Chapter 571

After another dozen or so takes, Mr. Temple, presumably having vented his anger, finally let Maria off the hook.
Maria struggled out of the water and had to catch her breath by the side of the pool for a long while. Then, she had her assistant help her over to Mr. Temple.
“Director, if you’re still not satisfied, I can get back in the water and we can shoot it again,” Maria said with utmost respect.
Mr. Temple scoffed. “Shoot it again? Ha, the investors gave us a limited budget. We can’t waste it all on you, can we?”
“I understand. I can ask my boyfriend to increase his investment.”
At the mention of more investment, Mr. Temple’s eyes lit up.
“Mr. Amos is willing to invest more?”
Maria smiled faintly. “It’s just a few million. Of course he’ll agree if I ask.”
Mr. Temple’s eyes darted around. “Ms. Scott, you’re so considerate of the production. As the director, I’m truly touched.”
“About last night, I was truly careless. I’m so sorry.”
“A misunderstanding! It was all a misunderstanding!”
Watching this, Natalie’s lips twitched. Hamilton really was a useful backer to have.
Mr. Temple suddenly became very concerned about Maria’s health, urging her to go rest in her trailer before she caught a cold. After apologizing to him one more time, Maria finally headed for her trailer.
Once she was out of sight and back at her trailer, Maria could no longer contain her fury and kicked a chair hard.
The force of the kick made the jacket draped over her shoulders fall to the ground.
Her assistant, a girl in her early twenties, quickly picked up the jacket and tried to put it back on Maria’s shoulders, but being shorter, she struggled to do it properly. Maria, needing an outlet for her anger, turned around and slapped her.
“You can’t do anything right! Why do I even keep you around?”
The young assistant was completely stunned by the slap.
“You idiot! When you saw me climbing out of that freezing water, didn’t you think to bring me a blanket or some hot soup? You just stood there like a moron! You were laughing at me too, weren’t you? Did you fucking laugh out loud!”
“I didn’t! I tried to bring you things, but you wouldn’t let me
“Still making excuses!” Maria kicked the assistant, knocking her to the ground.
The assistant was young, and after being hit and berated, she couldn’t help but burst into tears.
“What are you crying for? Did your mother die or something?”
“Ms. Scott, how can you say that? That’s too cruel
“You think I’m cruel, do you? Well, you can forget about this month’s paycheck!”
The assistant’s eyes went wide, and her tears stopped instantly.
“You’re all useless! All of you are
against me! But if I’m not happy et
Vernet
none of you get to be happy! Natalie, you just wait I won’t let you get away with this!
Having vented, Maria’s anger subsided slightly. Before getting into
her trailer, she barked at her
assistant to go buy her a cup of hot milk.
The assistant choked back her sobs andran to a secluded spot before allowing herself to cry out loud.
t belongs to swnown
Natalie waited for a while until the assistant stopped crying, then she approached her.
“You don’t have to take her abuse. You could quit.”
The assistant jumped, startled. Seeing it was Natalie, she quickly wiped her tears and tried to leave.
“If she hits you once, she’ll do it again. Are you just going to keep putting up with it?” The assistant pressed her lips together. “I’m used to it.”
“So she hits you often?”
The assistant didn’t dare say more to Natalie and quickened her pace to get away.
“Why don’t you quit?” Natalie asked, catching up to her.
The assistant gave a bitter laugh. “Because I need the money. I have a family to support!”
“I see. What if I could offer you a chance to make money?”
“Sorry