King of Hollywood
Chapter 432 - 154 Is This Your Surprise?!

Chapter 432: Chapter 154 Is This Your Surprise?!

"Daddy, is, a baddie!" The little one swung her arms and cooed the words one by one, as if she was worried that others might not understand.

Although Adrian was very displeased, he could only stare at her helplessly, at most gently nibbling her chubby little cheeks, "Yes, yes, daddy is a baddie."

Monica couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene, attracting Lily who immediately raised both hands excitedly, murmuring as she wished to be held by her. Naturally, Adrian did not oppose his daughter’s wish, and Monica quickly picked up the little one to play with her, both Lily and she appeared very happy.

Kate was hurried to finish the last scenes of "A Time to Kill," so during this time she couldn’t keep the child with her; therefore, Adrian took the little one everywhere, even though it wasn’t his turn according to the agreement. He always disagreed with leaving child care entirely to nannies, but he didn’t necessarily visit Kate’s home every day. Considering the child, he finally requested that Lily should spend time running around with either mom or dad regularly. Kate definitely couldn’t argue with him on this, so she often took the little one to the set of "A Time to Kill," where the crew members, after the initial surprise, soon welcomed her. There weren’t many young mothers, but there were a few.

Adrian also took the little one to his office, his new office, the AC Media headquarters in Burbank, essentially a group company now, which naturally should have its own office building. Claude had bought a large piece of land around, building the company’s campus quite substantially, but due to various reasons, they had only moved in completely by the end of last year. TBS had also almost completely moved from Atlanta, Ted Turner wasn’t too happy about it, but Adrian and Claude had to consider his feelings, so they kept a division in Atlanta.

Thus, Adrian also had to say goodbye to his office in Bossworth, even though he was quite attached to it—not only because many films had been decided upon here, but also because of the passionate moments with numerous women here. However, he was ultimately the chairman of AC Media, and even though Claude handled most of the matters, he had to sit here to assert his authority, and he had other plans regarding the structure of the film company.

Laverne came along too, the CEO of Bossworth was promoted to the head office as well; had Adrian not needed him in film production, Laverne wouldn’t have moved to the head office so late.

With dad’s support, she had no shortage of opportunities to tour the offices of several senior executives at the company. Her lively and fearless nature also made many people like her. Because Adrian intentionally avoided appearing with Kate and his daughter both on the set of "A Time to Kill" and in the office building, even though people speculated about who Lily’s parents were, they didn’t think too much about it.

However, it was the first time like now, bringing her to another woman’s home. The women around him knew he had a child, but besides Charlize and Nakama Yukie, who was currently working part-time as a maid, only Sarah had met her. But Adrian didn’t think there was anything wrong with this. Letting the child start interacting from a young age would help her accept reality when she grew up, right? Besides, Monica wasn’t the kind of unreasonable woman, and Lily’s approachability had made her quickly fond of her.

"Duck! It is, a duck!" Sitting in Monica’s lap, the little one held a children’s picture book and read aloud.

"That’s right, a duck, Lily is really smart." Monica kissed her head, wearing a love-filled smile. The scene looked quite heartwarming, so much so that Adrian, leaning at the door, almost couldn’t bear to interrupt.

But he eventually came over, "Lily, it’s time to sleep."

"Book is called?" Lily blinked, taking a while to register, then shook her head like a tambourine, "No good."

The pronunciation of that last word was significantly more correct than the first, and immediately after saying it, she yawned hugely.

"We can’t have that, sweetheart. Good children must go to sleep," Adrian coaxed her, "If you don’t sleep, daddy will no longer be the baddie. It’ll turn into you being the baddie."

Lily paused for a moment and then suddenly cheered, "I am the baddie! I am the baddie!"

Adrian rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm, but thankfully Monica stepped in, taking the picture book out of the little one’s hand, "It’s time to rest, Lily. If you rest now, I promise to teach you more words tomorrow, okay?"

The little one looked at dad and then at the aunt, and finally nodded in agreement, "Okay then."

After washing his daughter and tucking her into bed, Adrian stayed to sing half of a lullaby before he and Monica finally left her bedroom.

"Luckily, you were here, otherwise it would have taken me a lot of effort to get her to sleep," he said as he held her.

"It’s just a bit more effort, honestly, I’ve never seen a man so patient with children," Monica replied with a smile.

Indeed, it was quite similar to when he had taken care of Emma, Adrian thought to himself, then he noticed the sadness in Monica’s eyes. After briefly considering, he shrugged and whispered in her ear, "Don’t worry, I will keep my promise."

Monica suddenly looked up at him with an indescribable look—surprised, disbelieving, frightened, and more.

"I still have some credibility," Adrian said with a smile and touched her lips, "By the end of next year at the latest, I will definitely help you fulfill your wish."

After staring at him for a long moment, Monica sighed deeply but then threw herself into his arms. Holding him tightly and resting her head on his shoulder for a while, she finally spoke, "Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what life would be like if I hadn’t sold my soul to the devil."

"Why, do I look that much like a devil?" Adrian joked as he held her.

"Yes, you are a devil, Ed," Monica closed her eyes, "You’re skilled at finding a woman’s weakness and indulging it; you can read a woman’s mind, making her fall for you; you enjoy manipulating them, watching them dance to your rhythm. You’re full of greed and possession, a true devil indeed."

"Heh, so you’ve seen through all this. What should I do now?" Adrian continued in a joking tone.

Monica didn’t respond at first, then she lifted her head again, looked into his eyes, and gave a small smile, "Actually, selling one’s soul to the devil isn’t such a bad thing, even if..."

"Even if it is to the devil, he still keeps his promises," Adrian quickly added, smiling slightly as he cupped her face and leaned in closer.

"I am yours, Ed, completely yours," Monica murmured as she looked at him, then they passionately kissed.

Monica was right; even the devil keeps his word. To earn someone’s soul, some schemes are necessary, just like what he was currently doing.

"Tell me honestly, what do you think? Don’t worry, it’s just an idea for now," Adrian asked Bruce Willis seriously.

"Well, to be honest, it definitely has market potential. If several of us appear in the same movie, people will want to see it," Willis gestured, "but my agreement alone isn’t enough—though if the invitation comes from you, that’s another matter—and there’s still a lot to consider. The script is secondary, though we can chat a bit when we meet, but..."

He laughed and didn’t continue, but his implication was clear. Yet, his tone was both serious and sincere, evidently treating Adrian as a friend.

"Don’t worry, it’s still just an idea. Let’s finalize the framework first," Adrian replied smilingly, discussing the concept for "The Expendables."

Adrian had already discussed this topic with the heads of three film companies, receiving varied responses. The Weinstein brothers, although notorious for daring to film anything, were conservative on this, as hiring several big stars simultaneously costs a lot, not to mention the many logistical issues; Robert Shaye cautiously expressed optimism, stating that with proper management and cost control, it would be feasible to shoot; whereas Bossworth, who had been nurtured by Adrian and Laverne, were more professional—they neither confirmed nor denied, suggesting that more information was needed.

Of course, the situation arose because Adrian hadn’t told them he wanted to turn the movie into a branded film. After all, the plan was rather extensive, and he had to combine a lot of information before making a judgment. For example, the feedback from Marvel was that it was unclear whether it could be made into a comic book at least before the movie was released.

So now, he was doing nothing more than setting the stage in advance, like when he met Schwarzenegger at the White House. Only, he was closer to Willis, so he talked more.

"Sorry, I’m late," Liv burst in, wearing a trench coat, as the door to the lounge finally opened, and then she sheepishly stuck out her tongue.

"You know you’re late? Look how late you are," Adrian pointed to the clock on the wall.

"Sorry, I forgot to turn on the car radio and got stuck in traffic on Route 122," Liv stuck out her tongue again, her ponytail and thick bangs adding to her youthful and lovely charm.

"It’s okay, it’s only been ten minutes. We’ll just try to catch up later," Willis played peacemaker.

"Alright, let’s get ready, call Joaquin and the others, then let’s start," Adrian stood up, going with the flow.

"Thanks, Ed," Liv giggled as she hopped over and hooked her arm through his, placing a kiss on his cheek, unconcerned by Willis standing right there.

Willis shrugged it off, as if he hadn’t seen, since it wasn’t the first or second time after all. He knew Adrian’s romantic escapades could fill a novel, and all he could do was envy, as he sometimes couldn’t even handle the woman at home.

Once Joaquin and the others arrived, the group immediately went to the dubbing studio. There actually wasn’t anything major happening today, just some post-production dubbing for "Armageddon." Adrian had seen the trailer, and Michael Bay’s handling of explosions and zoom long shots was still very impactful, even if it was still rough.

Adrian only needed to be in the know about these things. After all, Michael and Brokheimer were handling the post-production, so there was really no need for him to supervise. However, Adrian came here today for another reason.

"Great job, guys, finished in just two hours," Adrian gathered them together after waiting for the dubbing to end, "By the way, the band that’s singing the theme song is trying it out in another studio, they wrote a song about a father and daughter specifically for this movie. Maybe you guys can go and talk with them."

Since he suggested it, and the dubbing work went smoothly and was nearly done, no one had any objections. However, Liv took a moment to come over and asked quietly, "Why do we need to go meet them?"

"Because it’s necessary," Adrian smiled as he responded.

"Really?" Liv narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, "Can I not go?"

"Of course not, haven’t you been pestering me for a surprise? You’ll find out soon," Adrian immediately rejected her suggestion.

Ever since he mentioned that there would be a surprise for her in the next movie, Liv had frequently pestered him about what exactly it was, and even now, almost a year later, she hadn’t forgotten.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Liv muttered, although half-doubting, she didn’t say anything more.

Although she seemed indifferent to everything, her intuition as a woman was still quite sharp. So, Adrian quickly whispered to Willis and Joaquin, asking them to be on alert and ready to mediate if needed later, although both agreed, they didn’t understand what was actually going on.

The mystery was soon revealed.

"Let me introduce, this is the main stage of Aerosmith, Mr. Steven Tyler, and these are his band members." In another lounge, Adrian introduced a long-haired, skinny middle-aged man dressed expensively and clearly a rock singer, to several actors.

"Hello, I’m Steven Tyler." The middle-aged man immediately shook hands with them, but when he reached out to Liv, whose face had stiffened and who had been laughing just before they came in, she glared at Tyler for a long while without moving or speaking, until Adrian gave several meaningful looks and gently coughed, she then reluctantly stretched out her hand and shook his, coldly saying "hello" before shutting her mouth. Tyler smiled awkwardly and didn’t say much else.

Even the dullest person could sense something was wrong by then, but since Adrian and Tyler did not show it, they just kept their concerns to themselves.

"I’ve invited you all here because the lead singer of Aerosmith specifically wrote a theme song about a father and daughter for the movie, but he was struggling to capture the right emotions, so he hoped to refine those through discussions and your insights," Adrian opened the meeting.

"Alright, I’ll start with how I feel..." Bruce Willis looked around, cleared his throat and began, as he was the tragic hero and had been briefed by Adrian.

After he finished, Joaquin Phoenix took over. His character was the boyfriend of the protagonist’s daughter, so he naturally had a say. After him came Steve Buscemi and others.

"Then we can be sure of one thing, first, the daughter is somewhat rebellious, she feels that her father is very unfair to her, so she opposes him at every turn; second, she must be a very emotional person..." Tyler thought carefully and chose his words before speaking, although some of the words seemed critical of the daughter, they were actually implicitly flattering and sympathetic, and his eyes kept glancing intentionally or unintentionally at Liv, so everyone could guess who he was referring to, and for a moment, the atmosphere in the room got a bit weird.

"...even so, the daughter still loves her father, just like the final farewell, she ultimately chose to forgive him, I believe that if she had the chance to do it over..." Just as Tyler reached this point, Liv, who had been silent and tense the whole time, suddenly stood up and walked out without a word.

"Sorry, please continue." Adrian stood up, signaled Willis with a look, gestured to Steven Tyler for patience, and then followed her out.

"Liv, wait, please don’t be so impulsive," he quickly caught up to her and grabbed her hand behind her.

"Let me go!" Liv shook off his hand furiously, intending to keep moving forward, but Adrian suddenly embraced her, ignoring her kicks and shoving, looked around, and then quickly took her into the women’s restroom.

Fortunately, there was no one else inside. To prevent eavesdropping, he even peeked over the partition before placing the ’Cleaning in progress’ sign outside the door. After finishing these preparations, Adrian then turned to Liv. The young woman, although leaning against the washbasin and not leaving, still looked furious.

"Calm down, Liv, take a deep breath, do it a few more times. Once your emotions settle, we can talk, okay?" Adrian spoke in a soothing tone.

Though she was very angry and upset, Liv, almost subconsciously, began to take deep breaths as he suggested, and by the time she realized it, her boiling emotions had subsided somewhat. Reluctantly, she continued.

"Are you feeling better now?" Adrian, observing her change, then asked.

"Is this your ’surprise’?!" Liv glared at him and asked stiffly.

"Yes, after all, Steven Tyler is your father, isn’t he?" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, and your support will be my greatest motivation.)