Chapter 278: The Messenger
Chapter 278: The Messenger
Over the phone, Eric recounted everything that had happened over the past few days, as well as his own guesses. Jeffrey, on the other end in New York, also realized the seriousness of the matter and said he would return to Los Angeles the next morning.
After hanging up, Eric sat alone in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and continued staring blankly. As the setting sun completely sank beneath the horizon, the unlit living room grew dim. The little girl had wandered off somewhere again, and without instructions, the estate’s servants would not enter this place on their own. Thus, only Eric remained in the entire villa, making it seem quiet and empty.
After an unknown amount of time, the intercom in the living room beeped. Eric got up and pressed the call button, and the estate security guard’s voice came through.
“Mr. Williams, someone named Arnon Carpenter is here to see you.”
Eric asked doubtfully, “I don’t know anyone by that name. Did he say why he came?”
The security guard said, “No, but he said he is a ‘messenger.’”
“A messenger,” Eric repeated softly. He quickly thought of something and said to the guard, “Let him in.”
“Yes, Mr. Williams.”
After the other side finished speaking, the call ended.
Eric turned on all the lights in the living room. The originally dim space quickly became as bright as day. Then Eric walked toward the study.
A few minutes later, a refined-looking white man wearing glasses entered the door carrying a black leather bag. Under the bright lights, he looked around at the mansion’s luxurious interior and let out several low sounds of admiration. Although he knew he might never own such a mansion in his lifetime, when he thought of what he had come to do today, a deformed sense of smugness inevitably rose in his heart.
Seeing that Eric was not in the living room, the man showed no sense of politeness. He walked on his own to the sofa by the floor-to-ceiling window and sat down, gazing patiently at the shimmering sea outside while waiting for the owner to appear.
After a while, Eric walked out of the study. Seeing the stranger already sitting on the sofa, he frowned slightly, but soon regained his calm and walked toward him.
Hearing footsteps, the man stood up but did not move from where he was. He waited until Eric approached before extending his hand and introducing himself.
“Hello, Mr. Williams. My name is Arnon Carpenter.”
Eric reached out and shook his hand but did not speak. Seeing Arnon Carpenter completely ignore his coldness and prepare to sit back down in the same place, Eric finally spoke.
“Sorry, Mr. Carpenter. This is my favorite spot. Please sit over there.”
Arnon Carpenter’s expression shifted, but a cold smile quickly appeared on his face. He stood in a deliberately graceful manner and said, “As you wish, Mr. Williams.”
Only after Arnon gave up the seat did Eric sit down. Then he looked at Arnon Carpenter across from him and said, “I heard you’re a ‘messenger.’ Then tell me why you came.”
Arnon Carpenter did not speak immediately. Instead, he opened the leather bag he had brought with him, took out a stack of photos, and pushed them toward Eric.
“Mr. Williams, you can look at these first.”
Eric picked up the thick stack of photos. The first one showed Drew curled up in his arms like a kitten. It had been taken at the entrance of the Malibu estate several weeks earlier, during the incident when the little girl had shouted that she had bumped her knee.
A trace of realization flashed through Eric’s mind. So his feeling that day had not been wrong. Someone really had been following and secretly photographing him.
Then perhaps his other feelings over these days had not been wrong either.
Although deeply shocked, Eric still calmly flipped through the next photos without changing expression. Aside from the “intimate photos” of him and Drew, not one woman who had ever interacted with him was spared. The time span covered an entire year. There were even quite a few photos Eric could not immediately recall at first glance and needed to think carefully before roughly remembering the time and place they had been taken.
Moreover, all these photos were shot with considerable skill. Anyone who looked at them could immediately tell that the relationship between the men and women in the photos was ambiguous.
After finishing the photos, Eric immediately confirmed that Fox could not be unrelated to this matter, because Murdoch had once personally admitted that a reporter from News Corporation’s New York Post had secretly followed and photographed him for several months.
Moreover, this stack of photos even included pictures of him and Nicole, yet there were no photos of him and Elizabeth at all. If this were the work of some other force, then exposing the relationship between a newly rising famous director and the daughter of a media tycoon would surely cause an even bigger sensation.
However, although Fox’s shadow could be seen from the photos, Eric was certain the matter was far from that simple. If News Corporation alone wanted to use such tricks to force him to submit, the only result would be pushing him toward other forces. Neither Murdoch nor Barry Diller could possibly be that stupid.
Eric casually tossed the photos onto the coffee table in front of him and raised his head, staring coldly at Arnon Carpenter across from him.
“What is this supposed to mean?”
Arnon Carpenter slightly avoided Eric’s freezing, oppressive gaze and said, “Mr. Williams, now you’re asking a question you already know the answer to.”
Eric’s voice carried not the slightest ripple. “Do you think these little tricks can affect me?”
Arnon Carpenter said, “Whether they can or cannot depends on whether my boss is willing to make them affect you. Mr. Williams, you must understand that in Hollywood history, many famous people like you have flashed by like meteors simply because of one or two scandals that originally seemed insignificant. Do you need me to list a few examples?”
Eric said in a deep voice, “Everything between me and the women in these photos was consensual. If exposed, at most the public will think of me as a playboy. Hollywood has no shortage of playboys.”
Arnon Carpenter sneered and sat up straighter.
“Mr. Williams, the ‘public’ you mentioned is the most ignorant group of all. What kind of person they regard you as depends mainly on what the media controlling public opinion wants them to regard you as. And the people who sent me to deliver this message happen to control a very large portion of North American public opinion media. So these photos are enough to ruin your reputation. Moreover, this is only the beginning. After these minor troubles, even greater troubles will be waiting for you.”
Hearing Arnon Carpenter say this, a strange look flashed in Eric’s eyes. But he quickly concealed the emotion and said in a slightly angry tone, “Mr. Carpenter, can you tell me who exactly the boss, or bosses, behind you are?”
Seeing that Eric had finally been angered by him, Arnon Carpenter said proudly, “Mr. Williams, you’re so clever. How could you possibly not guess?”
“Fine,” Eric continued. “Then tell me what conditions they have.”
“Forty percent of Firefly Films’ shares,” Arnon Carpenter said smoothly, as if reciting from memory. Then he continued, “You see, Mr. Williams, the boss who sent me to deliver this message is not greedy at all. Hand over forty percent of Firefly’s shares, and you will still be Firefly’s largest shareholder. But if you refuse, once everything is set in motion, the price you’ll have to pay to make my boss stop will be far more than this.”
Eric snorted coldly.
Forty percent of the shares. On the surface, it indeed did not seem greedy.
However, if he lost that forty percent, then after subtracting the three percent he had recently transferred to Jeffrey, he would only have forty-two percent left. Although he would still be Firefly’s largest shareholder, he would no longer have absolute control.
And although Robert Shaye’s abilities were mediocre, he had always been someone with a very strong desire for power. If those people obtained forty percent of the shares and promised Robert Shaye what he wanted, Eric was certain Robert Shaye would absolutely side with them. At that point, Eric would lose control of Firefly.
After merging with New Line, Firefly now had film distribution channels. Although its scale still had not reached the level of the seven giants, it had already begun to take shape as something capable of developing into a film giant.
Once he lost control of Firefly, Eric was certain it would be extremely difficult for him, under the joint suppression of the seven major studios, to develop another film company with complete distribution channels. Moreover, with the 1990s approaching, film companies and media groups would soon enter a wave of integration. At that time, facing movie giants combined with media groups, Eric would only be thrown farther and farther behind.
Even if he could still continuously produce blockbuster films, he would no longer have the strength to bargain with those film companies. In the end, he would only become a chess piece used by large groups, not a player who could influence the game.
After thinking all this through, Eric had no desire to continue feigning civility with the stranger before him. He directly issued an order to leave.
“Mr. Carpenter, is it? Go back and tell your boss: if they want Firefly, then come and take it. Let’s see whether they can get their hands on it.”
Arnon Carpenter’s expression grew even more smug as he continued, “Mr. Williams, my boss already guessed in advance that you would be young and hot-blooded enough to reject this suggestion outright. So he asked me to tell you that you still have one more day tomorrow to consider it. Calm down a little and think it over carefully.”
“Look, this villa is so gorgeous and extravagant. Maintaining everything here must cost no less than one million dollars a year, right?”
As though he had not heard Arnon Carpenter’s words at all, Eric pointed toward the door and said, “Mr. Carpenter, actually, having a stranger like you appear here makes me extremely uncomfortable. So please leave immediately. I’m afraid I might lose control and have security throw you into the sea. You should know that this is private property, and I have the right to do that.”