America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 616 The Female Millionaire

Upon opening the door to the VIP room, Lily saw a middle-aged man and two women, one older and one younger.

The middle-aged man, wearing glasses, greeted us with a sunny smile, exuding elegance, maturity, and grace.

A manager at the exhibition introduced, "This is Mr. Keith Lanier." He then introduced two women: "These two are Mr. Lanier's relatives."

"Hello." Lily shook his hand gently.

Lanier gave a loose handshake and said, "I've always enjoyed collecting art, and it's my good fortune to encounter Miss Carter's art exhibition in New York."

Looking at the person in front of her and listening to the words, Lily suddenly had a sense of familiarity. She subconsciously turned around and saw Martin and the other two bastards come in.

She immediately understood that the person in front of her looked a lot like Martin, or rather, a middle-aged version of Martin.

Outwardly sunny and refined, inwardly a complete mess.

Martin, Nicholson, and Leonardo entered without saying a word and immediately found a place to sit down.

He was actually using this method to help Lily avoid trouble, letting the other party know that Lily had someone backing her up.

Having ideas is fine, but don't put them into action.

Lily casually said, "These are my family and friends, don't worry about them."

Lanier's gaze swept quickly over Martin, and he asked, "Can I buy any of the artworks you're exhibiting today? I'm genuinely interested."

Lily, recalling Martin's words, said, "Selling is no problem, but the exhibition has only just begun, and I haven't prepared any other exhibits."

Lanier was very gracious: "I think this is possible. All the exhibits can be sold to me, but they can stay here until the end of the exhibition, and then I can take them with me."

Lily smiled and said, "Mr. Lanier, you are a good person."

On the other side, Martin gestured with his eyes, and Leonardo and Nicholson both shook their heads slightly, indicating that they did not know who this Lanier was.

Detective Nicholson glanced at Katherine Oxenberger, as if he recognized her.

Lily's agent quickly reached an agreement with Ranier, and the two parties then went to complete the formalities.

Martin and his two companions chatted amongst themselves, not joining in the conversation.

But the attitude couldn't be clearer.

After signing the transaction contract, Lanier said, "Ms. Carter, if you have time in the next few days, may I come over to see you and hear the stories behind the creation of these artworks?"

Lily, who is always accompanied by two bodyguards, is not afraid at all: "Of course."

Ranier thought he had made a good impression at their first meeting, so he stopped there: "See you tomorrow then."

The other party contributed over three hundred thousand US dollars at once. Lily, who was about to return to the exhibition hall, politely said, "I'll see you out."

"Thank you." Lanier led the two women outside.

Intia suddenly turned her head to look at Martin, as if she wanted to say something.

But before she could even utter the word "leader," her mother, Catherine, grabbed her and dragged her out the door.

Lily saw Lanier and his group off.

With things settled here, Martin and his two companions saw no need to stay and followed them out.

Soon, the group returned to the exhibition hall.

Lanier walked straight out.

Just as Martin was about to ask Nicholson, Marina and Svetlana came over and pulled him aside, saying that the exhibition hall next door had a banana pasted on the wall as an artwork, and what was even more outrageous was that someone had bought it for a high price.

Lanier circled around and returned to the second floor to meet up with Allison Mike. Looking down from the top, this time they saw not only Lily, but also the two Russian women.

Three women were surrounding Martin Davis.

Lanier's eyelids twitched involuntarily. He looked at the three women beside him and then at the three women surrounding Martin. They were all cult leaders, so why was there such a big difference between them?

The worst thing is comparison; comparison is the easiest way to feel unbalanced.

Lanier thought to himself that he had the quantity, but what he lacked was quality.

He gestured with his chin and asked, "Who are those two women?"

Allison Mike said, "I've never seen it before."

Catherine shook her head: "I don't know her."

Allison was very proactive: "I'll ask around."

Lanier said directly, "Find out who they are, where they come from, and what they like."

"Yes." Allison bowed her head.

…………

Inside the exhibition hall, Martin and his two companions, along with Lily, entered the lounge.

With everyone else gone, Lily's face lit up with a beaming smile, her excitement radiating from within. She exclaimed, "I'm going to be a millionaire! I'm going to be a millionaire!"

She cheered, "Give me a dozen more idiots like that!"

Leonardo couldn't stand anyone being happier than him, and said, "Be careful, he might have ulterior motives and kidnap you."

Martin instructed, "Remember, have bodyguards with you at all times."

Lily, remembering the ulterior motives of the previous fool Cassie, nodded: "I'll be very careful."

Martin asked Leonardo and Nicholson, "What's this Lanier's background?"

Leonardo shook his head: "I don't know him."

"I don't know him." Nicholson pushed up his sunglasses and said, "But I know the woman next to him. Katherine Oxenberg, a moderately well-known actress in Hollywood. I remember seeing her in 'Baywatch' and 'The Game.' She doesn't seem to have any recent works."

Leonardo recalled, "I watched 'Overseas Rescue Team' a lot when I was younger, and I think there was such a person."

Martin looked at Bruce: "Find out the details."

Bruce immediately contacted Thomas and Jody to get information from both their agents and the media.

Having achieved their goal of cheering Lily on today, Martin and his two companions left the exhibition hall to visit some college members residing in New York.

Although the Oscars are still some time away, the race for awards has already begun.

Martin Scorsese achieved his dream of winning the Oscar for Best Director with "The Departed," and this time, resources for "Shutter Island" will be focused on Leonardo DiCaprio.

At Robert De Niro's home, Martin met a typical Italian family; De Niro has six children and a large number of grandchildren.

His youngest son has a nephew who is more than 20 years older than him.

As Martin left his house, he said, "No wonder Scorsese and De Niro have never wanted to retire; that's the biggest driving force behind their artistic creations."

Nicholson shrugged: "It's so nice to be like me, rich, free, and having fun."

Leonardo DiCaprio said, "My life goal is to become Jack when I'm old."

Martin reiterated his earlier statement: "If you're willing to get married during awards season, I guarantee your chances of winning the Oscar for Best Actor will triple."

Seeing Leonardo's murderous glare, he quickly changed his tune: "Actually, there's another way. You can sleep with all the female judges one by one. Someone once said that this is the fastest shortcut to a woman's heart! You are Leonardo DiCaprio, you can easily conquer them."

Nicholson chimed in, "Your idea is too far-fetched. It will only prevent Leo from even getting a nomination. Would a bunch of unsatisfied female judges vote for Leo then?"

Martin immediately understood what he meant and took the initiative to admit his mistake: "It was my oversight that I overlooked Leo's greatest quality."

Leonardo got into the car first, slammed the door shut, and told the driver to drive away immediately.

Martin and Nicholson were left with no choice but to take a taxi to catch up.

Back at the hotel, Bruce came looking for them, and the four of them went into Martin's study together.

Martin asked, "Did you find out?"

Bruce handed three copies of the fax to Martin and his two companions: "Keith Lanier is also a cult leader, the so-called self-help organization Nxivm, who claims to be able to lead a new era of human evolution and provides expensive potential training. Katherine Oxenberg is one of his assistants, responsible for liaising with Hollywood."

He emphasized, "Nxivm is similar to Scientology, the religion Tom Cruise belongs to, but its membership is far smaller. It mainly recruits elite female members, who are spread across the political and business worlds, including many important figures."

Martin understood: "This is an elite organization."

Leonardo nodded: "I've heard of this organization. A few years ago, they seemed to be involved in cases of abducting women."

Bruce continued, "More than once, but all of them came to nothing, and the whistleblowers even faced retaliation."

Nicholson, a seasoned veteran, said: "There are many similar organizations across the United States, and most of them, when it comes to matters of faith, are extremely difficult to deal with."

This troublemaker even specifically advised, "If they don't provoke us, we'd better ignore them."

Martin nodded: "I don't want to get involved in these troublesome things either."

He specifically told Bruce, "Remind Lily, um... you'll be with Lily during the exhibition until she returns to Los Angeles."

Nicholson said, "These things were warned beforehand, and with Lily's intelligence, she shouldn't fall for it."

"I'm not worried about Lily," Martin said half-jokingly, knowing what Lily was really like. "What I'm worried about is Lily stabbing that Ranier."

Leonardo and Nicholson looked at each other in bewilderment.

In the following days, Martin kept an eye on Lily's situation while filming on set.

Bruce followed Lily around. For the first two days, Lanier and Lily went to the convention every day, but apart from talking, they did almost nothing else.

Lily was also cautious enough to keep all conversations in public and even declined Lanier's dinner invitation.

When the exhibition ended, Lanier did not reappear; instead, Katherine Oxenberg came to receive the exhibits.

Meanwhile, all scenes involving Marina were filmed, and Marina did not return to Russia but went to Los Angeles with Svetlana.

They plan to stay in Los Angeles long-term.

Detective Nicholson also concluded his secret investigation and summoned Martin and Leonard, saying, "Through my observation over this period of time, I've discovered that Marina is quite the actress. She acts frequently in her daily life and lies without batting an eye."

Leonardo said, "Let's go back to Los Angeles and keep an eye on her!"

Martin cautioned, "Don't do anything reckless; she's our shared property."

(End of this chapter)