King of Hollywood-Chapter 209 - 209 Deadlock

Chapter 209: Chapter 209: Deadlock Chapter 209 -209: Deadlock “According to the record, you were the first one inside. Didn’t you see the child?” An FBI agent asked this.

“Deliberate attempts to enter have been made on the door; what’s that about?” Another agent asked at the same time, “Did you follow protocol?”

Stan laughed, with a dangerous look in his eyes. His patience seemed to have run out.

“I lost a man here,” he waved his hand as he approached the two federal agents, sneering and staring them down, “What the fuck do you want from me?!”

“Cooperate, Stan,” the agent who had spoken second said seriously.

Stan laughed out loud, with disdain and contempt, then suddenly yelled, “I don’t have time for this bullshit with you guys! You want to cooperate? Then come to my office, 4602!”

After that, he pushed past the two, walked out furiously, and tore down the tape seal. He continued out of the apartment, threw a child’s ball far away in a fit of rage, and then waved for his companions to get in the car and leave. What he hadn’t anticipated was that aside from him and the two agents, there were others present in the room.

Matilda chased out of the apartment, watched the cop who had killed her brother drive away, ran to the curb, and hailed a cab, 4602 Office, she remembered very clearly.

“Follow that blue car!” Matilda closed the car door and pointed ahead as she spoke.

The driver, a black man with numerous braids, turned around, sized her up, frowned and asked, “You want me to run a red light in front of that blaring police car?”

“No! Slow down!” Matilda immediately shoved a green bill in front of him, stared at the driver with a piercing look, and unapologetically raised an eyebrow, “Take this 100 bucks and shut your mouth!”

The girl’s assertiveness slightly intimidated the driver. He took the money, glanced at her again, and then started the car.

“Brilliant!” Adrian, standing next to the camera, couldn’t help but clap and cheer.

He couldn’t help but cheer; Natalie’s fierce scolding of the driver was full of authority—no one could have done it better.

“It looks like I should be rather pleased with myself. This is the third time you’ve said that word today,” Natalie said, walking up to Adrian after the shoot with her hands behind her back and looking up at him triumphantly.

“Hey, kid, being too proud isn’t good,” Adrian wagged his finger at her, looked around quickly, then with lightning speed pinched her cheek.

The suddenly attacked girl’s eyes widened, her mouth pouted, and she clenched her fists, ready to strike back, but she had to immediately drop her stance as her mother was walking over.

“Hi, Mom,” Natalie extended her hand for a hug with her mother, secretly rolling her eyes at Adrian.

“Hi, sweetie, are you done for today?” Shelly kissed her daughter’s cheek.

“Yes, Natalie’s scenes for today are done; you can take her home now, Shelly,” Adrian said from the side.

“Thank you,” Shelly nodded at him, then looked at Natalie.

“Alright, I’ll go change,” Natalie said and headed toward the trailer on the side of the street. She deliberately brushed past Adrian and sneakily elbowed him in the waist.

“Natalie,” Adrian immediately called out to her, catching her off guard.

“What is it?” She turned her head to look at him, a bit nervous. He wasn’t usually so petty.

“Your performance today was indeed spectacular,” contrary to what she expected, Adrian didn’t complain about her actions but simply smiled and gave her a thumbs up, “You do have something to be proud of.”

With that, she became somewhat embarrassed, smiling sheepishly, “Thanks, you weren’t too bad yourself.”

“Is that so?” Adrian’s voice drew out a bit, the implication clear; what would a kid like her know about how good a director’s work has to be to be considered not bad?

Natalie immediately pouted unhappily, but this only made her look even more adorable.

Adrian shook his head with a smile, then suddenly remembered something, “By the way, the shoot for The Day After Tomorrow has been delayed by one day.”

“Delayed by a day? Why? The day after is the weekend, right?” Natalie asked, puzzled.

“Yes, yes, but the issue is, my company has a new movie filming in New York, and I am the screenwriter and producer, so I must take some time to go over there,” Adrian explained, gesturing, “I can’t have them continue filming on the weekend so I can check on things, so we’ll have to give you guys the day off instead.”

“A new movie?” Natalie looked thoughtful, “I remember the newspaper mentioned something called…”

“No Reservations,” Adrian finished for her, “A family comedy about chefs and love.”

“You’re working on two movies at the same time?” Natalie asked curiously.

“No, if you count the others, there are about three or four in production at the same time,” Adrian replied honestly.

Natalie’s mouth fell open, and it took her a while to recover. “Wow, making three or four movies at the same time, no wonder the media calls you a workaholic. I didn’t believe it at first when I heard you could make two and a half movies in a year.”

“No, no, no, that’s different, Nata,” Adrian waved his hand, “when they say making two and a half movies a year, they mean going through the full process from casting to directing to editing. What I’m talking about now is producing, where 90% of the work is done by others. I’m just responsible for… um… checking to see if it meets my standards. Only God could handle making three or four movies and manage all the tasks at the same time.”

“But that’s still pretty amazing, although I’ve only learned about the work of a director and producer from text, I know it requires a lot of ability,” Natalie exclaimed admiringly, then her eyes twinkled with excitement as if she had just thought of something, “Oh, Ed, can I… can I go take a look? Visit the shooting site of the new movie.”

“Visit the set of that movie?” Adrian thought for a moment, “Of course, but…”

He looked at Natalie’s mother, who stood with crossed arms and an indulgent smile.

“It looks like I need to spend some time talking with Mom,” Natalie made a face, “Besides, we have another day, don’t we?”

“Nata, dear, you’re not seriously going, are you?” On the way back, Shelly asked her daughter while driving.

“Why not?” Natalie spread her hands dismissively, “Visiting other sets to gain experience would be good for me.”

“But dear, what about your homework?” Shelly sighed, “And… there’s your father…”

“Come on, Mom, you know, even though I’ve been filming all this time, I’ve never fallen behind on my schoolwork. As for Dad…” The girl also sighed, “Maybe you could talk to him?”

“We had an agreement, Nata,” Shelly reminded her.

“Alright, alright, I got it,” Natalie pouted.

Soon, the two returned to their home on Long Island, and their father, Evan, had just got home from work.

“Dad,” Natalie called and then ran over to hug him.

Evan smiled and was about to speak when his expression suddenly changed, a frown creasing his forehead, “What’s that?” he demanded, pointing to Natalie’s neck with a stern voice.

“Huh?” Natalie, puzzled, reached up to her neck and realized that the necklace with a star pendant, which was a signature accessory of Matilda, was still around her neck.

“Oh man, it’s part of the costume, I forgot to take it off when I changed clothes,” Natalie hurriedly explained, then joked, “What a mess, I hope the production doesn’t sue me for theft.”

“Then take it off now,” her father said, and walked into the house after greeting his wife.

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Rolling her eyes at her father’s retreating back, Natalie removed the black necklace and, pouting, looked up at her mother who comfortingly stroked her head. They both laughed together soon after. It wasn’t the first time her father acted this way, but he would get over it after a while.

Dinner time quickly arrived, and the mother placed a variety of dishes on the table, almost all of them vegetarian since their entire family followed a plant-based diet. Natalie sat down at her place with a giggle and, noticing her father busy with something and not paying attention to the table, swiftly snatched a bean from a dish and popped it into her mouth.

Her mother shook her head beside her and gave a reproachful look, to which the girl stuck out her tongue, not much bothered.

After saying grace before the meal, the family began their dinner in a very harmonious atmosphere. Then, after a few exchanges, Natalie started to steer the conversation in the direction she wanted.

“By the way, Dad, the crew is taking a break The Day After Tomorrow,” she said suddenly after a few words about the movie.

“That’s good, you can go to school and have a full day of classes, Mr. Gale has told me many times how well you wrote your analysis, he wants to discuss it with you,” Evan nodded.

“But Dad, Ed is giving the crew a day off because he needs to review a new movie set, and I would like to go see it,” Natalie said nonchalantly.

“A new movie set? What does that have to do with you?” Evan frowned immediately.

“I want to gain some experience, it’s good for me,” Natalie looked at her father.

“Good for you? Are you really planning to keep doing movies, Nata?” Evan’s frown deepened, and he put down his spoon on the table, Shelly looked as though she wanted to say something but didn’t know how to start.

“Why can’t I when there are suitable roles?” Natalie was starting to get upset in front of her father.

“How many times have I told you, Nata? Why do you always want to be an actress? There are so many professions to choose from, and you’re smarter than the average child, but why do you want to act in movies? Do you understand what that means?” Evan raised his voice slightly.

“But Dad! It’s my wish! Why can’t I act on my own wishes?!” Natalie raised her voice defiantly.

Father and daughter locked in a standoff at the dinner table. (To be continued, please visit www.qidian.com for more chapters and to support the author and genuine reading!)