Chapter 197: Temporary Loss of Power
Chapter 197: Temporary Loss of Power
The sound of running water came from the bathroom for a while before Eric walked out, wiping himself dry.
The sunlight slipping through the gap in the curtains already looked somewhat bright. On a September morning in Los Angeles, the temperature was a very comfortable twenty-two degrees Celsius or so. Eric remembered that this was the golden temperature for the human body’s tolerance.
He quietly found his clothes and put them on while looking at the young woman still sleeping soundly on the bed. Because the blanket had fallen aside, the young woman’s naked body was displayed before Eric without the slightest concealment. Since she had Eastern blood, her overall frame looked delicate and petite, and her skin was smoother and more tender than that of Western women. The gentle curve of her back traveled downward, forming a slender arc at her waist before rising rapidly at her pert buttocks into two small mounds, full of feminine allure. Below, her round thighs were lightly pressed together, but they still could not hide the enticing scenery between them.
Even by the time Eric had tied his tie and put on his jacket, the young woman showed no sign of waking. Seeing her adorable sleeping posture, sucking the thumb of her right hand like a baby, Eric could not help feeling stirred again. He lightly sat down on the bed, reached out, pulled the finger from the young woman’s mouth, and casually fed his own index finger in.
In an instant, Eric felt two moist lips instinctively wrap around his fingertip. As Eric gently pushed in, two rows of small teeth opened and closed, nibbling a few times at his fingertip as if testing something. Seeming to sense that this finger was different, the little tongue inside her mouth began pushing against it in dissatisfaction, as if trying to drive the unfamiliar intruder out.
Unfortunately, the young woman’s little tongue was far weaker than Eric. After a teasing bout of “pushing,” the young woman suddenly opened her eyes.
“Ah!”
Gabrielle quickly sprang up and pulled the blanket over her body. After seeing Eric’s smiling face clearly and recalling what had happened last night, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Good… good morning, Eric.” As if embarrassed by her own loss of composure, the young woman showed a smile and immediately greeted him.
“Morning.” Eric smiled and waved his damp fingertip at the young woman. “I didn’t expect you to be this cute when you sleep.”
“Ah, I… I do that?” The young woman lowered her head shyly. The moment she opened her eyes, she had also seen Eric’s finger movement, so she remembered some scenes from last night.
Eric smiled and nodded. “Of course. This is the first time I’ve seen a girl who likes sucking her own finger while sleeping.”
“I didn’t even know that myself.” The young woman still kept her eyes lowered and lightly glanced around, as if searching for something.
Eric considerately gathered a few pieces of clothing and handed them to the young woman. “It’s nothing. Actually, many people don’t know they snore when they sleep. Some even refuse to admit it after waking up.”
Gabrielle, who was about to secretly put on her panties, looked up in alarm. “I… I didn’t snore, did I?”
“Of course not,” Eric quickly shook his head. “I was only giving an example.”
“Oh.” The young woman relaxed in relief.
Seeing the young woman put on her panties and camisole, then walk barefoot toward the wardrobe, Eric said, “Baby, I think I have to go.”
Standing beside the wardrobe and considering what to wear today to look prettier, Gabrielle paused, then turned her head. “Can’t you leave after breakfast?”
Eric looked at his watch and said, “It’s almost eight-thirty now, and there may be traffic on the road. I don’t know if I can get to the company by nine. Since I’m flying to Venice at two this afternoon, I need to deal with some things quickly. I also have a meeting with Robert, Jeffrey, and the others at ten about the Firefly and New Line merger. The shooting schedule for my new film is out too, and I need to personally look over it… In short, I have a lot of things to handle in the next five hours.”
Seeing the young woman lower her head and listen while twisting her fingers with a disappointed expression, Eric’s tone softened as he spoke. A guilty feeling of using her and leaving also rose in his heart, so he could only gesture with his hand and say, “This… Is there a breakfast place nearby? Maybe we can have breakfast together. Ten or twenty minutes won’t make much difference.”
“Of course. Can I wash my face first?” The young woman raised her small face in surprise.
Since he had already made the decision, Eric no longer nitpicked over time. “Take a shower while you’re at it. But it’s best to be quick.”
“Then wait for me!”
The young woman excitedly chose a few pieces of clothing in a few quick motions and tiptoed into the bathroom. In less than fifteen minutes, she came out again. She was already dressed in a pale blue one-shoulder, hip-hugging short dress. Black stockings made her legs look taut and slender. Her hair was pulled into a small bun. She casually chose a pair of high heels from the shoe rack, put them on, stood up, and said to Eric, “All right, let’s go. The restaurant is just across the street, about forty or fifty steps away.”
…
“Eric, it’s almost nine-thirty. What happened to you today? Your mobile phone was turned off too. Don’t you know how tight today’s schedule is?” When Eric appeared at the company, an anxious Jeffrey immediately questioned him.
Facing the worried and irritated old man, Eric explained awkwardly, “Sorry, Jeffrey. There was… traffic.”
“Impossible. The road from your place to here doesn’t get congested at all. It’s not like I don’t know that route.”
“Actually, I came from West Hollywood,” Eric immediately raised both hands and confessed honestly.
“Uh…” Jeffrey froze, then quickly understood something. At the same time, he realized he had overstepped a little. Eric was, after all, his boss. Although he knew Eric would not mind if his tone was a little stern, he was not Eric’s elder. Occasionally scolding Eric a few times was fine, and Eric would not say anything out of respect for him, but anyone would become dissatisfied if it went on for too long.
“All right. There are several documents that need your signature. I already had Allen sort them and put them on your desk. You have half an hour to process them. Robert is almost here with his people. I’ll go prepare the conference room.”
“I’ll deal with them right away.” Eric nodded to Jeffrey and quickly walked toward his office. Jeffrey also went to prepare his own matters.
Although the merger agreement had already been signed, there were still a pile of problems to handle before the two companies could truly merge: business integration, management structure design, corporate restructuring, staff integration and layoffs. Therefore, it would take several months for the two companies to truly fuse together. During that period, their operations could not stop either, and there would be a period of parallel operation.
After hurriedly processing several documents, his assistant came to knock on the door. Eric quickly put down the folder and headed to the conference room.
In the conference room, apart from Robert Shaye, New Line had six or seven mid- and senior-level managers attending the meeting. On Firefly’s side, excluding the clerks responsible for recording the meeting, there were only Eric and Jeffrey. This comparison made Firefly’s weak foundation very obvious.
Although New Line’s profitability was far inferior to Firefly’s, all of its operations were well-developed. Production, copyright, publicity, distribution; every department was complete. As for Firefly, if one ignored its terrifying profitability, it actually looked more like a small workshop. Jeffrey was in charge of management and also served as producer for Eric’s films. Although he sometimes became so busy that everything turned upside down, most of the time, he alone was more than enough to handle it.
The two-hour meeting did not actually produce much. Aside from quickly reaching an agreement on finding another office location as soon as possible so the two companies could move together, the main issue was the dispute over production authority.
Eric naturally hoped Robert Shaye would completely let go of this area and focus on film distribution. If their distribution capability grew strong enough, combined with Eric’s eye for films, Firefly could rise to the status of a major studio within a few years.
But Robert Shaye directly rejected this proposal. This was within expectations. If the person at the helm of a film company did not even have the power to produce films, would that not be a joke?
Eric then proposed that Robert Shaye could be responsible for producing some low-budget horror films. After all, that area could barely be considered his “strength.”
What surprised Eric was that Robert Shaye still refused. Not only was he unsatisfied with the production authority over the low-budget films he had made in the past, he also hoped to personally operate several big productions next. Because he knew that with the revenue from Eric’s next several films, Firefly would have a large amount of cash coming in. Although Robert Shaye would not have dared play like this at New Line, since losing one big production would almost bankrupt New Line, now that he had Firefly’s funds as backing, Robert Shaye’s ambition swelled. Low-budget, high-box-office dark-horse films were rare in Hollywood. Otherwise, Eric’s achievements would not have seemed so astonishing. To obtain stable high returns, large investments and big productions were the true path.
Of course, Eric could not immediately agree to Robert Shaye’s idea. Even if Firefly had money, it could not be played with like this. Moreover, he had no confidence at all in Robert Shaye’s judgment. Although New Line in his previous life had achieved tremendous success with The Lord of the Rings series, it had also suffered a disastrous defeat with The Golden Compass. Looking at everything together, Robert Shaye’s film production success seemed to rely more on luck.
But in the face of Robert Shaye’s persistence, Eric had no choice but to make a temporary concession. After all, what he urgently needed most right now was the distribution channel in Robert’s hands, so fully integrating New Line was the top priority. A temporary loss of power was unavoidable.
In the end, after some arguing with Robert Shaye, Eric reluctantly agreed. Over the next year, the New Line label would be given two big productions with a total cost within fifty million dollars, and Robert Shaye would have full authority to operate them.
After the two-hour meeting ended, Robert Shaye and his group left in satisfaction. Eric ate a simple lunch while continuing to read documents. He would have to leave directly for the airport soon, so he had to finish reading the last few documents that needed his signature as quickly as possible.