My Amnesic Ex Married My Sister, So I Married His Uncle-Chapter 141: Is There Someone Behind Zion Shawcross?
With Faye Rhodes’s help, Stella Sterling finally created her social media account with the username Painter_Umi.
She didn’t really use social media, so she let Ken manage the account.
Young people were naturals when it came to this sort of thing.
After Zion Shawcross made the official announcement, Ken quickly reposted his post.
He even thoughtfully included the official caption, stating that the collaboration was a pleasure and that they were looking forward to the cover reveal, among other things.
However, while the teaser and official announcement were already out, filming for the album’s title track music video had yet to begin.
When it came to the female lead for the music video, all Zion Shawcross had told Henry Wright were three simple words: "It’s been cast."
Henry Wright had been so stressed out lately that a cold sore had formed on his lip, making it difficult for him to even speak clearly.
When Zion Shawcross saw him, he even gave a lazy scoff.
It made Henry so mad he nearly lunged forward to claw at him.
Henry Wright had been busy with other matters the last few days, but he was finally free today to keep an eye on Zion Shawcross.
When he ran into Faye Rhodes in the hallway, Henry immediately launched into a tirade.
"I’ve never seen an artist as Zen as he is. But of course, the one guy who couldn’t care less is the one who gets famous. Ugh! Fine. I guess luck is a part of talent, after all."
"I’ve been run off my feet these past few days, and I still have to make time to check in on my ’precious son.’ You tell me, is this any way to treat me?"
"He rejected that Kiana Sterling, right? And lost a major opportunity because of it, right? I’m dying of stress over here, and what about him? He’s acting like nothing even happened!"
"The album’s about to drop, isn’t it? We don’t even have a female lead for the music video! What are we supposed to release? We’ll release jack shit, that’s what!"
"If I let myself get worked up over Zion Shawcross one more time, then I’m his grandson!"
Henry Wright ranted the whole way, completely failing to notice Zion Shawcross emerging from a corner.
Zion looked as if he had just woken up. He stood lazily to the side, watching Henry with a yawn.
"Henry, I don’t need a grandson that old."
"..."
Henry squeezed his eyes shut, chanting internally: ’He’s my artist, my responsibility. My artist, my responsibility. My artist, my responsibility.’
Seeing Faye Rhodes with Henry, Zion even raised a hand to give her a little wave.
Faye’s expression wasn’t particularly warm. She gave a slight nod, a minimal gesture that counted as a greeting.
Worried that details about the project might be leaked, Henry gave Faye Rhodes a look before yanking Zion Shawcross into his office.
Faye took the hint and quickly shut the door.
The moment the door closed, Henry demanded, "Are you going to shoot that music video or not? If not, just forget it! At least then I won’t have to stress out over it. Zion Shawcross, I am begging you, can you please show the slightest bit of interest in your own career?"
Zion Shawcross had an incredibly laid-back personality.
After an artist blew up, they’d do everything they could to capitalize on the momentum. He, on the other hand, just took his money and went on vacation.
If Henry hadn’t been on his case every single day, this new album would never have seen the light of day.
Zion Shawcross poured a glass of water for Faye Rhodes and set it in front of her before cracking open a can of coke for himself.
Henry was the only one left sitting there, staring at the empty space on the desk in front of him before looking back at Zion.
’Hello? You don’t think my desk looks a little bare?’
Of course, Zion didn’t.
He completely ignored Henry’s pointed stare and took a long swig of his ice-cold coke.
That gulp of "happy water" finally seemed to wake Zion up a little.
Henry was still waiting for a response, only to see Zion take a gulp of coke, then suddenly freeze with a frown on his face.
A strange sense of panic welled up in Henry’s chest.
’Did I do something to set him off?’
’No, I don’t think so.’
’This is how I always talk to him.’
He was always frustrated with Zion, disappointed that he wasn’t living up to his potential.
The office suddenly fell silent. And then—
"BUUUURP—"
It was a long, resounding burp.
Once it was out, Zion finally looked relieved.
Henry looked like he wanted to punch him.
’This damn kid,’ Henry thought. ’Completely useless.’
Just as Henry was about to lose it, Zion spoke up. "The music video’s already been shot. I just got the edited cut from Sutton. Want to watch it together?"
Henry: "?"
He turned to Faye Rhodes, his expression full of confusion.
His eyes screamed, ’What music video? When was it shot? And why do I know nothing about it?’
Before Faye could answer, Zion grabbed a laptop and opened the video file Sutton had just sent.
After watching the entire video, Henry’s anger had completely vanished.
Not only had his anger vanished, but he also thought the music video was fantastic.
As he came to his senses, he realized he’d been kept in the dark the entire time.
He turned to Faye Rhodes. "You knew about this all along, didn’t you?"
Faye nodded without hesitation.
’Not only did I know,’ she thought. ’I’m the one who arranged it.’
Henry sputtered, "Then why didn’t you say anything on the way over!"
He had run into her at the elevators! From the ride up, to the walk down the hall, all the way until they saw Zion—they’d been together for so long, and he’d been complaining about Zion that whole time, yet she hadn’t said a word?!
Faye replied, perfectly justified, "You never gave me a chance to speak."
"..."
’Well, that was true.’
’My bad.’
’I was the one who overreacted.’
’So I’m the only clown in the entire studio, is that it?’
Henry fumed in silence. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
But in the end, he still had to ask worriedly, "Are all the contracts signed? We can’t have any disputes popping up later."
Zion gestured to Faye, who replied with certainty, "Don’t worry, Henry. The contracts are all signed. The company’s legal department reviewed everything thoroughly. There are no issues."
’Fine,’ Henry thought. ’Since it’s all settled, there’s nothing more for me to say.’
Henry gave a dismissive wave and left.
So exhausting.
...
「Meanwhile.」
Kiana Sterling had waited and waited for news of Zion Shawcross’s downfall, but it never came. Instead, what she got was the official announcement of his crossover collaboration with Umi.
The moment she saw the news, Kiana finally snapped and slammed her phone onto the floor.
She knew perfectly well who Umi was.
Ever since Faye Rhodes had shown her that painting by Umi, she had known that Umi was Stella Sterling.
She couldn’t pinpoint the source of this festering irritation.
If she had to put a name to it, it was a deep-seated unease welling up from within.
She had the persistent feeling that she was losing her grip on something very important.
Kiana gritted her teeth. ’Maybe I never should have agreed to let Stella go to art school with me in the first place. And later, I definitely shouldn’t have let her come back to the country.’
As she was fuming, her phone suddenly rang.
Unfortunately, she’d smashed it on the floor. The ringtone chimed once and then went silent. She had no idea who had called.
Kiana quickly had Tate Lawson arrange for an express delivery to bring her a new phone.
She turned on the new phone and saw that the missed call was from Zoe Yates.
She called her back and offered a vague excuse.
Zoe Yates told her, "Kiana, that Zion Shawcross... does he have a powerful backer or something? My dad said someone is protecting his most important industry connections. No wonder he’s so arrogant."
