lovenovelstory Chapter 59 Each Displays Their Unique Abilities
Chapter 59 Each Displays Their Unique Abilities
Not long after, the doorbell rang, and Marco and Tino arrived.
As soon as Marco entered, he started asking the Spider Band members to help unload the car. As large flowerpots were carried into the villa, Jimmy, Anton, and the others' eyes lit up, their faces full of excitement.
"This is good stuff... top-quality Mexican goods."
Ignoring their commotion, Zeke pulled Tino aside and led him to a corner of the villa, his tone serious: "Tino, something's happened. Neil Bogart's wife, Joyce, is trying to buy my agency contract from you. She's got her eye on me."
"FUCK, that bitch!" Tino's face changed instantly, and he raised his voice sharply, "I knew Casablanca had been targeting me lately! They wouldn't reimburse my airfare, wouldn't let me go to the radio promotion with you, and wouldn't let me attend tonight's party. That bitch must have been planning this for a long time!"
"Zick, don't believe a word that bitch says! If she's badmouthing me to you, it's just to sow discord. We're the perfect partners!"
Tino's reaction was genuine, his face full of panic and resentment, it didn't seem like he was faking it.
Zik observed him silently, and only spoke slowly after he had calmed down a bit.
"Don't get agitated, Tino, there's more to it than that. My contract with Jacques Morali has a major problem; we might not get a single penny of the YMCA royalties. And neither you nor Herbert noticed the loopholes in the contract back then. Joyce wasn't wrong about that, was he?"
"How is that possible!" Tino's face paled. "I've read that contract over and over again, and Colin told me there was nothing wrong with it!"
Without wasting words, Zik simply explained Jacques Morali's scam to him—Village People were not independent artists, but employees of Jacques' company, and were not entitled to artist royalties at all; the royalty clause in the contract was a dead letter from the beginning.
"You can't entirely blame us, Zeke. We couldn't possibly have seen Casablanca and Jacques's contract! Joyce is Neil's wife; she must have known about it all along, but she's only bringing it up now to take advantage of the situation!"
Zik stared into Tino's eyes, his words carrying a warning: "Tino, if you can't prove yourself in this matter and help me get my royalties back, then I might really have to seriously consider Joyce's suggestion. After all, what I need is an agent who can solve my problems, not a burden who only knows how to take my money."
Tino instantly understood Zic's meaning, his panic turning to anger: "That damned gay Jacques Morali! He dares to swindle money from us Italians? He's still too green! Zic, I'll contact my friends in New York right away. I'll teach him a lesson and make him cough up every last penny!"
Watching Tino pick up the phone and hurriedly contact his "friend," his tone fierce and punctuated by angry curses, Zeke sighed softly and scratched his head.
He appeared confident and composed on the surface, but in reality, he was uncertain and unsure of what cards he still had to play.
Joyce is watching closely, Evelyn could call the police at any moment, Jacques Morali is as cunning as a monkey, whether Tino's gang connections are reliable is still unknown, and it is also uncertain whether the lawyer Harry Finn can provide a feasible solution.
The current situation, seemingly aided by Larry, Holly, and the Spiders, is actually fraught with undercurrents, and every step is fraught with peril.
At 11 p.m., the clock on the wall ticked precisely, pointing to the time Judy was supposed to return home, but there was still no movement outside the door, and the phone hadn't rung once.
The phone at the cliffside cabin in Zeke remained unanswered. Evelyn's patience had completely worn thin. She and her live-in girlfriend, Jo D, paced anxiously in the living room, the sound of their high heels hitting the floor particularly jarring in the quiet night.
"I knew that kid named Zeke was unreliable!" Evelyn stopped abruptly, her eyes flashing with malice. "Look at that name, Zeke, it sounds almost exactly like 'geek,' it's obviously no good, just a poor country bumpkin. He's the one who tricked Judy!"
"But I read in the newspaper that the kid is from Brooklyn, Evelyn. He's a Big Apple guy, just like you. Weren't you born in the Bronx? You're practically from the same hometown, so there's no need to make such a bad impression of him."
"Damn it, Jo D, stop interrupting me!" Evelyn snapped, her anger rising. She grabbed the phone from the table. "I'm calling the police. He kidnapped my daughter. I have to get him arrested and Judy brought back!"
"It's not that serious..." Jo D quickly grabbed her hand. "Maybe the car just broke down on the way, or maybe the party was too lively and Judy forgot the time. Let's wait a little longer."
"Impossible!" Evelyn shoved her hand away. "Judy has never done anything like that. Even if she comes home late, she at least calls to let us know she's safe. If she really ran away, what about the photographer you found for her? The shoot is already booked; it's crucial to Judy's career, the key to her entering the top circles of Hollywood!"
Jo D's expression changed, and her tone became urgent: "Shit! I forgot about that. I've already paid the deposit over there. If Judy doesn't go, the money will be wasted, and I'll offend Emilio. It'll be harder to get his help again later!"
"Look!" Evelyn exclaimed, even more agitated. "She's definitely been led astray by that poor boy to do something stupid. She might even have been brainwashed!"
The more Evelyn thought about it, the more anxious she became. She couldn't hold back any longer and dialed the police.
She deliberately lowered her voice and concealed Zeke's identity. She knew that Zeke was now a semi-celebrity in the industry, gaining some fame through the popularity of "YMCA". If things were blown up and turned into gossip headlines, it would not do her or Judy any good for their reputations, and might even affect Judy's future development.
The only response on the other end of the phone was a mechanical one from a police officer: "Madam, based on our experience, your daughter might just have been partying with her classmates and lost track of time. She'll be back tomorrow morning. Please wait patiently until noon tomorrow. If you still haven't heard from her by then, please report it to the police..."
"FUCK, you bunch of negligent bastards!" Evelyn roared into the phone, slamming it down, her chest heaving violently.
Unwilling to wait any longer, she immediately pulled out her contacts and contacted a police sergeant she knew well. The two had met a few times, and the sergeant owed her a favor.
This time she learned her lesson and insisted, "My daughter has been kidnapped by a poor boy named Qi Ke, and he might even rape her. You must dispatch the police immediately and arrest him!"
The sheriff was already somewhat impatient to be woken up in the middle of the night, but out of consideration for personal relationships and upon hearing serious accusations such as "kidnapping" and "rape," he had no choice but to make an exception and send two of his men to check on the situation at the address registered by Zeke.
The cliffside cabin was pitch black in the dead of night, with only the occasional chirping of birds and insects in the distance. The mountain wind howled across the cliff, creating a rather eerie atmosphere.
Two police officers arrived in their car, getting out while muttering curses under their breath about their bad luck in being called out in the middle of the night to deal with this kind of inexplicable case.
"How could anyone live in this godforsaken place?" One of the officers shone his flashlight, the beam sweeping across the dark house. "It's the middle of nowhere, there's not even a proper road."
"Can you hear someone calling for help inside?" another officer asked, listening intently.
His companion shook his head, turned off the flashlight, and said helplessly, "It looks like there's no one inside."
He cautiously peeked out from the edge of the cliff and, by the moonlight, looked at the other side of the house. The house was empty; there was nothing inside.
"Go back. That's all we can do." The officer shrugged. "We're just here to investigate; we can't force our way in. Besides, who knows if that woman's story is true?"
"That's right," his companion chimed in. "If the boss could wake up the judge in the middle of the night to issue a search warrant, we wouldn't be the ones facing such a big case."
As they talked, they restarted the car and quickly disappeared into the night, leaving only the empty cliffside cabin standing silently in the evening breeze.