Chapter 674 Choose One Option
Craig timidly walked up to Jack and greeted him politely, “Hello, senior.”
“Hold it,” Jack interrupted, holding up a finger. “The difference in our profession makes us worlds apart. You can’t address me as your senior.”
“What are you saying, Mr. Jack? Both of us are making a living in the entertainment industry, and you’re a leader in the business for winning the best male actor award. So, I should call you my senior.” Craig bowed and spoke in a moderate voice.
“Huh?” Jack’s dark eyes were solemn and unreadable as he fixed them on him. “I thought that being a trainee in a talent agency is your side hustle and making women happy is what you’re best at, right?”
For any man, it was a humiliation to be a gigolo, let alone being mentioned openly.
In an instant, Craig’s expression turned ugly, and his tone became distant as well. “Jack Griffith, what do you mean? What does it have to do with you whether I make women happy or not? Oh, are you jealous that I snagged away your business?”
His words made Jack’s face distort into a nasty expression, and the atmosphere between them was unpleasant as they both confronted each other without a hint of backing down from the other.
After a long moment of silence, Jack sprang to his feet suddenly and grabbed Craig by his throat. In a menacing voice, he said, “Do you think all men are jerks like you?’
Craig tried to pry his hand away, but Jack was too strong for him, and he could do nothing to him at all. Soon, his face started to turn blue from suffocation.
When he saw Jack’s nonchalant expression, Craig had a sudden vicious thought, and he raised his leg to aim a kick at Jack’s lower region.
However, Jack had his guard up against him and swiftly kicked his leg away. Then, he released his grip, lifted his leg, and kicked Craig to the floor.
Craig fell to the ground with a loud thud and felt dizzy from the fall, and half of his body felt pain and numbness simultaneously.
He felt humiliated as he punched the floor and glared at Jack with a tightened jaw. “So what if you won the best actor award? Can you step all over others just because of that? F*ck you!”
When he regained his senses, he scrambled up and lunged at Jack, but Ronald clasped him from behind before he even got close to him.
Tall and well-built, Ronald was built for brute force, and he was usually Jack’s manager and bodyguard. In contrast, Craig was slender and weak. Thus, they were not even in the same league. So, all Craig could do was only swing his limbs around as he shouted.
“F*ck off with your best actor award! You’re nothing but a scum who likes to walk all over others! Just you wait! I’ll get the company to sue you until your reputation is in pieces!”
Jack flicked a piece of lint off his jacket gracefully and said, “Go ahead and give all you’ve got. I’ll be waiting for you.”
“Argh!” He yelled furiously, “Come fight me one-on-one if you have the balls for it!”
A mirthless grin appeared on Jack’s face as he agreed to Craig’s suggestion. “Sure! Ronald, release him.”
“Alrighty!” Ronald let go immediately and retreated next to the door to prevent someone from dashing in to snap pictures or videos.
However, when Craig was free from being restrained, he didn’t attack and merely let out a snort. Then, after he straightened his clothes, he glared ferociously at Jack as though he would lose his temper at a moment’s notice.
Even though he looked fierce, he wasn’t threatening at all.
“I don’t remember stepping on your toes before,” he began, disgruntled. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“That’s a good question.” Jack returned to his seat, crossed his legs, and rested one hand on his knees while another was naturally spread out on the armrest. Then, he idly drummed his fingers against the couch and said, “One thing. Leave Winona, but don’t break her heart. Think of the excuse yourself. All I want is the result.”
“Why should I do that?” Craig blurted. Then, something came into his mind, and he prodded, “Could it be… You’re interested in her?”
“This isn’t something you should know,” Jack said expressionlessly. “Aren’t you dating Winona because she’s Elise Sinclair’s manager, so you wanted to reap some benefits from her? Now that you’ve already gotten what you wanted, you should stop while you still can.”
“Don’t frame me, Jack Griffith! I’m true to Winona. You know nothing of our affairs, so how dare you stick your nose into somewhere you don’t belong! Who are you to tell me to leave her?!” he argued, sounding so self-righteous at that moment.
“Of course, I have that right.” He smirked, and his gaze was icy. “Elise Sinclair is a good friend, and Winona is working for her. I have to ensure that nothing affects her work, and someone must eliminate a huge, uncertain factor like you.”
“Hmph.” Craig let out a cold smirk. “What if I don’t want to break up with her?”
“You can do that as well,” Jack answered casually. “Then, your wish to appear in all major headlines will come true tomorrow. On all major social media platforms, you’ll find intimate pictures of you with those older women. Choose one option. Think about it yourself.”
“You’re despicable!” Craig’s hands balled up tightly into fists.
Jack shrugged and said nonchalantly, “Go ahead and curse at me as much as you want. I don’t care.”
Despite being provoked, Craig had no words to refute.
If he kept Winona by his side, he didn’t have to worry about finding jobs in the future. But on the other hand, if Jack leaked the fact that he was a gigolo, his career in the entertainment industry would be completely shattered.
The entertainment industry had no lack of fresh-faced young men, and once his reputation was down the drain, those wealthy women wouldn’t cast an extra glance at him anymore.
Instead of being greedy, he might as well strive to survive by making a small sacrifice.
Craig swallowed all his disgruntlement with gritted teeth and yielded in the end. “I’ll do as you say, but you’ll have to give me some time to gently break it to Winona.”
“One week,” Jack said firmly. “One week later, if Winona doesn’t return to being a single woman, there will be no more Craig Baker in the entertainment industry.”
“Okay.” He spun around and left without saying another word.
As the door swung open and closed, and after the sounds of footsteps died off in the hallway, Ronald turned to face Jack. “Why don’t you just expose trash like him?” he asked.
“I know what I’m doing.”Jack sighed and rubbed the spot between his brows. “You can leave, Ronald. I would like to have some time alone.”
Ronald didn’t say a word as he thought that Jack was doing so much purely because he was concerned about Elise, and he left after closing the door.
——
…
Recently, Elise felt stuffy in her chest, and after having breakfast, Alexander took her out on a walk to catch a breather. When they were passing by an open square, they ran into a small boy around the age of eight who had set up a booth to sell his calligraphy works.
His small booth was in the corner of the square, and there was only paper, calligraphy pen, and ink on his table. A thin rope was fastened between two trees behind him, and he hung his works on it for passersby to look at and assess.
However, his business wasn’t as popular as the guy who was running a circle toss game next to him, as his stall had almost no visitors.
Elise thought the kid was adorable, so she was about to go over and support him when an old man with a head of white hair walked over first.
“Let’s compete, shall we? Whoever can sell their works first will be the winner. If you lose, let me have your cake. What do you say?” the old man asked, teasing the child.
“Sure!” The boy obviously had a lot of courage and determination as he agreed to it without hesitation..
