"You are a bit crazy, you know."
A happy voice came from the other side of the phone. A familiar voice that Aiden hadn't heard in a long time because of how busy he had been.
"I need to be, Omar. I had no other option. I thought if I didn't fear and faced all this straight on, Katie and Franco would make a mistake themselves because of how unexpected it would be."
It was the voice of Omar, a friend who was now slowly becoming one of the top indie producers in Hollywood. With [30 days of Happiness] and [Action Hero], he broke the 100 million club for indie movies.
Now, he was doing movies like [A man called Octavius] with a popular A-list actor and [Your Walls are Dark] which was the adaptation of a very famous horror novel.
These projects were all indie but analysts and critics expect them to be moderate to big hits as Omar already has a good flow as a producer and has the right amount of experience now.
"You thought the right thing. They clearly made a big mistake. People are doubting them online now."
"Yeah, the scrutiny on me is extremely low too and more and more support is coming. Even the brands that asked me to terminate their contracts now look to be apologising."
"Brands mostly go with the trends. They are very volatile to outside noise. Their shares fall even with small news daily."
"I understand that."
Aiden said. In his mind, brands and him only have a cordial business relationship and nothing more than that. He takes a lot of money to endorse them and they use his popularity to sell their products.
Purely a business transaction even though Aiden doesn't promote any brand he personally doesn't like.
"By the way, I heard you lost out on a movie with Timmy Button due to the scandal?"
Omar suddenly said. One of the reasons he had texted was due to this.
"The news already reached you?"
"It's famous in the inner circles. You know I am invited to all of their parties now, so I hear a lot. Timmy Button has apparently signed a newbie for your role in his movie and everyone is talking about it."
"Good for him. I did lose out on it but now, my schedule is at least free."
Aiden shook his head. He was not going to feel bad about it now. He had felt bad enough about it already.
"So, what will you do now?"
Omar asked and he took a moment to reply. A big part of his schedule had suddenly opened up, so he could do a majority of things.
"I think I will first deal with this controversy completely."
"Court hearings will take time, you know."
"I know but I'm talking in the public sense. I need to completely get my name off the mud."
"How will you even do that? You need more than just a twitter session."
Omar raised an eyebrow. He knew that Aiden had a knack of coming out of bad situations without any harm done to him.
It was to the point where he sometimes wondered if he should kick him off a building just to see if he's going to survive somehow.
But this wasn't that easy.
He would need a major proof to get out of this unscathed.
"I don't know that but I know I will get out of this. It's just a matter of time."
Aiden said and smiled. He had full faith in his Lucky coupon. There was still a bit of luck that was left.
He could feel it.
An hour later, it actually came through as major news broke out.
***
The LA Times was one of the leading newspapers that people read to get to know about film stars and singers. It would have interviews with major celebrities every week and even detailing about the industry was going forward which basically meant analysis of what movies were working and who were the upcoming icons.
There were of course scandals. From small to big. From rumours to made up facts — There was everything.
But no one had expected that they would get their hands on something that would create shockwaves across the industry.
On a Sunday morning, the LA Times used their social media account to post an article containing the whole controversy surrounding Katie Brooks and Aiden Silvereye.
It had detailed accounts of everything but in the end, they posted a recording of a call that had happened between Katie Brooks and Franco Li.
No one knew how they had gotten it but no one cared until it was not fake. It did look authentic and just ten minutes after it was posted, it blew up.
The recording went like this.
[Franco Li: Where are you? Did you get the shoot done? I have a reporter ready for you to give another interview.]
[Katie: Can't I not do it? I'm already sick of saying the same thing again and again. What if they ask difficult questions again? I will slip again.]
[Franco Li: You won't. That reporter is already instructed by me to not ask those sorts of questions and haven't you already learnt what to say? I prepared you for this.]
[Katie Brooks: I did prepare but it's hard when everything is a bloody lie. I can't lie about something that never happened with a straight face.]
[Franco Li: You are an actor, so you should know how to act. Don't give me an attitude. I have done all this to make sure your name gets in the news. You were going nowhere without it and now, at least your name is on some newspaper headlines. Actors live the life of lies all the time. You won't be the first and the last, so suck it and do what I say!]
The recording ended there as it was just a short 30 seconds recording but it had everything that the people wanted.
Katie herself says that all of it was a lie and Franco forces her to do what he says.
If it was true, then this was probably gonna be as big as when Katie's accusations first came forward. Maybe even more than as it involved Franco Li, one of the biggest agents in the whole of Hollywood.
His involvement in it meant that SGA would be affected and other agencies would try to take advantage of it.
Just half an hour after the post came, plenty of news articles have already been written about it.
<Another major news in the Aiden-Katie saga. A call recording that might put an end to the whole controversy had leaked suddenly. This is the major development in this scandal.>
<Katie Brooks calls everything a 'Bloody lie' in her phone recording with Franco Li. Does that mean Aiden Silvereye was always wrongly accused?>
<Who is Franco Li? Find out about the star agent who might be the one pulling all the strings in the latest big controversy in Hollywood.>
<Men rights organisation demands legal action against Katie Brooks and Franco Li after the new set of evidence came out that clearly indicates that in the whole case, Aiden Silvereye was always the victim.>
This news was not only on the internet but it even came on the morning news. Ironically, the talk shows and morning programs that Katie had gone to had talked about it and in the broadcast, they have roasted Katie and Franco, calling it one of the major hurdles to truth.
A lot of other famous people criticised Katie and Franco, going as far as to call their acts one of the worst in this decade.
One of the leading Hollywood journalists wrote in Sparrow, "In times where Hollywood rarely gets someone who can be called a star and shows a spark that says that he could go a long way, some people still feel like they have the right to destroy his career just for their personal gains. The industry has never been a fair playing field but when a leading star agent does something like this even with the resources in his hand, then you know that the person who they are against is not simple but special..."
The journalist went on to compare Aiden's rise to one of other superstars that have emerged in the 80s and 90s. Stars that have come out of nowhere and had given complexes to a lot of leading men of their time, so a battle had started.
But these superstars have always come out on the top like someone had written a script and everyone was just following it.
In the end, The journalist compared Aiden to the stars of those times and noted that although he wasn't at that position yet, he could one day with his skills that could easily transcend boundaries and reach every part of the world.
That was one of the qualities that he had over everyone else.
He also noted that this won't be the first time that Aiden would face something like this but he would come out of it unscathed every single time.
