"Why do you think there's something wrong between Florence and Hank? They could be friends that just have differences too, right? In the first place, there's cases where Hank had been problematic. Very problematic while Florence had been known to be stubborn with her views."
Katherine asked, looking at Aiden with a strange gleam in her eyes. He hesitated for a second before shaking his head.
"No, there's something more. I'm very sure of it."
Aiden didn't know why but his instincts were buzzing at the very moment. He also observed that Katherine wasn't laughing at his observation, treating them as something of a joke.
She looked very interested.
Being in the industry for so long, Aiden hadn't gotten used to observing people's facial expressions. Katherine wasn't even trying to hide it.
Finally, she accepted.
"Well, I can't say you are entirely wrong. I'm just surprised you got to this conclusion after just one meeting with Hank."
"So, there's indeed something."
Aiden took a deep breath.
He was feeling very paranoid, wondering if he was really thinking too much into it. Even Wade and Tom seemed like they didn't believe him even if they wanted to.
It was mostly because it was deemed a very little thing.
Such things happen quite a lot in the industry and no one would think twice about it. Unless it was Aiden of course.
"There's something and it's pretty big actually." Katherine said and Aiden quickly asked.
"What is it exactly?"
"Actually, I don't know."
Aiden squinted at her, not in the mood of a silly joke but Katherine shook her head, implying that she was actually serious.
"You just said that there's something big."
"Yeah, and that's the only thing I know. Big media companies like us have a lot of contacts as we work in a field where connections are everything but as we are too big, we do need to have a good relationship with celebrities and everyone working in the industry. You don't know how many times media companies have been sued in the past."
Katherine said, clicking her tongue. Hollywood Weekly had been sued a lot too in the past.
"So?"
"So, Hollywood Weekly doesn't really break out scandals until it's something that would become global news but we do get the scent of what's going on, who is likely to break out a scandal. We just wait till it releases and then try to cash in on it."
Katherine was basically saying that Florence and Hank weren't big enough globally and Aiden did agree to it. After all, he didn't even know Florence was meeting her at the [Sherlock of the Shadows] premier.
But her words also contained one more thing.
"There's a scandal growing and you know who's going to break it?"
"Yes, a company is actually investigating it for a while. I heard about it from sources and they are waiting for a chance to reveal it."
'Probably before the release of <Stars on the Ground].'
Aiden thought in his mind, gulped, thinking that he missed a bullet here. At the same time, he was wondering what type of scandal it would be. He had clues, probably an affair but by the expressions of Katherine, it was more than just that.
"Which company?"
As soon as he asked that, Aiden regretted it. Katherine was never going to give him the information without asking something back.
It was already a miracle that she had told him all this.
Give and take — That's how most things worked.
But surprisingly, Katherine simply said.
"Artery Media. They are a paparazzi company actually with one of the most stubborn guys. Celebrities hate them literally but they have learned how to be lowkey. So, they sell the information to bigger media companies, mostly UK based publications for a nice lump of notes."
Aiden was surprised that Katherine gave out the information so easily. She also noticed it on his face and smiled.
"You thought I would ask for a price for it?"
"Yeah, I did."
"Well, I thought about it but our interaction would end here if I did so. It's better to make you think of it as a goodwill gesture from me. Anyway, the information isn't of use to me.
Even though Katherine was his fan and she genuinely wanted him to do well, she was also a veteran reporter.
A connection was a connection, especially with someone young. It generally meant that person has a lot of years in the industry and was just in his starting phase.
"Thank you."
Aiden only said that and Katherine asked his number before texting him the address of Artery media. She also gave him the number of one of the paparazzi that she had.
It was time to find out what was going on exactly.
***
Artery Media's office was in a very old building, almost on the outskirts of the city. It was a building with a lot of different companies having their offices in it.
Though, most of them looked abandoned.
Before coming here, Aiden didn't inform Wade or anyone else, wanting to deal with it himself. He checked up the online website of Artery Media and tried to find out any information he could.
But there was nothing.
It was almost like they existed only in name. Maybe, a paparazzi company was really like that.
Their office was on the second floor but Aiden didn't go there. Katherine had told him that Artery Media don't allow anyone to enter their office and are very secretive, so he just sat in the small cafe that was on the third floor and gave a call to the number that Katherine had given him.
It wasn't picked up but that was enough.
Ordering the coffee that tasted pretty bland, he waited. From time to time, the waitress would come up to him to talk and ask for an autograph.
Thankfully, she wasn't clicking photos of him secretly. No one else was in the cafe either. It was probably a business that was taking its last breath or it was just a bad time of the day.
He waited for almost an hour and finally, a jagged man entered the cafe. He was wearing a simple black shirt and jeans and donned a beard.
He looked around the cafe before sitting in front of Aiden.
"Aren't you Aiden Silverstone? That celebrity."
"Silvereye." Aiden said and the man scratched his head in apology.
"Sorry, I'm bad with names. I'm actually a fan of your songs. My girlfriend took me to all your movies too. Can you give me an autograph?"
The jagged man asked and Aiden wondered what he was trying to achieve here. The whole cafe was empty but he had decided to sit in front of him.
That alone had given his identity.
He really thought of Aiden as a fool, trying to act like a fan with the acting skills that were worse than Tyler Reed.
As the jagged man blabbered on, Aiden simply took out his phone and called the number that Katherine had given him.
A phone started ringing.
The man looked at Aiden with a shocked face, trying to turn off his phone. Aiden smiled and looked at him.
"I don't know what type of act you wanted to pull off but can we talk now? I heard paparazzi are very busy people."
Hearing that, the man lowered his head in shame, then laughed.
"Sorry, I wanted to act as a fan to get some information out. I guess it only works on drunk celebrities." The man said, then looked at Aiden. "I'm Reece Scaler. Can I ask how you got my number?"
"I just did from a friend."
Aiden said and Reece raised his eyebrows, not asking anything further about it.
"For what exactly?"
"To make a deal. I heard pretty interesting stuff about your company and I was hoping you could help me out. Obviously, it would be mutually beneficial."
***
"Where is Aiden these days? His agent is just making excuses when we have already sent over the contract. Most of the other actors have already signed the contract, including Liam."
Florence said and frowned. She was currently in a meeting with Ava in her office, going over the preparation they were doing.
There was one more person in the room. A white man who looked to be in his early 20s and was an overall handsome individual. For some reason, he was wearing sunglasses despite being in an office and had a snarky smile on his face.
He was Liam Wilde, UK's biggest popstar.
"Florence, I think it's just because he's busy. Or maybe it's something related to the issues he got while filming his last series."
"I understand that but I want to get the cast ready as soon as possible. I don't want him having doubts about the project. You do know that casting the character again would be a chore at this point."
Florence was clearly angry with Aiden.
She didn't feel like it was the right attitude. She had not liked him since the beginning as she had continuously interfered in her script, telling her that things needed to change here and there.
She was a director who just expected her actors to act and leave the script to the ones handling them.
Giving actors that type of power was just undermining a director's firm grip on the movie.
"I will call him and see what issues are there. Don't worry, it will get resolved soon."
Ava said and at that moment, her phone rang. She took it out and saw that it was Aiden.
