Hollywood King

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-

The next day, Ian woke up with a raging headache, but he was not alone.

“Do you always wake up this early?” Carrie’s voice came through.

Ian turned around to see how Carrie had her legs wide spread on the bed. Last night was amazing and fulfilling.

He smiled and looked at Carrie.

“Well, that went well, good morning, Carrie,” he said and killed the top of her head.

He was planning to make a cup of coffee for both of them in the morning, but Carrie had woken up before he thought she would.

“Good morning, director. How was your night?” she asked foolishly.

Ian smiled genuinely, “Although the first bits were almost like a dream to me, I admit that everything else felt good. However, since the shooting is over, you should spend the day with us,” he invited but Carrie quickly shook her head.

“No, no. Not today, I’m having a meeting with a director in the evening—“Before Ian could open his mouth, she continued, “Before you start saying it. No. Not for a meeting like what we had last night.”

Ian chuckled. “Well, I didn’t assume it would be.”

“Sure. I know what men think-“

Before she could complete it, there were knocks on the bedroom door. Ian looked at her and back at the door.

He immediately knew who it was.

“It’s Raelynn,” he said with a glance and walked towards the door to open.

Soon, Raelynn walked inside with a smile on her face. “Good morning, you both.”

She kissed Ian on his lips immediately.

Carrie smiled, “Good morning. Thank you for last night, Rae.” She said gratefully.

“Well, not a problem.”

“I have a question about this… situation,” Carrie initiated.

Ian chuckled and kissed Raelynn on the lips. “Well, I’ll be in my office. I need to make some calls while you both talk,” he said and walked outside.

Raelynn walked inside and thus, they started talking to each other.

-

[Renner Studio]

Ian sat on his usual chair and kept looking at his phone. He was scrolling down on the Internet when he had his time. The break was something Ian had dreaded for.

But soon, he was interrupted by the annoying buzz of the intercom.

“Yes, Murphy?” Ian quickly asked.

“Christopher is here, Mr. Renner. Should I send him in?”

“Yes, send.”

As soon as he heard the news, he knew Christopher came bearing good news. And this probably could be a good time to explain what his intentions were with the studio—which he could ask Christopher’s help from.

Within two minutes, Christopher walked in.

“Good afternoon, Christopher. I hadn’t expected you anytime sooner, knowing that you’re possibly busy with the new responsibilities, you know,” Ian smiled and stood up to greet the president of the country.

Right after Christopher, men wearing black walked in. Approximately, there were seven to eight men who walked inside.

Ian’s eyes went past Christopher to look at those men.

“There are many other men, all around the building. Tell your employees not to worry a lot if they stop and talk,” Christopher said with a smile, almost joking.

Ian shook his head and sat in his seat after shaking hands with him.

“Leave us alone,” Christopher announced and almost all the men wearing black walked out, except one.

Ian immediately understood that the last man surely will be staying for the rest of the conversation.

“Tea or coffee?”

“Please, I need a good coffee. It has been more conflicting than I had assumed. And not to mention, I undervalued what I could do,” Christopher stated as a matter of fact.

Ian said nothing but chuckled.

“Well, it happened so quickly and before we knew you were running for president. But I’m glad things turned out for the best. You know?”

Christopher nodded. He leaned forward in his seat, “Ian, thank you so much for everything you did for me. Please, I expect you to tell me if there’s anything that I can do for you.”

Ian nodded. But soon, they were interrupted by Murphy with the tray of coffee in his hand.

While Murphy was placing the cups of coffee, Ian understood that this was the perfect moment to ask what he wanted. And with the upcoming years being exhausting for Christopher, it was a matter of timing—Now or never.

“Thanks, Murphy.”

Ian’s assistant walked out of the office, leaving just the two of them in the room—with the bodyguard.

“Actually,” Ian took a sip of the coffee and placed it gently on the table. “There is something that you can do for me.”

Christopher raised his eyebrows as to the question, ‘Oh really?’

But a moment passed, and another.

They kept looking at each other.

“Well?” Christopher urged.

“You do know Goofy right?” Ian asked.

“Yeah. Who doesn’t? Goofy runs Hollywood.”

Ian nodded, a smirk appearing on his face. “For the past couple of years, ever since Jeff Sanson forced a project on me, I’ve been investing in stocks. And that’s a fact only my financial adviser knows. Anyways, the stocks were not only being bought by me but the majority was bought by John, my friend.”

Christopher’s eyes widened.

“What exactly do you want me to do in this? And are you telling me that you’re about to buy Goofy?”

Ian nodded. “That’s a plan. In both of our stocks combined, we own forty-five per cent. But the problem is, the political influence on the company is tight. And—”

The man who sat opposite Ian immediately understood.

“We can. But you do know forty-five per cent wouldn’t be enough right? This is business. The effect will be much more influential if the percentile goes above fifty. And that’ll cost a few million dollars.”

Ian nodded. “Three more weeks and John will acquire it. I own barely three per cent. Can’t make it obvious now, can we?”

Christopher chuckled. “Well, I don’t know how silly the managers are. If one person is trying to gain stocks little by little, they should know better.”

“How else do you think that Feazel Gaming is under me?” Ian chuckled.

“Just send a text when you need help. I know what exactly I can do,” Christopher said, knowing that the people under him who were supporting Goofy will back off with just a single command of him.

Ian nodded.

They both brought the cups of coffee to their lips at the same time and enjoyed the rest of the conversation.

-

[Editing room]

Ian walked inside on Niko and the rest of the team when they were completely absorbed while editing and putting the scenes together.

“How is it going?” He asked as he stood behind. His hands were on his hip.

He squinted his eyes to look closely.

“Niko, you do check on them right?” he asked, seeing how one scene was not how he had expected.

The color coordination hadn’t matched and it was visible for Ian without even an effort.

Niko stood up from his chair immediately and walked around to see what Ian was looking at.

“I told you, Vin. You need to pay close attention to the details. Send me the copy, don’t do anything more,” Niko said frustratingly and walked back.

Ian followed Niko to where he was sitting and took a look at his screen.

“This is going well,” Ian commented as his eyes wandered around the scene that was playing.

“Yeah. Ian, excuse me,” Niko’s anger was visible.

He stood up and walked closer to Vin, where his teammate was.

“Well, sir. With respect, I’ve been working with you for almost two months now, and you are just not improving. I understand that you’re new and there are a lot of experiences that you are yet to gain. But, this is not how it should be going. You are making my work worse here. And the Renner Studio is not somewhere you come for experiences or you make mistakes daily. Please, walk out of that door and never look back until you feel you’re confident,” Niko said loud enough that all the members inside the room turned to look at what was happening.

“I…” A man, who looked as if he was in his early twenties looked up at Niko with teary eyes.

“It is not about your capabilities, skills or your work ethic. Vin, it is about how confident you are about yourself. I asked you the very first day, will you be confident enough to handle the challenges and you said yes. But you’ve proven me wrong all this time. The only experience you had was in a big-budgeted movie, although I seriously doubt how you did your work there. However, let’s not waste any more time.”

Niko without a glance walked back to his chair.

His words cut through the young man deeply as he stood up and took his phone to his hand.

Ian kept staring at everything that was happening.

“Everyone else, back to work. We've got goals for the day,” Niko calmly said while everyone else started focusing on their screens.