His Adopted Brother Turned To Be A Girl !

22 The Contract

After hearing the news, Andrew’s expression was inscrutable. He quickly took out his cell phone and looked at the number of missed calls on his phone. His expression suddenly became crestfallen.

“Mr. Jones, is everything alright?” Seeing Andrew become angry, the presenter asked carefully.

Andrew looked up at the occupants, then knocked on the table, with a cold expression. “The company’s development prospect is not clear enough. Go back and redo it. The meeting is over.”

After saying this, Andrew picked up his notebook and walked out of the conference room.

Andrew was beating himself while in the car to the hospital. If only he had picked up the phone! Laurence never called him more than once so this must have been an emergency. Andrew sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He would never forgive himself if Laurence was hurt because of him and he was not there when she needed him the most.

When he arrived at the hospital, he saw Acton pacing around in the waiting area. Seeing Andrew walking inside, Acton quickly composed himself, “Sir, you finally came.” 

However, Andrew just glanced at him coldly and replied, “How come Laurence was injured on YOUR set?”  

If he knew Laurence would get hurt like this, he would not have agreed to let her act in the film in the first place.

Acton could feel Andrew’s anger dissipating off him. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead out of nervousness. One did not want to cross Andrew Jones when he was angry. He had heard of the stories of what he did to people that wronged him.    

Acton lowered his head and murmured softly, “There was apparently something wrong with the harness.” 

Hearing this, Andrew’s hands balled into fists as he narrowed his eyes at the pathetic man standing in front of him. He felt like punching him and letting his anger go; however, he tried to calm himself down.

“And whose fault is that Mr. Moore?”

“Sir, I swear I only order the best equipment for my shoots. I don’t know how this happened…” Acton trailed off.

Andrew kept silent for a long time, which made Acton even more frightened, but he clenched his teeth and summoned up his courage, saying, “Andrew, this is all our responsibility. I will make proper compensation according to the contract, rest assured.”

Hearing his words, Andrew glanced at him coldheartedly.

With a slight shiver, Acton knew clearly that Andrew did not care about the compensation because the Jones family was the richest in the city. s**t, he thought. I should not have said that! He wanted to slap himself hard because of his stupidity.

Andrew raised his brows and looked at Acton with a mocking look, “Cancel the contract with Laurence.”

Hearing this, Acton’s eyes popped out of his head. This was his worst nightmare! He simply could not afford to lose Laurence. The press was already aware of her role and taking her out now would make it extremely difficult for him to recoup with the losses! Laurence was a perfect match for the character, Elizabeth, in the film.

“Sir, today’s incident is entirely my fault. I promise it will never happen again. Please let Laurence to continue acting in the film.” Acton hurried to assure Andrew.

“No,” Andrew answered coldly, without any hesitation. 

“Andrew, please! You yourself invested so much in this movie. I can promise you this will not happen again! But please do not pull Laurence off the film. She has been doing so well and it will not be good for us or her if we remove her. We can definitely pause shooting until she is back to her full self but please reconsider removing her…”

With his position in the Jones family, there was no need for Andrew to consider Laurence’s feelings. As the oldest sibling, he had the last say.

“I already said no, Mr. Moore. Do not make me take a further step,” Andrew glowered at the Director.

Acton put his hands up and backed away; it was better to talk some sense into Andrew when he was calm. And perhaps, Laurence would be able to persuade him to continue letting her act.

The door of the emergency room finally opened and Laraine was pushed out on a stretcher. She seemed worse for wear with her right arm in a cast and a band aid on her head. She was a bit pale and the lack of her usual lipstick made her pale color stand out even more. 

Andrew assessed Laraine and slowly and walked to the doctor. “How is she?”

Looking at Laurence, who seemed to be sleeping, Andrew was furious. Acton, who was standing by and saw Laurence’s condition, also felt nervous. She looked much worse now. At this time, the only thing that Acton could do was to pray that there was nothing seriously wrong with Laurence, or Andrew would absolutely annihilate him.

Obviously, the doctor knew Andrew, so she quickly took off her mask and replied in a hurry, “Mr. Jones, Laurence has a slight concussion. Her right arm is fractured but it was a clean fracture. A few days’ observation in hospital and then bed rest for a few weeks and she will be back to her normal self!”  

Hearing this, Acton was immensely relieved and looked at the doctor thanking her.

“When will Laurence wake up?”

“After the effect of the anesthetic wears off, she will wake up.” The doctor smiled and quickly hurried off to look at another patient.

The nurses wheeled Laurence to a private ward. Acton followed behind Andrew and Laurence and watched as they carefully set Laurence in her new bed making sure she was comfortable under Andrew’s watchful eyes.

Once Andrew was satisfied with everything, he gave the room a once over and walked out calling Hale to come to the hospital to be with Laurence. Though he hated leaving Laurence alone. he needed to get back to his office and that meeting. 

While walking, Andrew glared at Acton. He regretted dealing with this man now that he was the cause of Laurence being hurt.

Soon, Acton was the only one left in the ward. Looking at Laurence’s sleeping face, Acton could not help but feel a bit dazed. When Laraine White was alive, she often fell asleep reading her scripts, and her face expression was identical to Laurence’s. He frowned as he felt that same feeling engulf him as he had felt when he first met Laurence weeks ago in the Jones’ dining room.

He laughed and shook his head. “You’re going insane,” Acton muttered to himself as he looked at Laurence’s face, which was totally different from that of Laraine. 

Laraine White was dead.

If only she were alive! Laraine would be the perfect replacement for Laurence. But now the film could not be finished without Laurence, but he dared not violate Andrew’s words. Acton only hoped that Laurence would persuade her brother.

Acton sighed and stood up stretching. His muscles were aching, and he could feel a headache start to creep up. Ensuring Laurence was still asleep, he decided to go down and grab a coffee and a bite to eat. Perhaps, by then Laurence would be up.