Chapter 333 Danielle's Photos Exposed
Trinity didn't wait for him to kick her out. As she walked away, she tossed over her shoulder, "Jessica's got a kid now. She doesn't even know who the father is. Can you believe that?"
Keegan stared at Jessica's photo in his hand, his brows knitting together until Trinity's voice faded away.
The new studio location was set. They picked the Star Tower office building in Xyleria, leasing the entire sixteenth floor—over twenty rooms in total.
The name stayed the same, Jessica Studio, and Mackenzie was still the legal rep. But now, Jessica wasn't just a small-time artist under Mackenzie; she was one of the bosses.
Some of their old crew jumped ship Star Entertainment and joined the new studio with Mackenzie and Jessica. But they still needed to hire more people.
Nicholas used his connections at Harriman Entertainment to introduce a few top-notch agents to Jessica, but none of them made the cut.
A seasoned artist needed at least three agents: one for the artist and two executive agents.
Jessica temporarily bumped an intern agent who'd been with Mackenzie up to executive, but she still needed to fill the rest of the positions.
The new studio was getting renovated at lightning speed. Office desks, chairs, conference rooms, and equipment for the makeup and interview rooms were all delivered.
When Jessica got back from the set, she swung by Star Tower and saw workers bustling around.
She raised her hand and gently pressed her eyes. Lately, her eyelids had been twitching a lot.
She didn't buy into old wives' tales and figured it was from the night shoots, with the bright lights straining her eyes.
"How much longer until the shoot wraps up?" Mackenzie asked when she saw Jessica sitting in the temporary break room.
"About a week," Jessica replied, looking up. "I'm not taking any new roles this month before Danielle's birthday. I'll focus on my current business and ad deals and think about new roles at the end of next month."
"That's fine. I'm not your agent anymore, so it's not my problem. You've got plenty of scripts now, and more will come in. Take your time to choose; most of them are lead roles, which is great." Mackenzie grinned and leaned in. "Why do you look like you haven't slept? Is Mr. Harriman that intense? Not letting you sleep?"
Jessica's mouth twitched. "He's in Country S these past two days. He won't be back until tomorrow at the earliest."
"So, you miss him but can't see him? Thinking about him every day and can't sleep?"
"It's just that Danielle's about to have a break, and I'm thinking about taking her abroad for a vacation. But with my current situation, I'll get photographed wherever I go. I want to take Danielle on a vacation and have a good time with her, but it's not easy." Jessica said, resting her chin on her hand. "Even if we find a resort hotel here, we'll still get photographed."
"That's true. Nowadays, anyone can recognize you. If they catch a photo of you traveling with Danielle..."
Suddenly, the break room door burst open.
Zoey, the tabloid junkie, burst in, looking panicked and clutching her phone. She lowered her voice when she saw Mackenzie and Jessica. "Something's happened."
Domestic media sites and forums often gotcensored when breaking big news. But if it broken on foreign sites, it might not spread as widely here, though more young people were getting their news from those sites, so it spread fast.
On a popular foreign website, two photos of Jessica holding a child's hand were leaked. The kid's face was pixelated, but it was clear from the body language that the child was very attached to Jessica. Jessica was seen holding the hand of a girl with a backpack near a kindergarten in Xyleria.
Other photos showed Jessica and Caroline at a supermarket and Caroline picking up Danielle from school, further confirming the relationship between Jessica and the little girl.
Discussion threads under the photos mentioned the kindergarten's surroundings, located near Blue Bay Apartments, claiming that Jessica lived there and that the child attended the nearby kindergarten.
"Jessica, you once told me you had a big secret at home. Is this it?" Zoey asked, holding up her phone. "Is this really your daughter?"
Mackenzie's mind went blank when she saw the photos. She quickly turned to Jessica.
Jessica stood up. Even from a distance, she could tell it was her and Danielle in the photos Zoey was holding up.
Mackenzie grabbed the phone, looked at the photos repeatedly, then handed it to Jessica.
After reviewingall the photos and text, Jessica stayed silent for a minute. She didn't answer Zoey's question but looked at Mackenzie and said, "Can I now openly take Danielle on a vacation?"
Mackenzie immediately got serious. "You think that something bottled up for so long being exposed will make you feel relieved, but it's not that simple. Domestic fans are always harsher on female artists than male ones. Having a child out of wedlock, do you know what kind of price you'll have to pay for that?"
Zoey's mouth dropped open in shock. "Is it true, Jessica? Do you really have a daughter?"
Zoey was so shocked that her mind was racing with questions, but she quickly realized that asking would only make things worse. She hurriedly added, "But this little one looks at least four or five years old. You've kept this secret for so long, and now it's being exposed on foreign websites. It's clearly an attempt to bring you down during your peak career period."
"The photos don't look recent, which means someone has known for a long time." Jessica looked at the phone again. "This can't be solved by deleting posts and covering it up."
Mackenzie signaled Zoey to check if anyone was outside. After getting a reassuring look from Zoey, she said, "It's already on foreign websites, and the discussion threads are blowing up. It can't be covered up. Don't make any statements yet. Check what's being said on Instagram and domestic entertainment forums. But you need to come up with a plan quickly. Admitting Danielle's existence means you'll face not just a potential drop in popularity during your peak, but if your acting skills and talent are still impressive, that impact might be manageable. However, having a child out of wedlock is a huge blow for a female star, and it would also be a significant blow for Danielle."
