Chapter 401: He Is Too Terrifying

Assuming he had been perfectly clean beforehand, Christophe Rocancourt knew exactly what it meant for his public girlfriend to contract an STD. Even if he had only pursued her with an ulterior motive and cared little for her, he had just slept with her a few nights ago.

That meant it was highly likely he had been infected!

Closing his laptop and folding the newspaper, Christophe Rocancourt sat in his swivel chair, glaring darkly at Jessica Alba.

Jessica Alba's face was ashen. The moment she saw Christophe Rocancourt, her eyes turned red.

She stood up immediately and practically ran over to him. As she crouched before him, two streams of tears rolled down her cheeks with perfect timing.

"I'm sorry, Chris! I'm so sorry. I was drunk that night, smoked some weed, and just had a moment of confusion..."

Listening to Jessica Alba's excuses and pleas, Christophe Rocancourt wanted nothing more than to slap her hard across the face. He didn't care about her cheating. He knew full well that this playful, thrill-seeking girl couldn't possibly be committed to him. He just never expected her to be stupid enough to catch a disease while fooling around.

Catching a disease was one thing, but to potentially pass it on to him was another!

He raised a hand, furious enough to strike her, but forced himself to hold back.

He had been in Hollywood for ten years. From a penniless nobody to his current wealth, status, and position—how many unbearable things had he endured? He couldn't remember. There had been far too many.

For the sake of long-term gains, he could make plenty of concessions and compromises.

Herpes wasn't terminal. Even if he was infected, it could be treated. Falling out with Jessica Alba right now would inevitably harm his grand scheme. If it made certain people suspicious, wouldn't all his efforts be wasted?

Although Jessica Alba was caught in a scandal, her fame had genuinely spiked. She would be a great asset when pulling in investments. Plus, showing the magnanimity to forgive her would make him seem authentic and reliable, making it easier to win trust.

And if he dumped her? Where else would he find a woman as stupid as a pig to help him?

Christophe Rocancourt had done his research: bringing a widely recognized partner to business talks made things far easier than going in single.

Once his goal was achieved, he could simply toss this woman aside, go wherever he wanted, and play with the most beautiful women around.

Next to tens of millions of dollars, what did one Jessica Alba matter?

In an instant, Christophe Rocancourt figured out exactly what to do next.

Across from him, Jessica Alba's face looked like a flood zone. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, yet she showed no signs of stopping.

She rattled off countless excuses, bringing out a performance far better than anything she had ever done in a movie as she desperately begged her boyfriend for forgiveness and made all sorts of promises.

"I promise, Chris. There absolutely won't be a next time. I promise I'll cooperate with the doctor..."

With promises on her lips, tears on her face, and eyes red from crying, there wasn't a shred of actual sorrow or sadness in her heart. As for whether Christophe Rocancourt would catch anything, she couldn't care less.

Deep down, she didn't care about this boyfriend at all, nor would she ever stop going out to play just for his sake.

Jessica Alba had only accepted his advances because he was a wealthy producer who could be very helpful to her future. If she already had the status and box-office draw of an A-list star, would she have let him be her boyfriend?

What a joke. Why would someone with a net worth of at most a few tens of millions, who had never spearheaded any major production she knew of, have any right to stand beside her?

But now things were different. She had just started getting famous when this awful mess hit, so she desperately needed someone to prop her up. Furthermore, he held a massive project in his hands—a major project highly likely to be a collaboration with Duke Rosenberg. The appeal of that project went without saying!

As long as she was still his girlfriend, she would secure a spot in that project, very possibly taking the leading female role. This was a collaboration with Duke Rosenberg! Once the movie came out, would her current scandal even matter?

Even if just for the chance to work with Duke Rosenberg, she had to apologize sincerely and win back Christophe Rocancourt's heart.

She would drop this boyfriend, just not today.

"Chris..."

Jessica Alba blinked her big, bright eyes, looking exceptionally pitiful. Christophe Rocancourt let his raised hand fall slowly, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes in the gentlest way possible.

"This isn't entirely your fault. I hold some of the blame too," Christophe Rocancourt said, reverting to the perfect lover. "I've been so busy with the big project that I neglected your feelings..."

Hearing mention of the big project, Jessica Alba's brows twitched slightly. She reached up, grabbed his hand, and pressed it against her cheek, rubbing it gently.

"Chris, Universal Pictures told me to reduce my public appearances, so I don't need to participate in promotions. I don't have much going on lately—why don't I help you?"

"Sure."

In the blink of an eye, the two were fully reconciled.

"I happen to be short a smart, capable assistant," he continued. "With your help, I can quickly raise the forty percent of the 160 million dollars needed to kick off the project."

"Is the funding gap still that big?"

Seeing Christophe Rocancourt nod, Jessica Alba asked, "Duke agreed?"

"Right now, it's a secret agreement," Christophe Rocancourt said mysteriously. "Don't tell a soul. Duke has a contract with Warner Brothers stating that he can't take on any new projects before Return of the King is released."

"Mhm..." Jessica's eyes darted around. "I still have two properties under my name. I could take out a mortgage loan."

"Darling, you really are my favorite." Suppressing his urge to vomit, Christophe Rocancourt gently kissed Jessica Alba on the lips. "I promise I'll try my absolute best to convince Duke to let you play the female lead."

That was exactly what Jessica wanted to hear. She immediately broke into a sweet smile.

"Starting tomorrow, I'll go with you to pull in investments."

A grifting storm using Duke's name was quietly brewing in Hollywood.

The media hype targeting Jessica Alba didn't begin until the night of Fast & Furious's second day in theaters, and it only hit traditional media on the third day. Public opinion always took time to ferment, which directly resulted in The Fellowship of the Ring facing a formidable challenge this weekend.

On Friday, The Fellowship of the Ring took in 15.65 million dollars, narrowly beating out Fast & Furious at 15.21 million dollars.

On Saturday, though the latter slipped slightly, it still raked in an impressive 13.81 million dollars. However, The Fellowship of the Ring held steady, edging it out with a single-day box office of 13.95 million dollars.

By Sunday, Fast & Furious began to feel the drag of Jessica Alba's scandal. Although the impact wasn't massive since the news had just broken, its daily box office still dropped to 9.12 million dollars. The Fellowship of the Ring couldn't escape the market's natural downward curve either, taking in 11.62 million dollars that day.

Even in the face of competition, just as all the media had predicted, The Fellowship of the Ring continued its strong run, claiming its third consecutive weekly box-office championship with 41.22 million dollars!

Despite its poor Sunday showing, Fast & Furious still vastly exceeded Universal Pictures' expectations, effortlessly claiming the runner-up spot on the box-office charts with 38.14 million dollars over three days.

Third place went to DreamWorks Animation Studio's Shrek. Thanks to a vastly different target audience, this animated feature—which spoofed nearly every classic fairytale in the book—was barely affected by The Fellowship of the Ring, pulling in 16.52 million dollars this weekend.

Tomb Raider fully exposed the limitations of video game adaptations. Dragged down simultaneously by Jolie's scandal, its box office dove straight to 10.21 million dollars in its second weekend, clearly lacking staying power.

"The Fellowship of the Ring is North America's biggest winner so far this year, with a cumulative North American box office already reaching 290.57 million dollars!"

When Monday arrived, the New York Times published a dedicated review article on the front page of its entertainment section: "This fantasy masterpiece has already set a slew of records: the fastest to break 100 million in North America, the fastest to break 200 million, the fastest to 250 million... Next, it will undoubtedly become the fastest film to break 300 million. Where will its North American box office end up? We believe 400 million is absolutely not the finish line, and 500 million is highly possible. We may just witness North America's second blockbuster to surpass 500 million dollars!"

Duke wasn't confident whether The Fellowship of the Ring could push past 500 million dollars, but its performance upon landing in Europe gave him absolute faith in its overseas box office.

With the Eastern European and Russian markets opening up, The Fellowship of the Ring rolled out across nearly the entire European market last weekend. In the major box-office territories, it pulled numbers that exceeded Warner Brothers' expectations.

France grossed 12.76 million dollars over its three-day opening weekend, Italy hit 8.52 million, Germany brought in 13.55 million, and Spain saw 11.28 million...

And in the birthplace of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, thanks to the film's massive success in North America, The Fellowship of the Ring's arrival in Britain unsurprisingly triggered a nationwide viewing frenzy, racking up a staggering 21.22 million dollars in its opening weekend!

"Having seen The Fellowship of the Ring, we highly agree with our American peers—from this day on, the world will be divided into two kinds of people... those who have seen The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and those who are about to see The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring."

— The Times

Fleet Street, which had always looked down on its North American counterparts, echoed the North American media's praise for The Fellowship of the Ring in an extremely rare display of agreement!

In the European overseas market alone, The Fellowship of the Ring raked in a massive 132.15 million dollars in its opening weekend, pushing its global box office past the 400 million dollar mark.

As the new week began, the North American hype for The Fellowship of the Ring noticeably cooled down, but the buzz for Fast & Furious burned out even faster.