Chapter 128: Small World

One had to wonder how Paul had managed to work with so many troublesome talents and clients over the years and had never gotten implicated in their shenanigans.

Better yet, one had to mull over how he had equally managed to cleanly cut off ties with so many of them without them coming for him.

For one, the man had long understood the dynamics of how most of them ticked, allowing him to pick the best opportunities to easily slip away.

Often times, it happened to be at their instances of temper tantrums and in-the-moment pettiness where they would often say shit they didn’t mean, like a certain ruined popstar had.

And though these same talents usually tried reaching out to him again after all was said and done and they had properly cooled off, he had never once gone back.

Because then, it would give them the impression that they could just come and go whilst trample on him as they pleased.

Simply put, Paul often let them live with the consequences of their actions and never looked back. Ever.

As for his other tactic... one he was often forced to use as a last resort when some of these former talents or clients refused to take no for an answer after willingly shooting themselves in the foot by firing him--especially the female stars and celebrities--Paul always happened to have a reservoir of ammo and bulletproof vests on hand to protect himself with in the form of blackmail.

That coupled with lifetime NDA’s he’d already drafted in secret from the very first day he’d begun working with them, in which he promised to keep his mouth shut as long as they kept theirs shut and let him and his family be, the experienced manager had worked out a foolproof plan to keep himself out of all of their future bullshit.

Was it a morally grey thing to do?

Clearly.

But honestly, with the sort of shit he’d seen in the industry over the past decade year, he had come to accept it as a necessary evil.

Yet, for the first time in forever, Paul had actually considered not drafting said NDA... though he eventually had nonetheless, just in case things went awry.

The cause for this was none other than his newest employer.

Through a looking glass, and prior to submitting his application to work with the man, he had naturally assumed Niall to be a phony like so many other celebrities in Hollywood...

...only for him to be proven wrong, over and over again in the past seven months of working with him.

Niall Parker, he believed, was one of the most genuinely decent individuals, not just in Hollywood, but that he’d ever met, period.

And though he was aware the young man had once employed an underhanded tactic to get what he wanted--case in point, getting the formerly struggling Feyre Publications to publish his book--even that, from an objective standpoint, had been done with the company’s best interests at heart.

It was also why, even as he drove his vehicle over to the company where he and Niall were to rendezvous for the day, he doubted he’d ever need to use said NDA.

Nonetheless, Paul was still on the qui vive. Not for his client though, but rather for any opportunist who so much as tried to run the young star’s career into the ground.

Given how much enemies Niall was bound to make for simply existing and being decent in an industry that rarely ever rewarded it, it was only natural that he was on the alert.

Consciously raising a hand to touch a pen clipped into the front pocket of his suit, Paul adjusted it a bit and continued the drive to his destination.

Upon arrival and stepping into the building, Paul had easily spotted Niall who seemed to have just a couple minutes ago, the young man currently conversing with a familiar lady.

"Quite the small world we live in, eh Mary-Beth." Niall respectfully greeted the porcelain-looking doll in human skin and extended a handshake with a cordial smile.

"That it is." the young lady reciprocated his gesture with a light yet pleasant smile of her own, even if she was putting on yet another act.

Not that it stopped the chameleon as she curiously inquired a moment after, her tone respectful;

"I presume you’re also here for the photoshoot?"

"Yes. My manager figured their brand would be a good fit for me." Niall replied to which he then remarked upon catching sight of the man from the corner of his eye;

"Ah. Speak of the devil,"

"I doubt you two have formally met, but, Mary-Beth, meet Paul Goodman, my manager." Niall gestured to the man first and then to the lady afterwards;

"Paul, meet Mary-Beth Brunhild, a fellow colleague. We’re both working on the set of [A Maddened Wonderland]."

Following up from that, both individuals exchanged pleasantries of their own.

No sooner were they done, a sophisticated-looking woman with platinum-blonde hair styled in a neat, classic bob walked over.

She looked to be in her late-twenties and was dressed in a formal cream blouse and knee-length navy-blue business skirt paired with black heels.

She also happened to be Mary-Beth’s manager, Ariana De Leone.

Promptly, Mary-Beth did as Niall had previously done, introducing all three to her and vice versa.

With the formalities out of the way, the manager then turned to her and said;

"They’ve set up the dressing room so we can head in now."

"Alright. Thanks, Ariana." Mary-Beth gave her appreciation and proceeded to head in, her manager trailing behind her.

In similar fashion, Paul walked up to the receptionist to check Niall in and they were promptly told to walk down the same corridor and into the same room as Mary-Beth and Ariana had.

"I think there’s one more person joining the photoshoot who’s yet to arrive," Paul remarked as he and Niall walked side by side.

"Yeah. Figured as much." Niall casually replied, courtesy of the receptionist mixing up their time with another celebrity whom wasn’t exactly being punctual.

Sterling-Vance was a designer label that had been slowly expanding over the past couple years.

Having started with just women’s clothing, they had gradually yet strategically scaled up their business model to accommodate other lines of clothing.

These days, they were becoming reputably known in the industry for being the go-to couturier for custom-made suits.

Yet, somehow, someway, they had managed to keep their prices within affordable ranges for the middle-class individuals whom they often marketed their products towards.

Naturally, to garner the interest of these same class of individuals, they were often required to market their brand to them in ways that would prompt them to purchase their products.

And what better way to do that, than to rope a celebrity into the mix to elevate their brand name by leaps and bounds.

Hence, they’d been following Niall’s career closely from the moment he made a splash with his role as Julien Lancaster in [The Promised Queen].

In fact, they had tried contacting him to model for a new line of suits they’d made as at the time.

However, Callow had essentially blocked the opportunity from the young man and had instead tried to position his favorite talent, Adrian, for it.

Naturally, the clothing brand had ended up assuming that Niall just wasn’t interested in modelling for their brand at the time so they’d simply moved on.

However, when [The Token of Fate] landed, as well as [Silver Comets] to critical and commercial acclaim, whilst also revealing what his former agent had done, they’d ended up piecing things together.

It was also why, they had been amongst the very first to message Paul the moment they caught wind of the information that he had now become the young man’s manager.

Imagine their excitement when a favorable response came back.

Afterall, not only was Niall one of the most talked about celebrities in Hollywood, he also happened to have a garnered a lot of love and support from the general public due to his philosophy on life, all of which seemed to permeate through every one of his works thus far.

Simply put, Niall’s image was one of the cleanest they’d ever seen in the space for such a young and popular celebrity, hence why they were ecstatic to have him as an ambassador for their brand.

Having arrived at the wide, well-lit and modernly furnished room, the photographers on-site checking and adjusting their equipment, Niall was soon shown to the changing room.

Just opposite it was another changing room and was where Mary-Beth was, especially judging by the female icon tag on the door and the fact that Ariana was standing right next to said door.

In any case, Niall made his way in, the two suits he was required to change into already placed on the hanger in the room with his name attached to it.

A couple minutes later, he stepped out, rolling his shoulders and adjusting the sterling-grey apparel on his being with a satisfied nod.

Niall often sidelined how handsome he was in favor of other things he believed were worth his while.

In his beliefs, beauty was rather ephemeral so it would do him a whole lot of good if he spent his time focusing on building his character.

But even he couldn’t deny he was a rather striking man to look at... a sentiment that was perfectly shared by every other individual in the room who honestly couldn’t tear their gazes away from him for a while.

But when Mary-Beth finally stepped out of the dressing room donning her charcoal-black suit, there was an almost instinctive shift that drew all eyes to her.

Clearly, the lady was in a league of her own.

However, considering Niall had been seeing her frequently these past few weeks, he had an almost casual reaction to her appearance.

Besides, for as much as Niall appreciated her beauty for what it was, in his mind, Camille was the only lady that could have him in a chokehold.

Just as everyone was staring at the lady though, Mary-Beth nervously fiddling with her hands, the door swung open and in walked a familiar face.

He also happened to be the very celebrity whom should’ve arrived much earlier.

Yet, the very first thing he did upon arrival, was walk over to Mary-Beth and raise her chin up to face him???

Advance Chapters are available on Patreon!

/Caer07