Elisa watched the trending video online and saw Filippa disfigured and blinded by sulfuric acid. She glanced at Louis, who was quietly working on the computer beside her.
“Did you have anything to do with the sulfuric acid incident?” she asked.
Louis paused, then naturally leaned closer to Elisa, looking at the news on the screen in front of her.
“No,” he said. Elisa had insisted on handling it herself, so he hadn’t intervened too much.
Elisa leaked various pieces of information about Filippa to her hate group. What happened next was no longer within her consideration. For scum who exploited legal loopholes, using force against force was undoubtedly the most effective method.
After the recording of the cat abuse was exposed, Lorelei wouldn’t easily let Filippa off the hook. And now, with Filippa disfigured and blinded by sulfuric acid in the hospital, she had met a tragically fitting end under double torment.
The first step of avenging Mimi had been successfully completed, but Elisa didn’t feel an ounce of relief.
These villains got what they deserved, but Mimi was gone and would never return.
…
The sudden appearance of a mentally ill person at the airport who splashed Filippa with sulfuric acid was unusual no matter how you looked at it.
How could a mental patient successfully leave a psychiatric hospital and acquire sulfuric acid? And in the crowded and chaotic airport, how did they accurately splash Filippa? There had to be someone behind this.
It wasn’t Louis. The first person Elisa thought of was Hamish, who was adept at tit-for-tat methods.
Finn also had the capability to do this, but he lacked patience. He would definitely prefer to take matters into his own hands rather than entrust the trouble to others.
“The shares of X Entertainment have been continuously declining. It’s time to close the net,” Elisa said, coming back to reality and looking at the data on Louis’s computer.
The drop in X Entertainment’s shares was mainly due to Lorelei’s involvement in the cat abuse incident, which damaged the company’s image. Many brands specifically requested to terminate their contracts with Lorelei.
Lorelei was the image spokesperson for X Entertainment, the pillar of the company, and the most valuable asset. To quickly resolve the decline in shares, the company had to step in.
Since receiving the news in the morning, the company had convened an emergency public relations meeting to devise various plans. The best plan was to follow the old routine and let Elisa take the blame and step in to resolve the issue.
After all, it was Elisa’s cat that had died.
Elisa looked at the time. It was 8 o’clock in the morning. She lightly rested her hand on the table, and her slender fingers tapped lightly on the surface. The slight movement in the quiet study made a distinct sound, like the ticking of a clock.
Elisa stared at her phone as if waiting for something. After a while, the incoming call rang.
She looked at the caller ID. It was him. Elisa leaned forward and swiped her finger to answer the call and put it on speakerphone.
Louis remained silent.
The caller was Mr. Whitlock from X Entertainment.
When the call connected, Mr. Whitlock exchanged pleasantries with Elisa. “Elisa, what have you been busy with recently?”
“I’ve been busy dealing with people,” she replied.
There was a pause in the voice on the other end of the line, evidently surprised by Elisa’s directness. After all, they hadn’t spoken in a while.
“Mr. Whitlock, you didn’t call me in the middle of your busy schedule just to chat, did you?” she continued.
“Well, I heard about your cat’s death and thought of consoling you for a moment. Don’t be too upset. It’s just a cat. You can buy another one for two or three thousand dollars,” he said.
“Are you calling to advise me to buy a new cat?” Elisa asked.
“The company will pay for a new cat for you. I just want to tell you not to ruin your relationships over a cat. You are also a part of the company; we are all family,” he said, seemingly gentle but actually trying to pressure her using the company.
These people hadn’t seen her for too long. They let her fend for herself, perhaps still thinking of her as the pushover without connections that they could easily bully.
“And what does it mean to be a family?” Elisa asked.
Mr. Whitlock, hearing Elisa’s gentle tone, thought she was falling for it, so he continued, “The company has decided to hold a press conference for you. You will say that you don’t blame anyone for the cat abuse incident and that you had already planned to get a new cat. You can rest assured, the company won’t mistreatyou. Once you have resolved the cat abuse incident, the company will give you a new endorsement.”
Elisa’s expression was gentle, but her hand on the table was already clenched into a fist.
Louis, who was listening nearby, had an equally grim expression.
“And what if I don’t agree?” she asked.
“Elisa, don’t forget that you are an artist in the company with a seven-year contract. I can freeze you at any time,” he said. When the soft approach didn’t work, they resorted to the hard approach. This was their common tactic. Others might give a slap and then offer a treat, but these scumbags would give a slap and talk about offering a treat.
Mr. Whitlock seemed to have plenty of methods to deal with Elisa, and he was confident that she wouldn’t dare to breach the contract. After all, the astronomical penalty for breach of contract was not something an ordinary person could afford.
“Mr. Whitlock, your methods are outdated. If you want to threaten someone, you should find someone else. Lorelei and Filippa teamed up to kill my cat, and the fact that I didn’t personally take revenge on them is already quite forgiving. Do you really expect me to ‘forgive’ her? That’s quite presumptuous of you,” Elisa said.
“By the sounds of it, you’re not willing,” he remarked.
“No, I’m not,” Elisa replied, her tone changing. “I’ve already set my Twitter account to private, so your previous tactics won’t work anymore.”
Mr. Whitlock’s tone turned grim. “Elisa, are you trying to go against the company? You need to think carefully. You’re just a girl from the countryside with no background or connections. What do you have to fight me with? Do you really think you can rely on Louis? Let me tell you, these wealthy people are just playing with you. In their eyes, you are worthless, just like Finn was back then. You should learn your lesson.”
Louis was surprised to hear himself mentioned. His eyes darkened, and he was about to speak when Elisa placed her hand on his, silencing him.
As the call remained silent on her end, Mr. Whitlock, thinking he had scared Elisa, continued with his threats.
“It’s not just your problem now. Do you know how much this affects the company just because of your cat? You have to step up and resolve this, or I will hold you responsible for the company’s losses,” he threatened.
Elisa spoke slowly, “Rest assured, I will soon resolve the company’s losses. I suggest you also prepare yourself, Mr. Whitlock.”
Mr. Whitlock sensed something was off in her tone, but in his anger, he didn’t dwell on it.
“As long as you understand. I’ll warn you again not to think about breaching the contract. The penalty for breach of contract is not something you can afford,” he warned before ending the call.
Elisa didn’t even glance at her phone on the table. She turned to Louis and said, “Let’s close the net. Make them disappear by noon.”
“Simply make them disappear?” Louis’s expression was cold. This was the first time Elisa had seen him so angry.
Louis knew that Elisa was not faring well in this company, but this call indicated that it was no longer just about how she was treated. This company didn’t regard Elisa as a human being at all; she was merely a tool to them.
“I’ve found evidence of illegal transactions. We can send them to prison for a few years,” he said.
“Leave it to you. What about Iris?” Elisa asked.
“On the way. Do you want to meet her today?” Louis inquired.
“No, tomorrow. We have to resolve things one by one,” Elisa replied.
…
On the other side, in the X Entertainment office building, Mr. Whitlock, after hanging up the phone, disdainfully looked at Thomas, who had his head down. “It’s nothing major. Elisa, this kind of insignificant person, is as easy to crush as stepping on an ant. I don’t know why you wanted me to be wary of her,” he remarked.
“Did she agree?” Thomas inquired.
“Would she dare not to? Last year, she took the blame for the incident with the secretly recorded video of Lorelei. She’s been bearing that for a year. If she had the capability, she would have resisted long ago instead of waiting this long,” Mr. Whitlock said, pulling out a cigarette from the pack. Thomas, seeing this, quickly took out a lighter and lit it for him.
Mr. Whitlock exhaled smoke and with half-closed eyes, said, “People who are inherently weak are not easy to resist. Elisa was furious before, unwilling to take the blame, and ended up becoming a tool.”
Thomas really wanted to tell him that the current Elisa was not the same as the Elisa from before.
Elisa had a recording in her hands, and she also had the termination contract he had given her. With just a signature, Elisa could leave.
Thomas hadn’t expected Lorelei to cause such a big incident, even though he had warned her before. However, what surprised him even more was that Elisa knew Louis, and it was Louis who led the way in helping Elisa post the video on Twitter, a tweet that had already garnered over thirty million likes.
Previously, Thomas had been worried that if Mr. Whitlock called Elisa, she would simply produce the termination contract and terminate it, but Elisa didn’t mention it at all, as if she didn’t have the termination contract at all.
This made Thomas even more worried. He felt like he was a locust teetering on the edge of a cliff, one misstep and he’d be swept away.
The termination contract was something he had signed in secret and given to Elisa. If Mr. Whitlock found out now, Thomas would be in serious trouble.
Elisa not terminating the contract at this time, was it because she was afraid of Mr. Whitlock? Thomas didn’t think so. He felt uneasy and had a feeling that Elisa was waiting for something from him.
“Thomas, you are Elisa’s agent. It should be you suppressing her, not the other way around,” Mr. Whitlock remarked.
“Mr. Whitlock, I think we should be cautious. We should think about other solutions, have multiple plans and multiple paths,” Thomas suggested.
Mr. Whitlock countered, “Then tell me, what public relations plan is as simple and straightforward as this? The cat belonged to Elisa, so if the cat died, she should be responsible.”
“But I feel like Elisa has changed. She probably won’t compromise so easily,” Thomas argued.
“You don’t need to worry about that. She has already agreed on the phone and even warned me to be mentally prepared,” Mr. Whitlock said.
No matter how you heard it, this wasn’t good news. Thomas was about to say something more when Mr. Whitlock directly ushered him out. Mr. Whitlock was confident that Elisa was a caged bird, no matter how much she flapped her wings, she wouldn’t be able to fly out.
“Go away. By noon, we will know the result. She won’t dare to do anything,” Mr. Whitlock assured.