America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

In the study, Martin sat in front of the computer, browsing various news about Ben Affleck, thoroughly enjoying the juicy gossip when suddenly the sound of an engine came from outside.

A red lawn mower drove onto the front yard's grass, starting to trim the lawn.

On the mower, a pretty girl wearing a sun hat was sitting.

Martin left the study, stepped out of the villa's side door, and shouted over, "Lily, come here for a second."

The lawn mower made a loop, stopped by the side of the road, and Lily, dressed in jeans, hopped off and quickly walked over to Martin. "What's up? I've still got work to do."

Martin pointed at the lawn and the mower, "How come you suddenly started doing this?"

"You're the one who told me to," Lily said cheerfully.

Martin was puzzled; could it be that his occasional concern had made this girl go silly? He said, "It's been over ten days since I last asked you to trim the turf, right? You haven't done it."

Lily argued, "That's why I feel so guilty. I just happened to have some time today, so I hurried to get it done."

Martin stared at her.

Fearing the iron fist of his concern, Lily honestly admitted, "First it was Casey Affleck, and now it's Ben Affleck. I saw on gossip media that Ben is raising funds for his brother."

Martin waved his hand dismissively, "Casey has something to do with you, but Ben doesn't concern you."

Lily didn't listen to a word, "There's nothing else I can help you with, only with odd jobs like this." Explore more at empire

Martin asked, "Have you finished the statue that Leonardo wanted?" Seeing Lily shake her head, he urged her, "Get on with it, then."

Lily had no choice but to put aside her grass-cutting task and return to her sculpting.

She drove off, but instead of immediately returning to the college studio, she deliberately took a detour past the vicinity of Ben Affleck's home.

There were at least a few hundred women gathered, with a large number of media reporters, and a television broadcast van was also parked nearby.

"Punish the perpetrator!"

"Protect women's rights!"

"Ben Affleck must be harshly sentenced."

Slogans and banners filled with messages were held high by them, proudly displayed in front of the media cameras.

Lily took the carving knife she always carried with her out of her pocket; under Martin's protection, the knife was of no use.

"To these rotten brothers!" She gave Ben's house a middle finger, "I hope you guys pick up soap in prison for life!"

After Lily left in her car, a minivan turned at the street corner and drove through the slowly opening gates of Ben's house.

Matt Damon, Cassie, and Lawyer Cole got out of the car and entered Ben's villa.

Ben sat alone on the sofa, clutching a large bottle of tequila, pouring it into his mouth with a lifeless gaze.

Damon strode over, snatched the bottle from his hand, tossed it in the nearby trash can, placed his hands on Ben's shoulders, and looked into his eyes, yelling, "If you don't want to go to prison, you damn well better pull yourself together!"

Ben raised his head, "Every company I've worked with has called to terminate their partnership with me, what else can I do?"

"You don't have commercial endorsements; you won't face compensation claims from business companies like Pitt!" Damon tried to bolster Ben's fighting spirit, "They want compensation, right? Just pay them! Once this is settled, even if you can't act anymore, with your abilities, you can still turn to directing."

His voice grew louder, "This is damn Hollywood, where nobody judges you by morality, as long as you can make money for the big studios, they don't care what you've done!"

Ben's eyes, blurry from alcohol, finally showed a spark of light, "What about Harvey? Has Harvey said anything?"

Damon emphasized, "About Harvey, you're not to say anything, do you understand?"

Ben nodded subconsciously, "I haven't mentioned Harvey to anyone."

Damon continued, "Harvey can't come to see you, but he asked me to tell you, he will never give up on us brothers! As long as you set things straight with those women, when the public outcry settles down, Harvey will find a suitable project for you to direct."

By now, the situation couldn't be resolved without a significant sacrifice.

Cassie said, "Ben, this is all my fault."

Damon raised his hand to stop him from continuing, still looking at Ben, "It's normal for a man to do these things, there's nothing to be scared of; what's scary is that you lack the courage to face it."

Ben stood up unsteadily, "I have the courage to face it, but not the money to face all this."

It would be difficult to settle things without tens of millions of US dollars for the dozen or so girls from the acting class, plus the girls who came forward during the previous production work.

After all, there was the ready-made example of Brad Pitt.

Ben turned to Lawyer Cole, "Can my marital property be liquidated?"

Lawyer Cole replied, "Jennifer Garner has officially filed for divorce in court, demanding an equal division of your joint property..."

Ben knew he had to swiftly resolve this chaotic situation, as dragging it out was inviting the unknown, "Then let's divide it equally, I'm fed up with that woman, ever since I married her, my career has never been smooth, it's been all downhill!"

He said to Lawyer Cole, "I want to divorce her, get this settled as quickly as possible, I urgently need the money!"

Lawyer Cole nodded, "I'll arrange a meeting with Jennifer Garner's attorney this afternoon."

The focal points of a divorce are none other than property and children, and it was clear that Ben had no intention of fighting for custody; retaining visitation rights was no difficult matter. The most challenging part, the division of property, had been agreed upon in principle. The rest were all minor, insignificant details.

Matt continued to encourage Ben, "You've got to pull through, we've known each other since Boston and been through so many hardships, haven't we always come out safely?"

Ben nodded, thinking about the property to be divided in the divorce, and the potentially large sum of money he might have to pay in compensation, feeling an emptiness inside.

After over a decade in the industry, how much of the estate he had built up with difficulty would remain in the end?

......

Inside TMZ's office building, Jody received a call from the editor-in-chief and immediately put down her work to rush to the editor's office.

"You've done very well this time, Jody," the editor praised generously. "You truly are our number one person at TMZ."

Jody wasn't modest about her strongest suit, "Did the news publication boost our website traffic?"

The editor laughed and said, "The effect was very good. The big boss called and told me to ensure your reward is issued promptly."

Jody also smiled, ahead in the race for news; on the one hand, she loved this line of work, and on the other, it was the prospect of satisfactory payment.

The editor looked at the financial director in the office and said, "Go ahead and disburse the reward directly."

The financial director took out an envelope and handed it to Jody, "Congratulations."

Jody took it, glanced at the figure on the check, and grinned even brighter, "Thank you, editor. Thank you, director."

Taking the opportunity, the editor said, "I'm waiting for your follow-up reports to get even better."

Jody signed the financial receipt, and just as she was about to leave, she remembered, "There's also a payment for the informant. I promised the informant a fee for two parts."

TMZ continuously received all sorts of scandalous and secret information, and they were always generous with informant fees. The editor said, "You'll have to make another trip to finance."

Jody went to the finance department and without much trouble, received a check for 2000 US dollars, called Ivan to make an appointment, and then drove away from TMZ.

The two met again at Griffith Park.

Jody, without wasting words, handed the 2000 dollars to Ivan and said, "If you come across similar information, remember to find me."

Ivan, quite pleased with the check, said, "I have information that Ben and Jennifer Garner are about to divorce. You might want to follow up on this news. This tip comes as a bonus; it's on the house."

But Jody asked, "Any other requests?"

"You guess right," Ivan said slowly. "Keep an eye on what assets Ben Affleck might end up with."

Jody had looked into Ben's situation, "Ben and Jennifer Garner don't have much cash on hand. If they want to compensate the victims, they'll surely need to sell fixed assets."

Ivan nodded, "It also helps you; it can help the victims get their compensation in time."

"Thank you for the information," Jody said as she got up to leave.

Ivan also left the park and returned to his car, where he made a call to Bruce.

......

"Come on, cheers!"

In the living room, Nicholson lifted his champagne glass, making a toast with Martin.

Martin joined him in the toast.

Nicholson was in high spirits, picking up the champagne bottle and pouring a glass for each of them, "This time, even Harvey Weinstein's intervention can't save Ben Affleck!"

Martin said with a laugh, "Even if Harvey saves him, with the current situation, it'd be difficult for Ben to make a comeback, and his multi-million fortune is likely to be drained."

Nicholson, the bastard without any sympathy: "From a multi-millionaire to a pauper, hopefully, he won't go insane."

"I doubt he'll go insane," Martin considered and then said, "Jennifer Garner is divorcing Ben, and they'll definitely have to divide assets. Ben may have to sell his fixed assets to settle quickly with the victims."

Nicholson, who had faced paternity suit allegations, had practical experience, "That would be the best solution."

"We can keep a close watch on Ben's movements." The group's leader was decisive, and so was Martin, "The economic situation isn't great right now, especially in the real estate market. Ben's fixed assets are primarily in property, and if he wants to liquidate quickly, he'll have to sell at a low price."

Nicholson got the idea, "So we should buy in when the price is low?"

Martin nodded slightly, "The market goes in cycles; prime real estate can't stay depressed forever. This situation has occurred several times over many years."

"I heard you snatched a project from Ben, now you're after his real estate too?" Nicholson frowned first, then started laughing, "I love this kind of thing."

"I love it too," Martin replied.

Nicholson suddenly became serious, pondering a crucial issue, and after a long while said, "There's another very important asset!"

Martin thought for a moment, came up with nothing, and asked, "What's that?"

"Jennifer Garner!" Nicholson said earnestly, "We've taken projects and houses; shouldn't the next step be to take his wife?"

Martin recalled Jennifer Garner's appearance and shook his head, "If you're interested, you go for it."