novelraw Chapter 201: She Has High Aspirations
Chapter 201: She Has High Aspirations
Victor Morgan didn’t think he had the patience to deal with that.
His work was already busy enough. When he was on vacation, he just wanted to be alone with Jessie Sterling. It was comfortable for them to just be together, even if they did nothing at all.
Jessie Sterling laughed when she heard him. She was probably remembering the sour look on Victor Morgan’s face when he went skiing at Mount Regent during the New Year.
"Don’t worry, I’m not bringing anyone this time."
Victor Morgan didn’t say a word, but the look he gave Jessie spoke for itself.
’Jessie Sterling had better keep her word.’
During the last stretch of August, both Jessie Sterling and Victor Morgan were quite busy.
Victor Morgan’s workload was as heavy as ever. When Keegan Sanders heard his boss was going on vacation next month, it felt like a bolt from the blue.
His boss would be on vacation, but as his executive assistant, he certainly couldn’t be. In fact, his workload would probably double while his boss was away.
Suddenly, Keegan Sanders found himself missing the old boss—the one who wasn’t married and was completely dedicated to his work...
’At least back then, we worked overtime together! Not like now, where I’m all alone, a solitary figure...’
Jessie Sterling, on the other hand, was busy because she had a lot of things she wanted to prepare recently.
The company’s various departments were already in full swing preparing the variety show she had proposed at the beginning of the month, planning to make it a major project for the second half of the year.
Then there were the preparations for the next television series. Perhaps due to the success of "Glory," people had started trickling in to inquire about the copyrights for several comic series Jessie Sterling had previously acquired, all of them expressing interest in a collaboration.
Who to partner with, how to structure the collaboration, and which director and screenwriter to use—all of it required Jessie Sterling’s approval.
The last project, "Glory," had Yvonne Rhodes personally overseeing the adaptation. This time, however, Yvonne Rhodes might not have the time. She had mostly done it back then as a favor to Jessie Sterling.
In the past, Apex had a number of screenwriters they worked with on a long-term basis. But when Apex’s fortunes declined, those writers still had to make a living, didn’t they? Naturally, they found other partners.
Not everyone flocking to them now, drawn by the fame of "Glory," necessarily had genuine talent. As the one with the ultimate say, Jessie Sterling wanted to be sure of her choices, so of course she was incredibly busy.
By the end of the month, the case involving Thorne Pictures and Leo Goodman was more or less settled.
Because Ronan Yates’s and Leo Goodman’s cases overlapped, and both had been involved in numerous offenses, they had been formally arrested.
The prosecutor’s office was still gathering evidence, and it would likely take some time for their conviction and sentencing.
Still, the fact that they were behind bars meant that, for Jessie Sterling, the showdown with Thorne Pictures had come to an end.
Once things reached this stage, the news inevitably broke online. Besides, there was no way the people at Apex would pass up such a golden opportunity. It was considered sweet revenge for their boss being framed overseas.
While packing for her island trip, Jessie Sterling received a call from Arya Thorne.
This was only the second time Arya Thorne had proactively called her, the first being when she’d called to complain about Leo Goodman.
Jessie was a little surprised, but she answered anyway.
Of course, a trip to the beach called for pretty dresses. But as she looked at the dresses in her closet, all of which she had worn before, Jessie couldn’t help but feel that something was missing.
She was still hesitating.
"Jessie Sterling, you won." Arya Thorne’s weary voice drifted from the phone, which was sitting on the jewelry cabinet on speaker.
Jessie blinked. "Huh?" It took her a moment to process. "Are you talking about Leo Goodman?"
’She couldn’t really say she’d ’won,’ could she? Leo Goodman had brought this all on himself; he was simply facing the consequences of his actions under the law.’
"You bought Apex in the first place just to go against me, didn’t you?" Arya Thorne said from the other end of the line. "And now, you’ve won."
To this day, the long-tail effect of "Glory" still held the number one spot for viewership across all platforms.
As someone in the industry herself, she knew exactly what that meant.
The screenwriter, director, and actors of "Glory" could all get ready for a major boost to their careers.
And Apex, the company that had created this IP, was about to be resurrected.
The market was only so big. The more share Apex took, the less there was for Thorne Pictures.
Logically, even with one hit show from Apex, it shouldn’t have been a fundamental blow. Thorne Pictures had dominated the market for the past decade and still had plenty of opportunities to suppress Apex.
Unfortunately, the whole fiasco with Leo Goodman happened. Now, Thorne Pictures’ public reputation had all but hit rock bottom.
Former partners of Thorne Pictures were scrambling to distance themselves.
Arya Thorne had been dealing with the fallout recently and was utterly exhausted.
Today, when she saw that "Glory" had been scheduled for a satellite TV broadcast, she couldn’t stop herself from calling Jessie Sterling.
Jessie let out a small "ah," sounding a little surprised.
If Arya Thorne hadn’t brought it up, she would have almost forgotten that when Victor Morgan bought Apex for her, he had intended for her to just have fun with it—even if that meant going up against people she disliked or just causing them trouble.
But ever since she took over, it seemed Apex had inexplicably become a responsibility on her shoulders—one she couldn’t shake off, nor did she want to.
Jessie suddenly understood something. She remembered how she used to see Director Sterling working so hard every day. He was already the chairman, holding more money than he could spend in one lifetime, or even the next, and the one after that. Yet every morning, he went to the office earlier than an ordinary bank clerk.
She hadn’t understood it and had even asked Director Sterling why he worked so hard.
It wasn’t as if the family was short on money.
Director Sterling had smiled at the time and said, "When you’re in a certain position, there are things you have to do. You may not want to do them, but there’s always something pushing you forward."
What could possibly be pushing her? Jessie hadn’t understood it before, but in this moment, she began to grasp the meaning behind her father’s words.
Whether it was responsibility or something else entirely, it was indeed pushing her to move forward, to take big strides.
"You’re overthinking it," Jessie said. "I didn’t acquire Apex to go against you."
’Victor Morgan bought it for me. What does that have to do with Arya Thorne?’
"And as for everything that happened afterward, I never intended to compete with you. It was simply the market’s choice; people chose the show our company produced. From start to finish, I never once thought about fighting with you." Jessie sat on the velvet chaise lounge, looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror, and said, "You’re not that important to me."
She had long since let go of the people and events of the past.
If you’re always looking back at the past, you can’t see the path to the present and the future.
She was someone who had to move forward, not be trapped in the past.
’My standards are pretty high, you know,’ Jessie thought to herself, then silently gave herself a pat on the back.