Chapter 326: Big Winner on the Charts

"Jane, you're half an hour late."

Outside an AMG Cinema in Manhattan, Ivanka Trump complained to the woman walking up to her. "You invited me out to a movie, yet you're the one who shows up late."

"Hey, Evie, you know how New York traffic is."

Jane Lauder offered an apologetic smile, linked arms with her, and led her toward the theater. "Come on, hurry. The show I booked is about to start."

"What movie?" Ivanka asked, following her inside. "What has you in such a rush?"

"Duke Rosenberg's new film."

They reached the ticket counter as they spoke. It was a Friday afternoon, so the theater wasn't crowded. After picking up their reserved tickets, Jane Lauder pulled Ivanka Trump into the auditorium. They found two good seats and waited for the movie to start.

Seeing Ivanka stay quiet, Jane suddenly asked, "I heard you and Duke had a run-in at a New Year's party?"

"Just a small misunderstanding."

Ivanka shifted into a more comfortable position. "I ran into him later at the Wharton School of Business, and we cleared the air."

"The Wharton School of Business?" Jane's expression instantly turned gossipy. "He went looking for you specifically?"

"No," Ivanka shook her head. "I think a director friend of his was shooting a movie near the Wharton School, and we just happened to bump into each other."

"That must have been Sofia Coppola," Jane deduced immediately.

This time, Ivanka was the curious one. "Jane, you seem to know a lot about him."

"He doesn't have many friends—only a select few, and one of them is Aerin."

Rolling her eyes, Jane sighed helplessly. "When you have an older sister who talks about him all the time, it's hard not to know."

Sharing the same penchant for gossip, Ivanka probed further. "Is he pursuing Aerin?"

"No, he and Aerin are just friends."

Jane pointed at the large screen. "Enough of that, the movie's starting."

Ivanka quietly exhaled. A little while ago, she had received a package from New Zealand. She hadn't expected the guy to actually remember her...

Brushing away those distracted thoughts, she glanced around the auditorium. There weren't many people—only a dozen or so.

"Isn't Duke really famous?"

While the opening credits rolled, Ivanka asked in a low voice, "Why are there so few people here to see his movie?"

"Darling, it seems you really don't understand the film industry." Jane immediately switched into teacher mode, instructing her earnestly. "This is just a small production with a ten-million-dollar budget, and Warner Brothers hasn't done much marketing for it. Plus, it's the off-season right now. People who like big blockbusters aren't going to come see a small production like this."

"Then why did you drag me here?" Ivanka asked.

Jane provided an instant answer. "Because I'm a fan of Duke's."

"Are his movies really that good?"

Hearing the slight doubt in Ivanka's voice, Jane turned to her and said seriously, "Better than you could possibly imagine."

Hearing her friend's high praise, Ivanka focused her attention on the big screen.

Right after the Warner Brothers and Duke Studio logos flashed by, a violent crash erupted through the theater. A high-horsepower SUV slammed into an armored cash transport just as its doors opened in front of a bank. Two men wearing ski masks and Kevlar Body Armor leaped out of the SUV, clutching AK-47 Automatic Rifles fitted with drum magazines.

'Robbing a bank's armored car?' Ivanka had barely formed the thought when rapid gunfire hammered out, as dense and relentless as a torrential downpour smashing against glass. The two ruthless thugs didn't waste a single word or a single extra movement. Without even a moment's hesitation, they aimed at the transport and unleashed a ferocious hail of bullets. Several guards and bank security personnel were instantly shot down, and the bulletproof cash transport was peppered with craters like a hornet's nest...

There was no hesitation, no mercy, and no humanity. Looking like bloated, humanoid monsters, they just kept spraying bullets...

It wasn't just the guards and security personnel. In a rapid sequence of quick cuts, the camera showed distant pedestrians getting caught in the crossfire. People were wounded by stray rounds, car windows were shattered, and the entire area around the bank immediately plunged into sheer panic.

The two robbers finally ceased fire, leaving the vicinity of the armored truck awash in blood. One man swapped his drum magazine and kept his weapon raised to monitor the surroundings, while the other stepped over the corpses and climbed into the transport, only to haul out a single bag of cash.

"Only one bag of cash!"

Even through the ski mask, the furious glare in his eyes was visible. He looked like he might raise his gun and spray the surroundings again at any second.

Fortunately, the other robber still had some sense left. After reminding him that the police could arrive at any moment, the two dashed toward a Chevrolet parked by the curb and sped away.

From launching the robbery to their ultimate escape, the two took less than five minutes. Two blocks away, the thugs pulled off their ski masks, revealing fierce, rugged faces that perfectly matched a North American audience's typical expectations for bank robbers.

One of the thugs ripped open the bag of money. It was large, but it was stuffed entirely with small bills. It wasn't much of a haul at all.

"They didn't grab enough money; they're definitely going to hit another place."

The camera cut back to the front of the bank, where police officer Michael, played by Liam Neeson, was inspecting the crime scene. "The suspects have automatic firepower, equipped with Steel-Core Armor-Piercing Rounds..."

The scene was a complete disaster. Through this wreckage, the film emphasized the brutality and ruthlessness of the culprits. The heist had resulted in three dead, two severely wounded, and three with minor injuries.

With such a severe case unfolding, the entire Los Angeles Police had been mobilized. As the temporary officer-in-charge of the investigation, Michael also bore another burden: notifying the victims' families. The deceased had been shot to pieces and were in no condition to be seen by their loved ones immediately. Out of humanitarian considerations, the Los Angeles Police would dispatch officers to deliver the news first, ensuring the families were mentally prepared.

Just like in the real-life cases promoted by mainstream media, the Los Angeles Police were guaranteed to have a very positive image in the movie.

Duke was a mainstream director, and he had never once considered taking an unconventional path.

In truth, the film's core themes were exceedingly simple. It championed Hollywood's classic mantra that justice always prevails, explored the family issues that mainstream society cared about, and lightly touched upon the psychological and ideological mindsets of Larry Phillips and Emil Matasareanu.

"It's a bit different from Duke's past films; the pacing is a little slow."

Ivanka Trump heard Jane Lauder's quiet murmurs but didn't respond. She wasn't a fanatic movie buff, just a casual observer. Moreover, the contents of the film instantly reminded her of the North Hollywood bank robbery the media had previously reported on...

Compared to her memory of the event, it seemed the movie had taken quite a few creative liberties.

She cast a stealthy glance at the dozen or so people in the theater. Every single one of them was glued to the screen. It seemed the movie was rather captivating.

Ivanka had no particular interest in gunfights and just wanted to know how the story would unfold. Besides, the thugs' inhumane slaughter at the start had already ignited her inner sense of justice; she wanted to see the two men brought to justice as quickly as possible.

This was exactly why Duke had handled the opening this way. The film drew a clear line between good and evil, so there was no need to hide anything or make excuses for the robbers.

On screen, a mother and daughter appeared. The mother was cooking, waiting for her husband to come home, while the daughter sat in front of the TV watching cartoons, happily chatting and laughing with her mom. It was an incredibly warm and loving household.

Then, there was a knock at the door. The news delivered by Officer Michael shattered the family's warmth. The housewife went from shock to disbelief, then to realization, sorrow, and finally absolute despair, collapsing onto the sofa. Her daughter, whom she had sent away, was hiding around the bend of the stairs, large tears silently rolling down her face...

"I promise, I will bring the culprits to justice!"

Faced with Catherine's agony, Michael could only offer this comfort. He had said these words many times in the past, and most of the time, he couldn't deliver on them. But as he looked at this broken family, his desire to catch the robbers was stronger than it had ever been.

"I promise, I will catch them!"

The grieving housewife, the silently weeping little girl, and the solemnly swearing officer thus formed an unbreakable bond.

"This kid has some pretty good acting skills."

Jane Lauder took on the full air of an expert, offering her critique regardless of whether anyone was listening. "Way better than her mother's stiff, wooden expression."

Ivanka Trump gave her a sidelong glance but said nothing, continuing to watch the movie.

After showcasing the sorrow of a broken family, the camera followed Officer Michael back to his own home. Like all heroic figures in Hollywood films, the protagonist always had a troubled family behind him.

While the girl on screen wasn't a stereotypical troubled teen, her somewhat indifferent expression and rigid interactions with Michael perfectly illustrated a relationship fraught with tension. Through their dialogue, the background of their household was laid bare.

Due to the demands of his job, Michael had neglected his family, leading to the breakdown of his marriage. Lily, who had grown up with her father, was right in the middle of her rebellious phase. She was extremely hostile toward his career, believing that his life as a cop was what had stolen her happy family.

The father and daughter parted on bad terms. Hiding away in their respective rooms, they reacted in completely different ways. Michael had no idea how to communicate with his rebellious daughter, and burdened by anxiety over the case, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

Like the vast majority of fathers in this world, he loved his daughter deeply but simply couldn't find the right way to express it.

On the other side, hidden beneath Lily's apathetic exterior was a heart that yearned for familial love. The anguish of a broken home had driven her to drugs, transitioning from marijuana to cocaine. She chose to numb her pain in clouds of smoke.

Every family had its own troubles. The scene shifted, and the other two threads of the three-line narrative began to unfold on screen.