CHAPTER 288 FIGHTING FOR ATTENTION

Chapter 288 Fighting for Attention

Natalia couldn't hold in her laughter. She'd thought it was fun to tease him and wasn't seriously trying to

make him mad.

So she nudged his shoulder.

"Okay, I was just teasing, don't take it seriously!"

At that moment, an astonished voice rang out from her left.

"Natalia? You're here too?"

The group turned to look. It was Laura.

After a year of work, Laura was now a full member of Star Entertainment.

She still couldn't match up with the top rated actors, but she was still a star with twenty or thirty million

fans now. The most important thing was that her popularity was stable and her abilities were rising. She

had a bright future ahead of her.

Because of that, she was one of the actors being developed full force by Star Entertainment.

If Natalia's memory served, she should have been shooting a period drama recently, with a script that

she handed her herself.

Why had she appeared here of all places?

Natalia was a bit taken aback, while compared to her surprise, Laura seemed a bit uncomfortable.

She hadn't come alone. A young man was seated next to her.

The man looked to be in his twenties. He looked well-mannered and handsome. With gold-rimmed

glasses, he appeared as an elite of the business world.

Noticing Natalia's gaze falling next to her, Laura pursed her lips.

She didn't hide it in the end.

Taking a look at the people sitting around Natalia, she introduced a little shyly, "This is Edward Beton

from the Beton Group. The cast is having a break this afternoon and I'm interested in jewelry, so I came

over with him for a look."

Then she introduced Edward to Natalia's group.

Max's expression visibly crumbled.

The other people didn't notice his state. Archie and Laura were only acquaintances because she was a

friend and colleague of Natalie's.

Forget Louis.

He wasn't in the entertainment circles, and his family business was about as far away from the media

industry as it could get.

Besides, he was entirely devoted to studying medicine all day long. At most, he'd paint in his free time.

He didn't like watching television, and disliked going on the internet even more.

To quote Max, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference if you threw him into the mountains and had

him live as a hermit.

Because of that, as famous as Laura was getting, he didn't recognize her.

As Natalia introduced her, he simply greeted her with a polite smile and didn't speak.

Natalia nodded.

She didn't know who this Edward was, but she'd heard that he was an up-and-coming new star in the

financial sector. He'd just come back after studying overseas, and was a stand-up lad.

She greeted him mildly.

Edward returned her greeting with the same politeness, then turned his attention to the relatively silent

Archie.

"I've heard of you before, Mr. McCarthy, I'd just never had to chance to see you. Since we've had the

luck to meet here today, would you perhaps accompany me for a midnight snack after the auction is

over? I've actually studied at the same university in Othua as you have, so we're technically alumni

brothers..."

Before he could finish, Archie cut in.

"Sorry. I don't do midnight snacks."

"..."

Anyone clear-eyed could tell that "midnight snack" really just meant looking for an opportunity to make

connections.

The Beton Group couldn't match up to the four great families, but they had some status in Ambario.

They were especially close with the Bissel family, with some relationships amongst their families.

The McCarthy and Bissel families might have competed fiercely in recent years, but not to the point of Têxt © .

becoming enemies.

Because of that, no matter how much Archie didn't want to associate with a Beton who was in turn

close to the Bissels, he still had to show some respect.

But here in front of so many people, Archie had shot Edward down right away, leaving him in an

awkward situation.

Laura hurriedly chuckled and came up to smooth things over.

"It's true that Mr. McCarthy doesn't have midnight snacks. It's all right. We can make an appointment

for another day. Wouldn't you say, Edward?"

Edward nodded and managed to extricate himself from the situation, even though he didn't look happy

about it.

"If that's the case, then I won't press the matter. Anything the two of you want, I'll help you with it."

To the side, Max raised a fuss.

Sourly, he rambled, "Well, well, well. Somebody's a rich tycoon, eh? If you want to cover Natalia and

Archie's tab, then why don't you cover mind and Louis' parts as well?"

Edward chuckled.

"That's funny, Mr. Nixon. Everyone knows the Nixon family is hosting this auction. I couldn't steal your

thunder!"

Max continued to sneer.

"You couldn't steal my thunder but you could steal Archie's then? You mean to say that he can't afford

the things on auction here and needs you to help him out, then?"

Edward's face changed in an instant.

He shot a look at Archie and hurriedly clarified.

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"..."

He'd stayed overseas for years and had heard that these Eqitin boys were hard to deal with. He didn't

think they'd be this hard to deal with, though.

Louis was unwilling to let things descend further, so he tugged on Max's sleeve.

"That's quite enough, Max."

Max scoffed.

"I just don't like it when someone pretends to wear big boy pants in front of me!"

Edward's expression was turning downwards. Seeing that, Natalia gestured at Laura with her eyes.

Laura hurriedly dragged Edward away with her.

"The auction's starting, Edward. Let's not talk here and get in other people's way. Let's go over and sit

down."

Edward nodded and let Laura take his arm as they left.

Max's face grew even uglier.

Natalia looked at him and sighed.

Since Max had stood up for Laura last time at the charity dinner, Natalia had felt that something wasn't

quite right between them.

But she didn't know Max that well, and despite being one of the celebrities under her banner, the two

hadn't really been in a relationship and Laura was a girl who knew how far to take things. As an

outsider, it wouldn't do to intrude too much.

Looked like someone was tasting sour grapes, though.

Natalia ignored them and concentrated on the pieces onstage.

As Max had said, there were a lot of intricately designed jewelry pieces on sale tonight.

None of them were to Natalia's liking, though.

On the other hand, Max bought up several sets in one go.

All to compete with Edward.

Every time Edward raised his tag, Max raised the stakes.

Edward also seemed like he wanted to impress his partner tonight, so every time a new piece came up

on auction, he'd ask Laura's opinion.