Chapter 1055: Chapter 1055: Why Would I Frame You?
The music bar was bustling, with a lot of people and eyes around.
David Locke only told Mary Scott about the dinner, avoiding scaring her with too much detail, and Adam Piers did the same with Bertha Swift. When they entered the booth well-disguised, James Jerome and Stella Murray were already there.
This booth mainly comprised key personnel from the crew, besides the male and female leads and significant roles, there were assistant directors and producers.
Bertha Swift, usually quite reserved, sat quietly beside Mary Scott upon entering.
Adam Piers sat flamboyantly next to her.
The crew had been filming for nearly three months, and everyone had grown accustomed to Adam Piers sticking to Bertha Swift. Many even secretly speculated when Bertha Swift would stop assuming airs.
Zoe Thatcher sat across from Adam Piers, watching Bertha Swift’s indifferent attitude towards him, feeling like she was turning into a lemon, burying her head into the food to turn her frustration into appetite. After trying to imitate Bertha Swift and getting humiliated by Adam Piers last time, Zoe Thatcher became more reserved, but every time she saw Adam Piers’ dandy face with a slovenly charm, she couldn’t quite suppress herself.
Feelings like this are truly hard to hide.
But she had to keep her dignity, so she could only feel sour secretly, occasionally glancing at Bertha Swift, thinking that she wasn’t all that, didn’t have earth-shattering beauty to make Adam Piers her bootlicker, right?
“Are you a pig?” Suddenly, a rude male voice sounded above Zoe Thatcher’s head, carrying its usual wicked and lazy drawl, yet extremely resonant.
Zoe Thatcher stopped eating meat abruptly, looking incredulously at Adam Piers — was he scolding her?
Seeing Zoe Thatcher’s disbelief, Adam Piers pointed at himself, “You talking about me?”
“Is there anyone here who eats more than you?” Adam Piers retorted, simultaneously glancing at an actor holding a wine glass who had unknowingly walked behind Zoe Thatcher.
Zoe Thatcher flushed with embarrassment, “You… You… It’s Director Locke treating, not you, so why do you care?”
For the first time, Zoe Thatcher felt she was blind.
“I can’t care, just reminding you,” Adam Piers replied lazily, then swiftly wrapped the remaining cooked meat in lettuce and nonchalantly placed it on Bertha Swift’s plate.
Bertha Swift was puzzled by Adam Piers’ words earlier. Now seeing his actions and the eyes of others looking over, she wished she could crawl into a hole. She suspected this rogue man was deliberate, willing to fight an actress over meat for her, even when that actress was his rumored girlfriend!
Did he think the gossip between them within the crew wasn’t big enough?
Witnessing Adam Piers’ antics, Zoe Thatcher was dumbfounded, and soon her eyes turned red with anger. She pointed at Adam Piers for a while, then angrily threw down her chopsticks and headed to the restroom.
Adam Piers glanced at the others, and everyone quickly retracted their gossiping looks, pretending to focus on eating.
Bertha Swift looked at the meat on her plate, unsure whether to eat it.
Mary Scott, sitting beside Bertha Swift, glanced at the grilling meat and then at Bertha Swift, unsure whether to pick up her chopsticks.
Seeing Mary Scott like this made Bertha Swift even angrier, turning to fiercely glare at Adam Piers, “Nice work you did.”
“Everything I do is naturally good,” Adam Piers replied without a shred of self-awareness.
Bertha Swift, “…”
Was she praising him?
Mary Scott, listening to their exchange, couldn’t help but cover her face. How come she had never known Adam Piers had this sort of manner?
Sitting not far away from them, Brian Joule, the male lead, witnessed the scene firsthand. He glanced pensively at Bertha Swift before lowering his head to grill meat for everyone like a gentleman.
Adam Piers seemingly looked at Brian Joule with disdain but slyly swept his gaze to Brian’s side, then leaned back onto the sofa like a master, long arms resting on the sofa’s armrest, the posture, from afar, almost enveloping Bertha Swift within his embrace, full of possessiveness.
David Locke saw Adam Piers’ operation through the surveillance, secretly cursed playfully, and followed Adam Piers’ gaze toward that actor.
Zoe Thatcher returned with red eyes, sitting beside Stella Murray, who vaguely heard what happened earlier. Stella Murray expressed her speechlessness over Adam Piers’ ungentlemanly behavior but sighed, knowing he was the young master of Piers Group.
Earlier, they didn’t know Adam Piers’ background; it was only recently they vaguely heard that he was only treating the entertainment industry as a pastime, unlike the rest of them.
Stella Murray softly comforted Zoe Thatcher, who, after such an episode, dared not entertain any other thoughts about Adam Piers, lowering her head to continue eating silently.
Fortunately, James Jerome was articulate and a long-time partner of Stella Murray. The two of them soon revived the booth’s atmosphere like performing a comedy skit. Given the lively atmosphere of the music bar, music bar naturally involved singing.
Most of the attendees were actors, each double-talented, including the Karaoke master; everyone ate, sang, and partied enthusiastically.
But as everyone was enjoying themselves, the door of the booth suddenly burst open, followed by a shout, “Don’t move, hands up!”
The booth’s music continued, but the shout reached everyone’s ears, and they were all stunned! They turned their heads in bewilderment and saw plainclothes officers rushing in, expressions blank, with eyes full of questions, unsure of what the situation was.
“Someone reported that one of you is carrying drugs. Nobody move!” The leading policeman shouted loudly again.
Everyone who was stunned earlier was now dumbfounded, looking at the police and glancing at those beside them, unable to comprehend the meaning of the policeman’s words.
Although the crowd was shocked, the police would show no mercy, coldly ordering, “Search them.”
Then the officers began searching everyone in the room.
Mary Scott and Bertha Swift turned pale, their bodies involuntarily trembling. They knew someone targeted the crew but didn’t expect such sinister plotting. In this circle, mistakes can be redeemed and reputations rebuilt; only drug involvement spells total doom.
The opponent aimed to bury everyone there, David Locke, and this film.
With drug involvement, they were all destined to perish.
“Don’t panic,” just as the two were trembling with fear, Adam Piers spoke overhead, prompting them to look at him. They discovered he remained excessively calm.
In contrast, everyone else seemed equally terrified.
When the police finished searching on James Jerome’s side, they finally moved toward their table. However, before they could touch Bertha Swift and Mary Scott, Adam Piers pointed at Brian Joule, “He’s got it.”
Adam Piers’ words plunged the booth into sudden silence, the drop of a needle audibly shocking.
Everyone looked incredulously at Adam Piers, eventually focusing all their gaze on Brian Joule.
Brian Joule’s eyes immediately filled with redness, “Adam Piers, don’t be too outrageous! Do you even know what you’re saying?”
As a rising star with a large fan base and burgeoning career, Brian Joule has always been cautious and believes he hasn’t offended Adam Piers. Despite developing feelings for Bertha Swift during filming, he kept them in check, never overstepping boundaries. How could Adam Piers slander him like this?
If such charges are confirmed, his acting career and even his entire life would be over!
Bertha Swift and Mary Scott also furrowed their brows slightly, puzzled at why Adam Piers was acting this way. After all, Brian Joule is a popular idol, with tremendous star power. A scandal like this would equate to social death for him.
“Of course, I know,” Adam Piers continued leisurely, ignoring the disapproving looks from Bertha Swift and Mary Scott.
The leading police officer immediately instructed his subordinates to search Brian Joule.
Brian Joule’s face turned grim. His usually sunny and handsome appearance was now clouded with shadows. He pressed his lips together as he let the police search him. “If they find nothing, Adam Piers, I want you to apologize to me in public!”
“Found it!” No sooner had Brian Joule spoken than the officer in charge of the search suddenly shouted.
Brian Joule’s eyes widened in shock as he looked at the officer. He then felt the gaze of everyone in the room fall on him, shifting from disbelief to looking at him as if he were something filthy. Some even took a step aside to avoid him.
Bertha Swift and Mary Scott were also full of disbelief.
After the initial shock and panic, Brian Joule suddenly looked at Adam Piers.
Adam Piers shrugged, wearing an expression that it had nothing to do with him.
Even though Brian Joule was usually well-mannered, he couldn’t control himself and lunged forward, trying to hit Adam Piers.
Adam Piers sidestepped and muttered something under his breath before addressing the police, “Keep him calm.”
“How the hell am I supposed to calm down? You set me up!” Brian Joule was furious to the extreme. He only had a slight interest in Bertha Swift, and yet Adam Piers was dealing with him in such a malicious way!
Adam Piers coldly glared at the enraged Brian Joule, who was being restrained by the police. “Why would I frame you?”
“Isn’t it because you like…”
“Shut up, I have no such mundane interest. Although I’m not the one framing you, I do know who did,” Adam Piers interrupted just as Brian Joule was about to mention Bertha Swift.
Brian Joule, who had been raging, was taken aback by Adam Piers’ words and was about to retort when he suddenly realized, “You…what do you mean?”
Others at the scene also turned their attention to Adam Piers, while the police frowned at him, clearly wanting to know what he had to say.
Just as Adam Piers finished speaking and everyone was staring at him, an actor who had come over to toast earlier and hadn’t left since Zoe Thatcher’s departure suddenly stepped back.
Since everyone was focused on Adam Piers, no one noticed him, nor did they realize he had ended up standing by the door.
“Trying to escape?” Adam Piers suddenly asked as the actor retreated to the door.
The people, whose attention was all on Adam Piers, subconsciously glanced in the direction of his gaze.
Sure enough, they saw a medium-height actor, not bad-looking, but quite distant in appearance from Brian Joule and Adam Piers, standing by the door of the room. Because the police had come in to search earlier, the door was less guarded, and not many noticed him.
The man clearly didn’t expect Adam Piers to suddenly point the finger at him, giving an awkward laugh, “Master Adam, are you misunderstanding something? I’ve been standing there the whole time.”
“Hm,” Adam Piers chuckled softly, “You’ve been there the whole time?”
“Yeah.” The man responded to Adam Piers with a subservient smile, looking both weak and harmless.
People couldn’t help but look at Adam Piers with doubt. This man, Jonathan Hays, was a fourth lead in the crew, not many scenes but a likable character. Usually quiet and with little presence, he’d never refuse a request for help, so no one thought he’d frame Brian Joule. They couldn’t understand why Adam Piers suddenly pointed to him in such a tense situation.
Adam Piers seemed oblivious to the skepticism around him and sneered at Jonathan Hays, acting as if his dandy temper had flared up, “You think I’m blind?”
“Master Adam, are you framing me to protect Brian Joule? I’m just an ordinary small actor, no background, no power, with a family to support; you can’t treat me like this…” With that, Jonathan Hays, a grown man, teared up, while the discomfort from drinking only grew stronger, but he had to endure to prove himself.
The surveillance in the room had already been tampered with, and he didn’t believe the police would find anything.
As for Adam Piers, even if he saw something, what could he do without evidence?
And as long as Brian Joule was taken away for drug possession tonight, whether he was innocent or not, a question mark would hang over him in public, and “The Doctors” would collapse accordingly.
Jonathan Hays was an actor, and with impressive acting skills, plus having helped many in the crew, he was quite liked. Once he spoke, several people looked at Adam Piers with blame, as if he had falsely accused an insignificant actor to save Brian Joule and the crew from ruin.
Adam Piers laughed out of anger, “Really can’t give up until you reach the Yellow River.”
Jonathan Hays’ face changed slightly at these words but quickly calmed down, “I don’t do drugs, so why would I carry them? Here’s what, I’ll go with the police for a urine test!” With this, he looked at Brian Joule and Adam Piers, “You go too! I believe the police will give me justice. You rich playboy types are the ones playing dirty and framing innocent people!”
“Yes, take them for a urine test and we’ll know!” someone murmured in agreement.
Adam Piers glanced at that person and suddenly clapped, “What a ‘white lotus’!”
The leading officer ordered in dissatisfaction, “Fine, take them all for testing!”
Bertha Swift and Mary Scott grew anxious, realizing that all these individuals are public figures. With Brian Joule being a top star with over 30 million Twitter followers, if he’s taken away, it could ruin the crew! Additionally, there were already rumors about the crew’s bad luck, and what about the series then? What about the initial investment and everyone’s efforts?
“I can prove he framed Brian Joule.” Just when Bertha Swift and Mary Scott were anxious and upset, Adam Piers spoke again.
After he said this, David Locke, who hadn’t been in the room all evening, walked in with Luke Scout following him.
The official in charge looked at Luke Scout in surprise, then called out, “Captain.”
Luke Scout nodded, indicating for David Locke to begin.
In the next moment, everyone saw footage from the room appear on the large karaoke screen, starting with the scene where Adam Piers drove Zoe Thatcher away with the words “Are you a pig?” Then it showed Jonathan Hays sitting beside Brian Joule, flattering him while Brian Joule, with a calm expression, grilled meat for a few people, paying little attention to Hays but not asking him to leave out of courtesy.
Adam Piers kept a watchful eye the entire time, until Jonathan Hays swapped out Brian Joule’s drink, then, using a similar trick, Adam Piers swapped them back amidst the chaos.
In the end, Jonathan Hays drank the drugged drink he had prepared.
Brian Joule, stunned, looked at Adam Piers, and Zoe Thatcher also realized there was a reason she had been kicked out by Adam Piers.
Everyone else looked at Adam Piers in disbelief as well.
Jonathan Hays opened his mouth, the dizziness and nausea he felt earlier growing stronger, and now realizing he had been had, he frantically bolted out.
Luke Scout ordered coldly, “Pursue him.”