, "Your trash can is damaged again, and we have to replace it."

Martin understood: "You should ask Mr. Stuart Townsend next door about this. I saw him kick my dumpster when I went to take out the trash."

"Him?" Brandt nodded. "No wonder your two families' trash cans always have problems."

Martin asked, "He even kicks his own trash can?"

Brant said, "We've repaired and replaced your two trash cans a total of five times. The first one was Ms. Theron's trash can next door that broke, so we took it away for repair and replaced it with a new one."

He smiled sheepishly: "I remember you had just won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor."

Martin said, "You can talk to Mr. Townsend. I'm good friends with Ms. Theron, so it's not easy for me to bring this up."

"I will pay you a visit," Blatt said, then took his leave.

(End of this chapter)