Demon CEO's Hidden Love: Mr Grayson Stole Me From My Abusive Husband-Chapter 82: His Leading Lady

Brooke stood with her hands in front of her as the judges started off the voting process. Before they made the decision, they had her recite a few lines from the script, of her choosing.

President Lucas, spearheading the voting, started things off. "I vote she should play the female lead."

Brooke sighed in relief.

He went on to explain, "She has a beautiful face, a nice figure and a good grasp of the character, and we have a go-ahead from our sponsors as well." He explained, then shifted his gaze to the judge seated at the far end. "What says you?"

He sighed and shook his head. "I vote she shouldn’t be cast as the female lead. Although she delivered a good performance with the chosen scene. Her delivery with the dialogue feels stiff, and she struggles with matching her expression to her words. We aren’t looking to train an actor for this role, neither do we have the time and resources for that." He announced.

Brooke heart sunk. She was well aware that her dialogue delivery felt forced, but that was strongly because she focused too much on trying to understand the character. This sometimes made her self conscious, of if she was properly portraying the character.

Next, the casting director was up to give his verdict.

Brooke swallowed, overly nervous to hear his opinion of her acting.

The casting director pinched his chin, he spent a good half minute thinking up a response, while stealing glances at Brooke in the process. He cleared his throat and sat up straight, with his shoulders relaxed, he gave his vote.

"She created a scandal on the day of the audition and gained negative interest for our movie before it’s premiere. Casting someone like her would just be asking for trouble from the Cassie Crane fandom. Not forgetting the loss we could incur from this. Picking the cast isn’t based off of acting talent alone, marketability and commercial value of the actor is important as well. Something she lacks." He explained, speaking from a logical and profit driven standpoint.

Brooke sighed inwardly, cursing herself for letting things escalate the way they did back then. ’If only I hadn’t let them walk over me like that.’ she sucked in her tears with a deep breath, refusing to look anymore pathetic.

"However," the casting director went on, "She has an in-depth understanding of the character, finding an actress capable of that is difficult, especially for a casting director. Not just that, though she generated negative interest, I do feel that placing her at the centre of this movie is just what this film needs. With that said, I vote she should be the female lead of the movie."

’What?’ Brooke blinked twice, she least expected him to side with her.

He turned his gaze to the woman next to him, passing the baton to her. But she merely shook her head, already passing forth her judgement, without even giving a reason.

It was a tie, and the final decision rested on the director.

Brooke could feel her armpits wet with sweat despite the room being cold. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the director’s verdict on her audition...

Nia rushed into the gym room in Damien’s condo unit, where he was in the middle of lifting weights.

"Damien, my sources just got back to me from pocket change productions, they’ve selected the female lead for their movie." Nia announced, placing a halt on his workout.

Damien picked up a rag and wiped off the sweat from his face. "Did they? Who was it? Some no name actress from some mediocre agency?" He asked, boredom explicitly drawn on his features.

Nia shook her head, "They went with Brooke, that woman from the audition day!"

"What?!" He tossed the rag, "Just how low are they willing to go to get some recognition for their film? What a joke." He hissed, heavily disappointed with the outcome.

Nia huffed, "What else could be expected from a no name production agency? They don’t know anything about how the entertainment world works. Had I been in their shoes, that woman would be the last person I hire."

"At least now I can reject their offer now, since you’re no longer interested in the movie." Nia proposed, glad to finally get the issue out of the way.

Damien nodded, "Yes, you can cancel it. I have no interest acting alongside third rate trash, I would rather act with Cassie than some attention hungry greenhorn." He said.

Nia sighed in relief. "That’s a wise choice. Anywhere that woman goes she brings trouble with her. Just the other day she challenged Cassie on a live, calling her out for faking her degree."

"Did she?" He raised a brow.

"Yes, but that’s not important. Women like her will do just anything to keep themselves relevant. Forget about her, I’ll bring the rest of the offers for you to look through-" Nia got cut off when Damien asked.

"Well? Was it true? Did she really forge the certificate?" He asked.

Nia shrugged her shoulders, she could see intrigue forming in Damien’s eyes and it did not please her. Rather she had a bad feeling about his sudden interest.

"Well, it’s hard to say. She claimed that the university’s website could out Cassie’s deception, but the day she made that declaration, the university’s website has been down. Cassie’s fans claimed she was lying, and have been bashing her online ever since. However-" Nia immediately stopped herself from speaking, her expression looked like she had a bitter pill in her mouth.

"However?"

"However," she sighed, "Some people claimed to have checked the website before it went down and confirmed Brooke was saying the truth." Nia confessed, already cursing herself for adding this part.

"Hmm..." Damien pinched his chin, "One of actresses was reported to be involved with the producer, and the other has a fandom chewing her out." He cracked a reckless grin.

"Nia," he called out, "Tell the producer to set up a script reading, tell him I’ll make my decision when I meet my leading lady."