Hollywood: From Shadows To The Spotlight

[Chapter 21: Consequences (IV)]

Alternative Title - [Chapter 21: It's Hunting Season]

Last Time on Chapter 020 of [From Shadows To The Spotlight] —

Nicole sighed, her expression growing dark for a moment as she thought about the people who had put Alex through this. "Those people who tried to bring you down—they're despicable. Whoever they are, I hope they get exactly what they deserve."

She didn't notice the flicker of darkness and rage that flashed across his eyes, but before he could respond, his phone buzzed on the nightstand. He reached over, picking it up, and glanced at the screen. His brow furrowed slightly when he saw that there wasn't any call; his fogged mind began to clear as he realized that the buzzing was actually coming from the locked drawer of his nightstand.

Now Continuing —

It wiped the smile off of his face, and it hardened into a mask of Stoic indifference. He turned around and kissed Nicole on the side of her head. "I need to take this, Niki."

"Sure, don't be too long." She was a bit taken aback.

He got up and grabbed the key that was hanging off of a bracelet from his right arm, and quickly unlocked the drawer. He took out the buzzing phone, but he didn't pick it up and instead cut the call.

Without blinking an eye, in a smooth, practiced motion, he took out the battery, chucked it back into the drawer, and casually broke the phone by crushing it in its calloused hand.

The casual display of strength was something that Nicole found both alarming and arousing at the same time; it did put her on edge for a moment, but she knew Alex would never harm her, so she remained carefree.

The thought of leaving and giving Alex complete privacy did cross her mind, but she didn't want to distract him. She felt like if he really minded her presence in the room, he would've surely asked her to give him some privacy.

After throwing the crushed and crumpled-up remains of the phone, he took a different phone from a box, turned it on, and called someone who instantly answered.

Alex heard a familiar voice, gruff and steady, speak on the other end. "It's hunting season, sir. It's a big one this time. His name's John Langston. A Warner Bros. executive, gunning for the CEO position—and he's been after you from the start."

It belonged to one of his most trusted men, Lucian Gray; he's worked as a private investigator and problem fixer for him and had been on his payroll for years. His loyalty was unwavering—Alex had pulled him out of a rough spot years ago, helping him rebuild his life after a messy divorce and financial ruin.

Jack had repaid the favor with steadfast dedication and a no-questions-asked attitude, taking on even the most sensitive and illegal tasks on Alex's behalf.

"Is this verified? And what do you mean from the start?" He muttered under his breath while he tried to recall where he had heard of John Langston.

It took him a few seconds to recall, but then it came to him in a flash; he remembered the middle-aged man introducing himself to him. His smarmy smirk, his hooked nose, a receding hairline, and eyes that couldn't hide the greed and envy the man held in his heart.

He was so inconsequential to him that he had almost completely forgotten about him; thankfully, his mental recall was as sharp as ever.

"It is, but there's more." Lucian replied, trying not to upset his boss with his findings.

"What've you got for me, L?" Alex leaned back in his chair, his fingers drumming on the desk.

"Something big, sir. After finding out it was him behind this mess, I've been digging into the man. He's slippery; I'll give him that. Covers his tracks well. I had to pay him a night visit; of course he wasn't there to welcome little old me, but I made myself at home."

"Now, here's the kicker—I found that he's tied up with another one of your admirers, Harvey Weinstein. Not just professionally, but… in other ways."

"Fucking hell." Alex groaned in frustration at the new development.

"Oh, that he's been doing a lot of… at least until recently, it looks like the attack on you did have a silver lining. As you might've already guessed, he stopped when he was focusing totally on launching that attack. I also found some loose evidence that Weinstein's been sharing his.. uhh.. predatory habits with Langston.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything that will tie him down to the crimes, so we don't have much on Langston yet—he's very careful, probably borderline paranoid—but I'd bet good money he's just as bad as Weinstein, if not worse."

Despite Lucian's attempt at trying to keep the conversation light and upbeat, its contents just caused a sickening wave of disgust to roll through his boss. Alex was no saint himself; he knew that.

Many a time his hypersexual tendencies had led him down questionable paths, but still there were lines he had never crossed regardless of situation or circumstances. He didn't coerce, force, or manipulate the woman into sleeping with him.

Women had always approached him of their own free will, and he either graciously accepted their offer or politely declined it, letting them down without hurting their egos or self-esteem. He always left it up to them to decide whether to take it to the next level, and that decision has been and always will be made at their agency.

It was a distinction that mattered quite deeply to him. It was something that allowed him to keep his sanity at the end of the day. Something that allowed him to look in the mirror and not feel utterly disgusted by the man looking back at him.

"These bastards…" Alex muttered, his voice low and dangerous. "They think they're untouchable. They've hurt countless women and destroyed lives. And they keep getting away with it."

"Not if you've got anything to say about it, Boss," Lucian replied. "But we are going to need more. Langston's careful, and Weinstein's got a fortress of scumbags protecting him. We can't go after them half-cocked."

"I don't care how long it takes," Alex said, his voice firm. "We build an airtight case. Something so damning they can't slither out of it, no matter how many friends they have in high places. Their days of preying on women are over."

"You got it, Boss." He said. "I'll keep digging. Another thing, Linda Carver sends her apology for stepping out of line, and she sent you a small peace offering."

Lucian didn't speak any further, and instead, he played the tape that he had been listening to before he finally decided to call Alex. He couldn't come to a decision as to what course of action was to be taken. A rare thing in his line of work. But it wasn't always that he had to deal with a woman as ruthless and cold as Linda, who had sold out her own friend with no hesitation or remorse.

Alex listened to the recording for a few seconds and then said, "That will be enough."

"What do you want to do with it, boss?" He finally asked what had prompted him to call in the first place.

"We could really do some damage if we were to use it now." The hesitation in his voice told Alex that he didn't want to go with that option, even if he asked him about it.

"No. We both know that that would be too shortsighted, and would be equal to killing the golden egg laying goose, Ms. Carver has been so kind enough to contribute to our cause." Alex replied smoothly in low baritone.

"You mean to use Grace to continue your surveillance of Langston?" Lucian asked, feeling skeptical because, he had made of the man, he was pretty certain that Langston would fire the woman if he hadn't already.

"Bingo." Alex was grinning now, his eyes glinting with the intent to hurt.. to destroy.

"But sir, why would he still keep her working for him when, from his perspective, it was her mistake that made his plan fail?"

"Because the board will tell him to do it to look less guilty. After all, firing Grace means that he is acknowledging the shade Linda threw at him later on as one of the key figures behind the attack."

"Also, when you do turn Grace into an informer, don't use the information she provides aggressively, as it will reveal her and can probably be only used once or twice before Langston figures it out."

"So I was thinking of using her tips to subtly influence things in our favor over a long time, maybe even accept some smaller losses to throw off any lingering suspicion, and then take him down in one fell swoop."

"Also, I have a few friends that have a seat on the board, so they should be able to reduce his standing in the company and also swing this idea, and if Langston still willfully decides to fire her. Then we will use that to come after him in the media for his wrongful termination of an employee. An employee that might've been used by him to destroy my reputation."

Alex had a full-blown grin on his face as he said this; if he were alone at the moment, he might've even let out a villainous laugh all while giving a monologue to absolutely nobody about how he was first going to ruin Langston's reputation and then put him in jail.

"Careful, boss, that mask of yours is slipping." Lucian said trying to bring back Alex to normalcy, his boss, was a walking contradiction, as despite his inherent kind-hearted, serene, and patient demeanor.

But he also had this darkness in his heart, and with it the lack of any qualms or hesitation about how far he was willing to go in his quest to have his revenge or payback a person who has wronged him.

Alex's mouth tightened into a faint, dangerous smile. "Send in the others as well," he replied, his voice a low murmur. "And keep me informed."

As the call ended, Alex sat in silence for a moment, the weight of the revelation pressing down on him. He stared at the storyboard pinned to the wall—heroes fighting against darkness.

He whispered to himself, "You'll get what's coming to you. Both of you."

As he hung up and came back to bed, Nicole glanced up at him, her curiosity piqued by the subtle shift in his expression. "Everything alright?" she asked, a playful glint in her eye. "Or is there another storm coming?"

Alex smiled, his gaze steady. "Nothing I can't handle. Just some unfinished business."

With that, he laid down beside her, resting his head back as he felt a familiar sense of purpose settle over him. Langston had crossed a line, and Alex wasn't one to forgive easily. Hollywood had its rules, but Alex had his own—and tonight, those rules were about to be rewritten.

------

The air on set the next morning was thick with the smell of freshly painted props and the faint citrusy tang of fake blood. It was nothing but diluted ketchup mixed with a coagulant that gave it the viscosity of real blood. Alex stood near the edge of the filming area, his sharp eyes scanning every detail of the scene being prepared—the lighting, the camera angles, the blocking, and prop placement, etc.

The Fellowship's journey was culminating in an intense battle sequence, and he was insistent on making sure that each frame exuded raw, visceral energy. Despite the chaos of the production, Alex at least on the surface seemed calm and focused, even if the fire in his eyes told a different story.

"Mandy," Alex called out, waving over one of his best and most trusted prop masters; the man was at least a decade older than him and had been working together for over a decade.

Mandy was a tall, wiry man in his late forties with calloused hands and an encyclopedic knowledge of practical effects, as he trotted over with a slight limp, and as always there was a notepad tucked under his arm. His shirt was smeared with streaks of grime and paint—evidence of his tireless dedication.

"Yes, boss?" He asked, wiping his hands on a rag before flipping open the notepad.

Alex sighed. The man was older than him, and after working together for over a decade, he was almost family, in ways he even looked up to the man for his many qualities that he hoped to have in him as well. But for all the goodness in him, the old man could also be as stubborn as an ox; he had told him many times to just call him Alex, but the old fool never listened.

He would just reply, "As long as you're writing my paychecks, you'll be boss to me."

After a while, he had just given up trying to change him and accepted that he is a "boss" now.

"We need two orcs for this sequence," Alex began, gesturing toward the storyboard pinned to a nearby easel. "They'll get some screen time before meeting particularly gruesome ends. I want their prosthetic faces to stand out—make something grotesque but, uh, familiar."

Mandy raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "What do you have in mind?"

Alex leaned in, lowering his voice slightly. "Think of it as a personal Easter egg. I want one of them to have a passing resemblance to Harvey Weinstein and the other to John Langston. Not too on the nose, but… enough that anyone paying attention might get the joke."

The corner of the old man's mouth twitched in amusement, but he kept his expression professional. "That's… specific. Can I ask why?"

Alex reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a slim envelope, slipping it into the old man's hand. The paper crinkled as he peeked inside and saw that it was a wad of cash. He immediately wanted to give it back and extended it towards his boss. But before he could refuse, Alex spoke first, and what he said made him swallow his pride and accept the envelope.

"Consider it a bonus for your hard work; I know how expensive private colleges can be. Please don't refuse it." Alex said, clapping a hand on the man's shoulder. "And if anyone asks, the resemblance is purely coincidental."

Mandy took a deep breath and nodded, tucking the envelope into his pocket. "Understood, boss. Don't worry, I'll make it happen."

"Good man." Alex grinned, giving his shoulder a reassuring pat before stepping away.

As he moved across the set, the smile faded from Alex's face, replaced by a thoughtful intensity. He signaled to one of the assistants to hold his calls, then ducked into a quiet corner of the production trailer to take a moment to himself and center himself before it was showtime.

------

Veronica Carson shielded her eyes from the blinding flashes of cameras as she stepped out of her car, the low hum of the engine drowned out by the chaotic cacophony of reporters and paparazzi shouting her name.

"Veronica! Do you have a comment about the scandal?"

"Was it your idea to fabricate the allegations against Alex Masters?"

"Are you going to issue a public apology, or are you sticking to your story?"

— To be Continued...

{2.4k words}

{TRL: This is the new Hollywood story that has been bouncing around in my head. I really need to get this out, so here's another chapter.

Also would you like to read ahead? You can do so for free up to 5 chapters ahead of the public release on my Patreon page as Free Member.

Yes, free. If you're interested you'll find the link in the Author's thoughts section or just google TheRamenLord and Patreon.

If you like my work and would like to support me then by becoming a paid member you read from 10 to 20 chapters ahead of the public release depending on tier you purchase.