Inside the district courthouse, the atmosphere was solemn and grave. Despite the usual bustling in courtrooms, this one was eerily quite as if the trial has not started.
Freya Anderson sat in the defendant's box, her face blank and expressionless as the judge's gavel fell, her eyes calmly meeting those of the accusers across the room. The plaintiffs averted their eyes, seemingly unable to bear the weight of her gaze.
"Traitor! Bunch of ungrateful people!" Sarah Wilson, sitting next to Freya, couldn't contain herself anymore and blurted out.
Freya silenced her with a glance, reminding her that this was no place for letting her emotions get the best of her. If hurling insults could help their situation, she would have done it herself, long ago.
What they were losing was more than just the lawsuit, what they were truly losing was people's faith in them.
Golden Moon Studio had been hit hard for nearly a month. About a dozen artists they had signed started to run into trouble one after the other.
First, they broke their contracts one after another and went solo. Then they teamed up and sued the studio, alleging that it had failed to provide them with the best resources as promised, causing them to miss many opportunities to shine.
To put it bluntly, they were failing to achieve widespread fame and blamed the studio completely without considering whether they had tried hard enough themselves.
Freya sighed and raised her hand, and upon receiving approval from the judge, she spoke, "I accept today's verdict. We gambled and lost." She paused while maintaining eye contact with the plaintiff. "It is our fault for signing you all in the first place. From a legal standpoint, you may have won this lawsuit, but morally, you have lost royally."
"I hope that we never cross paths in the future."
Having said this, she bowed slightly towards the judge in thanks, took Sarah's hand, and walked out of the courtroom with a calm face despite the daunting amount of compensation they had to pay.
"Beautiful weather today, a good day for a delicious meal," Freya commented as they walked into the courtyard, the blue sky and bright sunshine lightening her mood.
"Are you seriously in the mood for a meal right now?" Sarah groaned. "You allowed those ungrateful people go just like that and now we have a lot of debt!"
"What do you think we could have done to change the outcome?" Freya replied. "They had all the evidence against us and we were unprepared. Let's just take this as a lesson for the future."
"If we continue like this, there might not be any future for us," Sarah mumbled.
"There will be, I'll make sure of it no matter what," Freya replied with a determined expression.
As night fell and the streetlights of Star City illuminated another bustling night, Freya found herself in a hotel bathroom. She leaned over the sink, sticking her fingers down her throat and forcing herself to vomit.
After enduring several waves of nausea, she splashed the cold water on her face to ease the feeling of her rising temperature. Lifting her as she stared into her reflection in the mirror, a cold glint flashed through her eyes.
She was supposed to meet with a client, Mr Dustin, who had mentioned a few days ago that he could invest in the studio - a lifeline for Golden Moon Studio to make a comeback - and Freya didn't want to miss this opportunity.
She was already on her last straw and would take any opportunity to bring back the studio to its formal glory. As long as the opportunity would not go against her moral standards.
However, after downing several rounds of drinks and various courses of food, without mention of the investment.
She could already tell he was up to no good. Trying to get her drunk so he could have his way with her. Not only was he trying to get her drunk, but he had even added some aphrodisiac into her drinks.
Did they take her for easy prey?
Freya closed her eyes, forcefully suppressing her emotions, and touched up her makeup. A trace of a cold smile hung on her lips as she turned around and walked out.
When she reached the entrance of the private room, the cold smile on her lips was replaced with a warm charming smile. She swayed her slender waist and pushed open the door to enter.
Freya took a seat, held up her wine glass, and gazed at the man across with a beaming smile, "Mr Dustin, I would like to make a toast to you."
"Good, good!" Dustin cheered, his eyes filled with undisguised desire. He squinted at Freya, subtly licking his lips while his thoughts ran wild in his head.
Their glasses clinked together, and his plump hand naturally gripped her delicate and boneless small hand. His chubby face was flushed with excitement, "Miss Freya, you look very beautiful today!"
"Thank you for your flattering words, Mr Dustin," Freya suppressed her disgust. If it were not for her logic reminding her, she was afraid she would have punched him in the face already.
"Haha, Miss Anderson, as long as I am happy, not to mention money..." Before he could finish his words a loud commotion erupted outside their private room.
"Freeze!" A few police officers broke in, instantly freezing the atmosphere in the room.
Freya promptly withdrew her hand, picked up a paper towel, and disgustedly wiped the hand that was touched by him.
Dustin was taken aback and resumed normalcy a second later, the smile still blooming on his face: "Everyone, is there some misunderstanding? This is a private room, are you sure you didn't get the wrong one?"
"We didn't get the wrong room," the officer leading the group replied calmly, his brows furrowed as his eyes scanned the whole room. "We received a report that someone here is using illegal drugs. Please cooperate with our search, and this will be over soon."
Upon his words, two male police officers walked over to Dustin and ordered. "Hands out!"
Freya stood in a corner, a cold smile on her lips. She watched Dustin's slightly unpleasant expression. Her slender fingers had already dug fiercely into her palm, stimulating her somewhat blurred senses with pain.
"We found something!" The police officer's hand was holding a small pill bottle. The label was written in some kind of a foreign language with very small letters.
"Take him away!" The lead police officer ordered.
"Damn whore, how dare you scheme against me!" Dustin finally understood what was happening as he noticed the expression on Freya's face. He didn't get to have any fun, yet he ended up with a whole lot of trouble on his hands. His bulky body charged forward and he swung his fist at Freya.
A police officer raised his hand to block his fist and twisted his arm as Freya looked at him coldly, "Mr Dustin, since you're so low, I might as well stoop to your level!" She whispered.
"You wait for me!" Dustin said through gritted teeth, his chubby face turning livid with rage, that drug bottle wasn't his at all.
"You are going to wish you never met me when I'm done with you!" He threatened as he got pulled away by the officers.
"Hmm, I'll wait nicely," Freya replied, showing no fear as she watched them take him away.
"Excuse us!" The onlookers quickly parted, and the police walked out with Dustin.
Unable to control his anger, Dustin turned his head and continued to curse: "Sleeping with you was a favour! Wait till I get out to deal with you..."
"Behave yourself!" The policeman reprimanded.
Freya, who was following behind, could no longer respond at this moment. She was unbearably hot and her legs were starting to become weak.
Leaning against the door, her eyes were slightly blurred; the effects of the drug were beginning to take hold.
Several people walked from the end of the hallway, whispering and chuckling. The man leading them had a cold, handsome face his long legs striding steadily. Seeing a group of people blocking the road, he slightly furrowed his brows.
Noticing the familiar face, Freya's eyes brightened as if she saw a lifesaving herb; she summoned all her strength and charged over: "Maxwell Miles if you don't take me away, I will surely make you regret it tonight!"
