Hollywood Zenith

" I don\'t think he needs any of it. He came prepared for the occasion." Darren chuckled, looking at Samuel\'s pristine condition. Fran went all out, probably because she wouldn\'t get such a chance to operate on Samuel.

" Funny coming from a guy who needs it the most! Even your skin looks bleak." Emma retorted instead of Samuel, which dealt much more damage than anticipated.

" You guys are here finally! I was bored to death!" Rupert howled at them as soon as they entered the room. The studio rented the venue as they left no expense with the movie\'s promotion.

" Glad you can make it. You have been quite active lately." Samuel refrained from hugging him because Elise was in his arms.

" Haha, of course I would be; I am not like you lazy bastards enjoying movie revenue cuts." He took a jab at Samuel. It was an open secret among them as they discovered Samuel was one of the investors in the harry potter franchise. 

" You are still on about that? After I went through all that trouble to invest my money properly over the years. Words hurt, you know." Samuel laughed. They had become close over the years and would often joke about these things.

" Che! You have my sincere gratitude! But who is this little girl?" Rupert came closer to observe Elise. He had a big build which scared Elise a little. She took her usual spot along Samuel\'s neck, sneakily observing him.

  " Hey, don\'t scare her like that! Please mind your scary face when talking to children." Emma got in between the two and reprimanded him. Seeing their usual antics, Darren started laughing from the side.

" Elise, it\'s alright; if he did something like this again, the big sister would beat him for you. Alright?" Emma took the opportunity to score some points with her. It\'s been a few hours since they met, but Elise was still very wary of strangers.

" Awo", Elise gave her a wide smile which immediately melted everyone\'s heart. How could she be this cute!?

" Excuse me, the set is ready-" one person came in to call the guest but found them softly looking at the little girl. They were not talking, only observing from a distance as Elise slurped a juice pack while swinging her feet, minding her own business.

What the hell is wrong with these people? It was his first thought, but looking closer at Elise, he, too, understood their heart. Cute!

...

...

...

" You seem nervous. Is something bothering you?"Jake Fournier, the person taking the interview, asked before they started shooting.

Jake was a French entertainment reporter, film critic, and documentary producer. Formerly a teen film critic for the local newspaper, he was now the lead Entertainment Anchor for the media empire.

With his popularity, Forbes named him "one of the nation\'s top show business journalists", and he was also a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association. He spoke with a slight accent, but his charming voice captured the viewer\'s heart.

They were conducting the interview separately for every cast member; it would give a more intimate atmosphere for the screen.

" It\'s just I came in here with a child. I am only worried about her." Samuel could see her in the distance, but she looked distressed.

" Is that so?" Jake looked in the direction Samuel was looking and spotted the little kid." I will finish this early, so please focus for a few minutes." He didn\'t like it. Jake knew he was a big star now, but how could one bring a child here? They had already scheduled the interview months in advance.

" Che! That\'s why I don\'t like working with kids...they could have sent someone else..." Jake grumbled in French, but Samuel heard it loud and clear. He obviously acted arrogant because he could tell Samuel was not taking him seriously.

Although everyone greeted and flattered him when they first came in, Samuel obviously was not the one to bow his head unnecessarily. It seriously triggered Jake, a young rookie actor who got lucky. Was he acting arrogant in front of him? He was pissed!

" Excuse me, did you say something?" Samuel acted dumb and gave him a pleasant smile.

" It\'s nothing." He gave Samuel a fake smile before yelling at the employees.

" Bring some water here! Do I have to teach you everything? I may be a babysitter now but will be deputy general manager in a month!" He said it in French, but his contempt showed when dealing with other employees.

Samuel looked around and saw the gloomy atmosphere on everyone\'s faces. It didn\'t appear to be the first time, and they had already accepted his power harassment. A young lady came over carrying a tray with a few refreshments and snacks, it looked like an ad placement, but it was the norm.

From her clothes and her demeanour, she didn\'t appear to be a normal attendant. Samuel found out from her ID card she was also an interviewer, but why was she doing the job of a secretary?

" Why don\'t you properly do the job here, huh? I told you to set everything up before I arrived, but you can\'t even do that? Do you even value your job?" Jake started berating her in a low voice. He spoke in French to avoid arousing suspicion, but the girl\'s pained expression showed she didn\'t like it.

" I am sorry, sir."

" Sorry? If you do this one more time, I will fire you! Go back!" He shouted this time. No one dared to question him because he was well-connected; they could easily lose their livelihood if they ever went against him.

" I am sorry you have to witness that, she is a new hire but a bit clumsy, so I have to properly remind her every time. I don\'t know why the company hired her in the first place." He apologized before switching again, " Probably because of that sweet ass." chuckling to himself again.

" What\'s funny about that?" Samuel tried to keep calm, but his behaviour was too scrummy to ignore now. He was getting angry.

" I am sorry? Did you say something?"

" I said, what\'s funny about that?"

" I don\'t know what you mean-"

" Poubelle"

" What did you say to me?" Jake perked up his ears. He was sure he heard him say \'trash\'.

" I said, trash like you are not worthy to do this job. Get out!" Samuel finally reached his boiling point. There was no way in hell he would get interviewed by this bastard!

" You little-" Jake stood up in anger.

" You like sweet ass; I guess yours is wide open for me to take!" Samuel crossed his leg and spoke in French. Jake suddenly realized Samuel understood every word he said up until now. It only deterred him for one second before he lashed out again.

" Do you know who you are talking to? I could sink your career overnight! Little shits like you are nothing-" Jake\'s rumblings were immediately spotted when Samuel simply slapped him. He never expected it, so it took him a few seconds to register what happened.

Elise started to struggle to get out of Emma\'s embrace, it looked like something triggered her as she wanted to protect Samuel, but Emma stopped her.

" Don\'t worry. Sami is strong; you will only make trouble in you go there." Emma tried to make her understand. Seeing in her eyes how sincere she was, Elise decided to stay, but she was fidgeting and shaking.

" How dare you hit me?" Jake lost his mind and tried to assault Samuel, but he could only take one step before he was knocked to the ground. It only took one clean roundhouse kick directly to the face to put him on the ground.

" You there! What\'s your name?" Samuel asked the young lady from before, beaming joyfully, seeing her boss lie unconscious on the ground. It woke her up from her dream, but she replied without hesitation.

" Anne-fleur Hubert!"

" I like your voice; you will do the interview, and can someone clean up this trash? It starts to smell." He was referring to Jake, but other people were hesitant to help. Even though the young man did what they always wanted, wouldn\'t it become a big problem when he woke up?

" Yes, sir!" Anne didn\'t care and started preparing, but no one else moved.

" Why are you so afraid of this scum? No one will be harmed by him because I did something. You people are irrelevant, so get back to work!" Samuel started giving orders; he was doing it because he didn\'t want to visit the same place tomorrow if today\'s shoot was cancelled!

, Besides, what can a little punk do? He would mobilize his forces and strong arm to ruin his trashy career tomorrow. Abigail and Alastair always loved this type of job.

While he was thinking about these things, someone grabbed his thighs. He looked down to see it was Elise who had come with Emma and the others. Seeing her teary eyes, Samuel picked her up and properly cleaned her face.

" Were you worried about me? I am fine!" He laughed, but Elise was not happy. She grabbed his face and started attacking him with her flimsy hands, seemingly conveying her feelings.

" I get it..so stop it... in the future, say my name if you-" Samuel was joking around, but that\'s when he heard it.

" S..am..i..."