After Rebirth, I Accept The Arranged Marriage-Chapter 181: Joining Forces

"What did she want to talk to you about?"

Victor Morgan had originally planned to just leave after hearing Jessie Sterling’s plan.

But now, hearing a familiar name—and a name that didn’t leave a good impression on him at that—he paused and returned to his original spot.

Jessie Sterling hadn’t expected Cheryl Stuart to bring her news at a time like this.

"She told me who was pulling the strings this time. It’s the Vice President of Thorne Pictures, a man named Leo Goodman," Jessie said.

The information was almost certainly 100% accurate. After all, Cheryl Stuart had been with Thorne Pictures for many years. If Thorne Pictures hadn’t shown signs of casting her aside after she’d served her purpose, she might not have been so quick to leave and start her own studio.

"Leo Goodman doesn’t get along with Arya Thorne, so he doesn’t think much of Nina Walsh, whom Arya is promoting. But from the company’s perspective, he definitely doesn’t want to see Apex make a comeback."

The man had always used underhanded tactics, so as soon as the story broke, Cheryl Stuart suspected him. She had someone ask around and confirmed it immediately.

"He has plenty of skeletons in his closet; you could say he operates in a gray area in all respects," Jessie said. "Cheryl Stuart sent me a file, saying that if I investigated on my own, I could probably dig up even more dirt. But he has some powerful backing—I hear his father-in-law is quite influential. Otherwise, with all the people who can’t stand him, he would have been dragged down from his position long ago."

Victor Morgan sent Leo Goodman’s name to Keegan Sanders, telling him to dig into the man’s background as quickly as possible.

Jessie also forwarded the file she had to her company’s email. This sort of thing was, of course, a matter for the company to handle.

After all that, Jessie stood up, walked over to the sofa, and threw herself onto it, sinking into the soft cushions.

"Finally, it’s almost over," she said. "Time to rest for a bit."

With that said, she took out her phone and started scrolling.

The scandal must have been causing quite a stir back home, because Jessie’s phone was flooded with messages from her contacts.

Even Director Sterling messaged to ask if she needed help.

Of course, Director Sterling didn’t believe his daughter would do something like that. After all, he knew his own kid. Jessie had high standards; how could she possibly fall for some pretty boy on the internet named Liam Lawson?

’He can’t hold a candle to my son-in-law!’

Director Sterling didn’t tell his eldest daughter that he had also created a burner account and left a comment on Liam Lawson’s social media page.

’It wasn’t like I was cussing him out or anything.’

’I just gave him a little lesson.’

After all, from the perspective of the older generation, a young man who didn’t walk the straight and narrow and instead schemed to latch onto a woman for a life of luxury was truly contemptible.

"Men who sell their asses should be drowned."

Of course, Jessie had no idea Director Sterling was so adept at using online slang to bypass censors. She first logged into "Manhui," a comic platform, and posted an announcement explaining that she might need to take a break for a while because she had some real-life matters to deal with.

Then Jessie scrolled through a popular lifestyle app and stumbled upon a trending topic.

"Paris Team-Building"

Curious, Jessie tapped on it.

To her surprise, the top trending video was from Wendy Lawson.

After leaving Jessie’s place, Wendy Lawson had sat in the taxi, fiddling with her phone’s photo album.

The night before, just as she was about to post the photos, she saw the mess Liam Lawson had stirred up.

She hadn’t even had a chance to properly sort through her backlog of pictures.

"You’re still in the mood to look at photos?" Daisy Woods sat next to Wendy, looking like a wilted cabbage left out in the sun—dehydrated and droopy. "My heart is in my throat every time I remember I was the one who introduced Liam Lawson to Miss Sterling."

The incident last year with the photos Wendy had posted online still gave her chills; she was terrified she would get blacklisted too.

Wendy didn’t look up. "Not photos, I’m looking for videos. Didn’t we shoot a bunch of videos yesterday? I was thinking I could prove online that Miss Sterling wasn’t out alone with Liam Lawson. I can’t do much to help right now anyway, so if I can clarify things and some people believe it, that’s better than nothing."

Hearing this, Daisy Woods immediately sat up straight.

"Oh, why didn’t I think of that?!"

She had been stuck in a dead end of regret and worrying about how to explain herself, not even considering that she could help too.

"Wait, I have the contacts for a bunch of people who were at the party with us last night. I’ll ask them to help too," Daisy said.

Wendy asked, "Will they help?"

After all, this didn’t really have anything to do with them. Most people would choose to just watch the drama unfold. If they got caught in the crossfire, it could be bad for them, since their careers all depended on the internet.

"Don’t worry," Daisy said. "No one will refuse."

"Huh?"

Daisy explained, "You’ve been in contact with Miss Sterling for a while, but it’s different for the rest of us. Even though we’re all considered influential in our own fields, who wouldn’t want to get to know someone powerful? They aren’t like Liam Lawson, who was already in cahoots with the people at Thorne Pictures. Now that they have a chance to connect with Miss Sterling, how many do you think would turn it down?"

At the very least, it would make Jessie Sterling remember them. Those people were probably chomping at the bit to charge into the fray for her.

"Besides, and this is the most important part, they don’t know Liam Lawson is colluding with Thorne Pictures. They’ll just think this is Liam Lawson’s own attempt to latch onto Miss Sterling, and when he failed, he resorted to some shady, underhanded tricks."

Wendy was speechless.

’She actually has a point.’

People are always drawn to the powerful.

Besides, even if the people from last night’s party spoke up, they would just be clarifying the facts. It would be a group effort, with everyone from different companies. Would several major entertainment companies combined really be afraid of Thorne Pictures?

Sure enough, as soon as Daisy Woods put out the call in their group chat, everyone answered.

"Hey, you should have told us about this sooner! We could’ve helped."

"Of course we have to help clear this up. Liam Lawson is so shameless. I’ve never seen someone so desperate as to throw themselves into a sponsor’s bed."

"I’ve disliked Liam Lawson for a long time. He’s always thirst-trapping online, and he pounces on any rich woman he sees. Does he really think they’d be interested in him?"

...

So now, when Jessie opened the "Team-Building" topic, she was surprised to find it filled with familiar photos and videos.

She clicked on the video at the top of the trending list.

"After leaving the fashion show last night, I took the Big Miss to a last-minute dinner party!" It was Wendy Lawson’s voice, dubbed over a video from yesterday’s gathering.

"But I didn’t film the Big Miss, haha. She’s never been a big fan of being on camera."

Wendy wasn’t just making this up. After adding Jessie on a messaging app, she had not only posted on her personal feed but also on all her social media platforms to express her excitement.

Her fans had asked who the "Big Miss" was, but she hadn’t replied, which only made them more curious.

Now that she mentioned it in the video, many people in the comments started putting two and two together.