Grant and Sheldon Webb had never seen a scene like this. Terrified, they shot up from their seats and scrambled a few steps back into a corner.
They wanted to help the Donovan siblings, but they were afraid of provoking that crazy woman and getting everyone dragged into it.
At this moment, Caspian Rhodes, who had stepped out to take a call, became everyone's only lifeline.
Caspian Rhodes thought so too. His expression darkened, and he was about to stride into the private room in one long step when he suddenly heard Arabella Donovan's voice from inside.
"Miss, where did you get your nails done? They're beautiful."
Inside the room, Arabella Donovan suddenly stood up and grabbed Ms. Jennings's hand, subtly shielding Hector Donovan behind her.
The move caught everyone by surprise. Hector Donovan had no time to stop her, and Ms. Jennings was so taken aback she let Arabella get close before she could react.
After a moment, she asked warily, "Who are you? What's your relationship with him?"
From the looks of it, she clearly saw Arabella Donovan as a potential rival.
Hector Donovan's eyes flickered. He was tempted to play along with the misunderstanding, but the words died on his lips when he saw the bodyguards behind her. He swallowed them back down.
If he let this crazy woman mistake Arabella for his girlfriend, there was no telling if her fury, currently aimed at him, would be redirected to his sister. Who knew what kind of depraved thing this lunatic would do in a fit of rage just to send him a message.
"She's my sister. If you have a problem, come at me. Don't touch her."
"Sister? His actual sister?" Ms. Jennings seemed slightly surprised. Only then did she finally give Arabella Donovan a proper look.
After a long moment, she said something utterly astonishing: "On closer inspection, you're quite attractive yourself. You're my type."
The onlookers: ?
Hector Donovan: !
Arabella Donovan: ...
'Seriously, lady, you're on another level of insane! Forcing yourself on a man is one thing, but now you won't even let the women go?'
'Fine, whatever, but are you seriously trying to take both a brother and a sister? What gives? You planning on bleeding our entire family dry?'
Veins bulged on Hector Donovan's forehead as he finally lost control and exploded. "Jacqueline Jennings, don't you go too far! Other people might be scared of you, but I'm not! If you push me, we'll both go down together. If you so much as touch my Serena today, I swear I'll risk my own life to make you pay!"
As soon as he said this, everyone in the room simultaneously showed looks of shock and terror.
The difference was that Sheldon Webb and the others were truly terrified, while Arabella Donovan was just utterly dumbfounded and shocked.
'Jacqueline Jennings? She's *that* Jacqueline Jennings? The one hailed as the Iron Lady of the entertainment world, who kept half the industry as her personal harem and stirred up all sorts of chaos, only to finally crash and burn—and bring about her own demise—all because she kept a stand-in for a lover?'
Hector Donovan, who was still fuming, was suddenly hit with a wave of shock, confusion, glee, and bewilderment all at once. His expression shifted through the emotions like a color palette, becoming bizarrely distorted.
'No wonder she's so brazenly trying to strong-arm my second brother. When sweet talk and enticements didn't work, she decided to resort to force. So she's a veteran at this kind of thing!'
It was no wonder Arabella Donovan was surprised. The character Jacqueline Jennings was from that entertainment industry "Jack Sue" power-fantasy novel—the very same one where Ken Young had been nothing more than a background character.
The protagonist of that book was a low-level extra working on various film sets, and Jacqueline Jennings was one of his early-stage patrons and one of the female leads.
That's right, one of several female leads. It was a harem novel!
The poor male protagonist, perpetually depressed and unsuccessful, accidentally caught the eye of the entertainment industry's behind-the-scenes queen and became one of her kept lovers.
With this industry powerhouse protecting him, the protagonist officially began his meteoric rise, going from an unknown extra to the pinnacle of the entertainment world, eventually becoming a household name and an international superstar.
But just as the protagonist's career was taking off, he accidentally discovered the real reason Jacqueline Jennings had chosen to sponsor him and treat him so specially: it was all because she had a Lover, an unrequited love, in her heart.
This person had once been a dazzling star in the industry, but after repeatedly and sternly rejecting her advances, he faced severe retaliation from Jacqueline Jennings. His reputation was utterly destroyed, forcing him to quit the business.
And after personally destroying the man, Jacqueline Jennings had seamlessly moved on to keeping the protagonist, who bore a 50 to 60 percent resemblance to him.
By that time, the protagonist had already grown tired of Jacqueline Jennings's domineering and aggressive nature. When contrasted with his other gentle, understanding, and considerate female companions, the truth only made him see Jacqueline as even more of a psycho.
However, at the time, he still needed to use Jacqueline Jennings's influence to climb the ladder, so he had no choice but to suppress his discontent and play along with her.
When the time was right, the protagonist decisively joined forces with Jacqueline Jennings's own capable female subordinate to secretly usurp her power, eventually leaving her utterly crushed beneath his heel.
What left the deepest impression on Arabella Donovan was the scene where the protagonist, having successfully seized power, stood with a lover on each arm and delivered a devastating final monologue to the wretched Jacqueline Jennings.
"Let me tell you the truth. Every single moment I spent by your side these past few years felt suffocating. Every time I touched you in bed, I was filled with disgust. You can die in peace now, you old hag. I'll take good care of the empire you built."
This made Jacqueline Jennings so furious she coughed up several mouthfuls of blood and died on the spot. Thus fell the legendary queen of the entertainment world.
When Arabella Donovan had skimmed through the book before, she had only paid attention to Ken Young. But now, knowing the identity of the woman before her and looking at the current scene...
'Oh my god! Don't tell me my second brother is that ridiculously unlucky sap of a Lover, is he?'
You couldn't blame Arabella Donovan. The original novel focused almost entirely on the protagonist and his various female companions, with other characters barely getting a mention.
Not to mention that the so-called Lover himself was practically a censored figure throughout the story. The only reason she was making this guess now was by connecting the dots between the timeline, the people involved, and the film set as a point of reference.
The original novel mentioned that after the Lover was framed, slandered, and blacklisted by Jacqueline Jennings, she immediately snatched the resources he had and handed them to the protagonist. She used the Lover's downfall to promote the protagonist, successfully creating a "Lover 2.0" who took over all the high-end resources the original had left behind, perfectly replicating his path to stardom.
Now, Jacqueline Jennings had come for her brother, and Ken Young just so happened to be a background character in the first project the protagonist acquired...
In conclusion, her second brother was very likely the protagonist's designated stepping-stone, and the first resource the protagonist was about to acquire was very likely Hector's current role.
'What is this? Is the juicy gossip suddenly about my own family? My brother's luck is just the worst. Of all the people to attract, he had to get the attention of this obsessive, man-eating flower. Not only will she destroy what she can't have, but even after you're dead and buried, she'll dig up your corpse to suck the marrow from your bones and squeeze out every last drop of value. Is she even human? She's a soul-devouring ghoul! Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!'
Hector Donovan, the soon-to-be walking stepping-stone: ...
'Okay, but it's not like I *wanted* to attract this woman. Is it my fault I'm too good-looking and likable?'