Ever since Owen Rhodes returned, every day had been wonderful for Stella Sterling.
And by extension, her friends at the art studio were also living quite well.
Although he eventually became too busy to visit the studio every day, he never once missed sending Stella afternoon tea.
Ken was the happiest of all.
Thanks to the studio’s afternoon tea and the dinners Owen Rhodes ordered for Stella whenever she worked late, he had actually put on a few pounds.
After the meal, he lounged on the sofa like a lord, completely without decorum.
With a toothpick dangling from his mouth, he patted his belly, swollen from the satisfying meal.
"Sis, I think your husband is a really great guy."
He had naturally transitioned from "President Rhodes" to "brother-in-law."
Stella Sterling couldn’t be bothered with him and pretended not to hear.
Ken, struck by a sudden thought, shot up and scurried over to Stella Sterling.
"Sis, do you want to have kids?"
Stella Sterling’s brow twitched. She had a gut feeling that nothing good was about to come out of his mouth.
"What are you getting at?"
"I was just asking! I was scrolling through videos the other day and came across an educational one about childbirth. Tsk, tsk, tsk... Even as a man, it hurt just watching it. Our Sis has such delicate skin and is so pampered, she definitely couldn’t handle that kind of suffering, right?"
As he spoke, Ken gave Stella Sterling a very theatrical pout.
Stella Sterling instantly broke out in goosebumps.
She suspected that at some point, without her knowing, Ken had taken a trip to Thailand for a "minor" surgery.
She subconsciously took a step back.
Faye Rhodes also couldn’t stand Ken’s disgustingly sycophantic act.
She was still sitting at the table, drinking her juice.
She shot him a dark look. "What? You want Sis to transplant her uterus to you so you can give birth for her? Get her period for her?"
Ken: "..."
The corner of his mouth twitched. "Well, that’s not what I meant."
"Then what did you mean?"
"Well, of course, if Sis doesn’t want to have kids, I could be her and her husband’s adopted son! I’ll work out, take care of my body, and I promise I’ll see you both through old age and to your graves."
Stella Sterling: "Heh, that won’t be necessary."
’She knew you couldn’t get ivory from a dog’s mouth.’
Faye Rhodes also wore a look of utter contempt.
"Don’t you worry. My uncle’s inheritance donation agreement was notarized a long time ago. It’d be a perfect opportunity for you to go and witness it."
Ken let out a roar. "NOOO—!!!" He grabbed Faye Rhodes’s arm and shook it frantically. "You’re lying to me, right?! You have to be lying! No way, take back what you said!!! I don’t care, take it back!!!"
Meanwhile, Maurice Ford and Sutton, who had been sitting to the side with no intention of joining the conversation, seemed to have unconsciously stumbled upon some major gossip.
Both of them tilted their heads in the exact same way.
If they hadn’t misheard, the "Sis and brother-in-law" Ken was talking about must be Umi and her husband.
And Faye Rhodes’s uncle is Owen Rhodes.
Ken wanted to become Umi’s adopted son, and Faye Rhodes said her uncle’s inheritance had already been notarized for donation...
Therefore, the secretly married wife of Owen Rhodes was—
Umi!!!
Well, well, well.
’Once, a golden opportunity was placed right before me...’
Maurice Ford suddenly spoke up. "Miss Umi, do you have any preferences when you’re getting your picture taken? Do you prefer your left side or your right side? What kind of atmosphere do you like?"cento-budget
Stella Sterling: "?"
The daily life in the studio had a strange, relaxed feeling to it.
Maurice Ford felt this was the most comfortable team he had ever been a part of.
’I really hope that for all future TV drama shoots and other projects, I’ll get to work with an angel like Umi.’
Stella Sterling didn’t know what was going through Maurice Ford’s mind, but she had the strange feeling that the way he was looking at her seemed...
...full of a kind of worship and supplication, as if she were a deity?
’So strange.’
Once Stella Sterling started painting again, Maurice Ford took the opportunity to sidle up to Faye Rhodes.
"That thing from before, did you tell your uncle about it?"
He was talking about the incident with the MV heroine who seemed to fall from the sky.
Faye Rhodes replied, "No. It’s enough that President Jacobs knows."
It was no secret among their close circle that Stella Sterling and Kiana Sterling did not get along.
Given the relationship between Silas Jacobs and Owen Rhodes, Silas definitely knew which side his bread was buttered on.
However, Silas Jacobs was a playful man with a somewhat malicious personality.
After Faye Rhodes had told him everything that day, Silas Jacobs thought for a moment and flashed a villainous smile.
"Crushing the ant too quickly wouldn’t be any fun."
An ant’s antennae are very sensitive. They can quickly sense obstacles in their path and swiftly avoid them.
It was always amusing to watch an ant charge headfirst into a dead end he had blocked off.
Of course, the best outcome would be for Kiana Sterling to give up on her own after discovering the obstacles.
But Kiana Sterling would never give up on her own.
There were some things Silas Jacobs could infer from what Faye Rhodes had said.
He had no proof, but his gut feeling was enough.
’Perhaps some people, if you let them prance around long enough, will expose their own flaws.’
One day, when he had nothing better to do, Silas Jacobs summoned Zion Shawcross to his office—a place he set foot in about once a month.
"I hear someone’s trying to shove a person on you?"
Zion Shawcross made himself right at home in Silas Jacobs’s office, sitting down, propping his leg up on the coffee table, and half-closing his eyes as if he could fall asleep at any moment.
"You’re the company’s big boss. How could you not know?"
"It wasn’t me who shoved her on you, so how would I know?"
Silas Jacobs mimicked Zion Shawcross’s posture, settling down leisurely.
"Don’t reject her too quickly. Tease her a little first."
Zion Shawcross shot him a sidelong glance, then looked away again.
"Boring."
Silas Jacobs scoffed. "And sleeping all day like you do isn’t boring?"
"Shallow people can only see shallow things."
The "shallow" Silas Jacobs just smiled. "I won’t stoop to your level."
When Kiana Sterling received Zoe Yates’s message that day, she thought she would be signing a contract with Zion Shawcross’s team very soon.
She even began to look forward to it. If she ran into Stella Sterling on the set and Stella only realized then that Kiana was the MV’s female lead, what kind of reaction would she have?
Just the thought of Stella possibly stomping her feet in anger made Kiana Sterling feel ecstatic.
But before her excitement could fade, Zoe Yates apologetically told her that Vantage wanted to see if there were other suitable candidates.
Kiana Sterling was shocked. "Didn’t you say Mr. Yates is a shareholder at Vantage?"
Zoe Yates was a bit embarrassed. "He is a shareholder, but... Zion Shawcross isn’t playing along. I heard he was the one who insisted that the female lead for the MV must go through an audition."
Kiana Sterling was stunned for a moment, then laughed contemptuously. "It’s just an MV. Does he think it’s some big-budget movie? An audition? Fine. I’ll just bring my own funding to the project. He wouldn’t dare refuse someone’s investment, would he?"
Zoe Yates couldn’t say for sure. After all, she had never had any dealings with Zion Shawcross.
But based on his response this time, this Zion Shawcross was a tough nut to crack.
All she could say was, "How about I give you his agent’s contact information? You can have your assistant communicate with him directly?"
Kiana Sterling felt that Zion Shawcross was just putting on airs.
"Fine. I just hope he won’t be begging me to take the role later."