Free Web NovelChapter 778: Chapter 749: Gage Grant vs. Maeve [011]
In the flood of unclear photos, Maeve and a middle-aged man are seen together, seemingly leaving the studio at the same time, getting into the same car, and leaving together.
Netizens discuss under the post:
"Leaving together late at night, looks like they’re spending the night together."
"That man looks at least fifty; he must have a family. Is Maeve trying to be his mistress?"
"That man seems to be the COO of Langford Group. You can check the photos from the day Maeve signed with Langford."
"No wonder Langford signed an unknown Maeve. Seems there’s something shady going on! Looks like the rumors of her quitting the ’Original Female Voice’ finals due to protests and pressure are true..."
"Her fans swore they’d admit it if there were photos, guess they’re getting slapped in the face now?..."
Gage couldn’t stand it anymore. He called someone, angrily asking, "What’s going on with that COO? Trying to hook up with my girl?!"
The tone was very poor.
From Gage’s perspective, even though he just wanted to have fun with Maeve and wasn’t interested in dating or marrying her, he absolutely wouldn’t allow other men to touch his target during the process of his pursuit!
Especially when they’ve been photographed and spread publicly!
This was obviously a challenge to him!
He couldn’t stand it.
On the other end of the phone, Scott Langford was already planning to rest and rubbed his forehead hearing Gage’s angry inquiry, calmly saying, "I’ll investigate and call you tomorrow."
"I can’t wait till tomorrow! I want to know now!" Like a child throwing a tantrum over a snatched toy.
Scott reluctantly said, "Hold on a moment," and hung up the phone temporarily.
While waiting for Scott’s response, Gage started engaging with netizens online—
Netizen: "I don’t understand what’s going through these rich people’s minds, even someone like Maeve, not feminine nor masculine. Aren’t they afraid of waking up in the middle of the night thinking they’re holding a man?"
Gage: "If you understood what rich people are thinking, you’d be rich, wouldn’t you? You pauper!"
Netizen: "After so many years not making it, might as well quit and be a sugar baby to rich people!"
Gage: "Seems you’re not doing so well either. Why don’t you just retire early and become a useless person at home?"
Netizen: "Her parents raised her all these years, and she goes and wrecks other people’s families as a mistress? Her mom should’ve aborted her!"
Gage: "Seems your mother wanted to abort you but failed, and now you’re a life-hating monster!"
...
In the dark, the keyboard clattered noisily, and occasionally, there was the sound of furious pounding.
Old Master Grant was about to sleep but heard the noise from his fourth grandson’s room and came over to knock, "Number four? What are you doing pounding away when you should be sleeping?"
Gage: "Practicing punches!"
Old Master Grant: "Sleep early!"
Gage’s hands happened to be a bit sore from the exertion, yet he seemed oblivious and continued sparring with netizens online, defending Maeve.
Half an hour later, Scott called back.
"The reason Maeve met with the COO of Langford was to request an extension on Langford’s payment time."
Gage was surprised, "Why extend it in a good situation? Everyone wants the money to arrive ASAP."
"Someone reported Maeve for tax evasion. She was summoned for investigation yesterday afternoon, and the accounts from the agency and studio were seized. It’s anticipated that investigators will start checking companies she collaborated with tomorrow, so she personally explained the situation to Langford’s COO and asked for understanding."
Gage was silent for a long time.
On the other end, Scott also spoke with a serious tone, "This is a complicated situation; best if you don’t get involved, it’s too sensitive."
After hanging up, Gage immediately called Tobias Blackwood to ask who reported Maeve for tax evasion, assuming Tobias had answers, but Tobias wouldn’t let Gage intervene, saying he wouldn’t get involved either.
Now that Gage confirmed Maeve didn’t have any illicit dealings with the man, his anger subsided a little. He calmed down for a moment, realizing that if he got entangled in this, it’d be tough to clean up, and not only Maeve but he and the Grant Family might be dragged down too.
The Head Fans were still having a meeting in the chat room, organizing smaller fan groups to split up across platforms to spar with the antis, hoping the situation would calm by the time their idol woke up in the morning.
Gage fought online for two to three hours, experiencing not only soreness in his hands but also the notion that, due to his age, he couldn’t keep up physically with the younger ones. At 2 a.m., he quietly logged off to bathe and sleep.
Others were working tirelessly through the night, so he wasn’t missing.
The next morning, he was jolted awake by an aggressive series of online calls.
The fan leader shouted on the phone, "Get online immediately, there’s something major!!!"
"What’s going on so early?" Gage rubbed his eyes and opened the fan leader group, finding it crowded with links. He clicked one casually to see.
Maeve was photographed again.
This time the photos were much clearer, showing a man with glasses handing her a room card in the brightly lit hotel lobby, whispering in her ear, followed by several photos of the glasses man with a short, fat, rough old guy.
The old man was drunk and being helped out of the car by the glasses man into the hotel...
The post’s title read: "’Original Female Voice’ Fourth Place Winner Maeve Had a Nightly Transaction at The Ritz Hotel with a Real Estate Chairman."
Gage recalled that the old guy was the Chairman Crowley of Kingsbridge Properties; he saw Maeve at Jack Hawthorne’s banquet, later witnessed Chairman Crowley indeed sending his assistant to book a hotel room and handing the card to Maeve.
Thinking of Maeve once tangled with that old man, Gage felt disgusted like swallowing a fly, an unexplainable fiery discomfort burning through him.
Even knowing that all happened before he pursued Maeve, and he almost forgot about it, seeing the picture suddenly made it unbearable!
Recalling Maeve’s indifferent attitude towards him while being compliant in front of the old men enraged him, furious to the point of explosion!
In the fan group, the leaders were frantically discussing how to stabilize the ordinary fans since a large number expressed their disappointment over Maeve’s acceptance of shady deals, planning to defect.
Maeve’s popularity in the entertainment circle was never huge; true fans and ordinary fans combined were under a million. Judging by the retweet and comment stats on Weibo, most of the million were ordinary fans, with true fans being a small portion.
These ordinary fans represented the most direct group to become die-hard fans, and if they defect, Maeve’s popularity would plummet even further!
The fan leaders were anxious and at a loss in the group, while Gage was already washed up, dressed, and driving straight to Maeve’s studio.
Maeve wasn’t at the studio, and Gage scoured the place before finding her manager, but the manager was very defensive and wouldn’t reveal anything about Maeve’s status, insisting he was Sienna Thornton’s friend, sent by Sienna to check on the situation, before the manager relaxed.
