Chasing Stars in Hollywood

Martin Dinam's report ended with a brief summary of the current situation of the two masterminds behind the assassination plot.

After the fund was liquidated, Clark Grelov not only lost his approximately $20 million accumulated over the years, but he also faced lawsuits from numerous investors, bank repossessions of properties, and creditors demanding repayment. The latter was a devastating blow for the Grelov family.

Two years ago, the Grelovs purchased a $6 million mansion in Manhattan's Upper East Side and spent an additional $3 million on renovations. 

Due to his wealthy spending habits, George Grelov opted for a mortgage instead of paying upfront. Upon learning about the fund's liquidation, the bank immediately repossessed the mansion.

Furthermore, contractors owed over $2 million in renovation fees promptly filed a court order to seize the Grelovs' other properties in the Upper West Side and Southampton, along with their luxury cars. These assets were set to be auctioned soon to settle the debts.

Having lost all their real estate, the Grelov family had to move from the costly Upper East Side to a rental apartment in downtown Manhattan.

Moreover, George Grelov's troubles were just beginning.

At 45, George Grelov, a once-excellent fund manager who amassed a million-dollar fortune before 25, married Laura Grelov, a model nine years his junior, at 29. They had two daughters, 16-year-old Cathy Grelov and 14-year-old Victoria Grelov. After their marriage, Laura Grelov led a life of luxury for over ten years.

When her husband suddenly went bankrupt, the 36-year-old housewife immediately filed for divorce to avoid implications and secretly stashed away all the jewelry and gifts given to her by her husband in a safe deposit box at a Manhattan bank. The sudden family upheaval forced their daughters to temporarily withdraw from expensive private schools in Manhattan, missing their school's spring break trip to Europe. During this period, the two daughters frequently mocked and complained about their unlucky father.

Martin Dinam's report maintained a detached, observer's tone throughout, except when describing this mother and daughters. Even this seasoned intelligence agent, who had seen it all, couldn't help but criticize these three women as selfish and opportunistic.

However, George Grelov, who urged his old friend to bankrupt the family business by shorting tech stocks, wasn't a good person either. Otherwise, he wouldn't have plotted Simon's assassination in desperation.

The saying goes: "Birds of a feather flock together."

Simon curiously found a family photo of the Grelovs in the file. From the picture alone, it was hard to discern any of their true natures.

In the photo, George Grelov, wearing frameless glasses and a suit, sat elegantly on the sofa, appearing as a cultured and successful man. His wife, a woman with a slender figure dressed in a waist-cinching black dress, lounged gracefully beside him. She had beautiful flaxen hair, a delicate face, and fair skin. Even while reclining, it was clear she was at least 180 cm tall. The photo was taken just last year, and despite being in her thirties, Laura Grelov showed no signs of aging, instead exuding a mature charm.

Standing behind the couple were their two daughters, who clearly inherited their mother's excellent genes. Despite being only 15 and 13 last year, they both had tall figures exceeding 170 cm and looked strikingly similar to their mother. If the three stood together, they could easily be mistaken for triplets.

Perhaps keeping these three vases wouldn't be so bad.

Making a casual decision, Simon set the photo aside and continued reviewing Dinam's report.

Across the desk, Martin Dinam noticed Simon's recent gaze. His boss was evidently interested in Laura Grelov, someone he himself deeply disliked. Perhaps Simon's interest extended even further.

However, the young man's gaze wasn't that of a man interested in a woman but rather that of a collector admiring a few fine pieces.

Realizing this, Martin Dinam cut off his thoughts. Unless his boss ordered it, these matters were none of his concern.

Since starting this job, Martin Dinam had adhered strictly to one principle: stay in his lane. He would give his all for tasks he was responsible for and never meddle in things that weren't his business. As a spy, prying into others' secrets was part of the job, but excessive curiosity could be deadly.

Meanwhile, the Woodfield family was also in chaos.

Like the Hearst family, though far less wealthy, the Woodfields were a prominent old family in Pittsburgh. From Ralph Woodfield, a British immigrant who founded Monroeville Machinery Company in the southern part of Pittsburgh last century, the family had now reached its sixth generation. Over 30 direct descendants of Ralph Woodfield remained.

News of George Woodfield, the CEO and chairman of Monroeville Machinery Company, misappropriating a large amount of funds and losing everything was exposed by local media, causing the company's stock to plummet by over 30% recently.

Other family members, who could never touch the company's control and only received trust benefits, jumped out to accuse George Woodfield's branch of severe negligence.

The funds George Woodfield misappropriated included part of Monroeville Machinery Company's pension reserves. After the incident, over 300 workers immediately went on strike, demanding a clear response from management.

Various regulatory agencies, including the SEC, launched investigations into Monroeville Company.

Other shareholders, who had been suppressed due to the company's dual-class stock structure, also demanded to take over the company.

Local media, always eager for drama, tried their best to dig up and report the story.

George Woodfield was now truly besieged on all sides.

After patiently reading the report for over half an hour, Simon's expression remained unchanged, and he made no comments. Instead, he asked Martin Dinam about another matter, "Any movements from the Hearst side?"

Martin Dinam, who had been patiently waiting and occasionally answering Simon's questions, stood up, found a file from the desk, and said, "Here are the recent monitoring records of the six core members of the Hearst family, including some key audio and video recordings. However, the most important information is from last night. After John Hearst left the Salzburg residence, he discussed with William III about shutting down three newspapers that are under lawsuit, using the unemployment of 1,100 workers to pressure us. The Hearst family can then lobby newspaper industry unions and federal regulatory agencies to limit our lawsuits under the guise of protecting workers' rights."

While speaking, Martin Dinam sat down again at Simon's gesture and continued, "I did a quick investigation last night. Just the Stamford Advocate in Stamford, Connecticut, with about 370 employees, involves 13 unions, including the Journalist Union, Printer Union, Truck Drivers Union, etc. Five of these are national unions. If these unions unite, even Congress wouldn't ignore it."

Simon squinted, glanced at the boxes of videotapes on the desk, and asked, "Do we have video of their conversation?"

Martin Dinam nodded, skillfully found a videotape, and upon Simon's nod, walked towards the television on one side of the study, continuing, "William III likes discussing these things in his study. We secretly installed a camera there. Most other monitoring points only have simple listening devices."

With that, Martin Dinam inserted the videotape into the player. The TV screen soon showed William Hearst III and John Hearst, whom Simon had just met last night, discussing using the closure of three newspapers to pressure the Westeros system.

Unions in the USA would quickly decline after the new century, a trend that was inevitable. However, unions formed from old American industries were still very powerful. Like the various automobile industry unions known for their exorbitant demands that contributed to the decline of the American auto industry, newspaper industry unions were also deeply entrenched.

The Hearst Group, with over a hundred newspapers, magazines, and TV stations, had more than 20,000 employees at this stage.

Simon, avoiding his own situation, used "vulnerable groups" to target the Hearst Group. The Hearst family planned to retaliate in kind.

Compared to the weaker ordinary people, the various newspaper industry unions with millions of members were much stronger. These unions, wielding significant votes, also had substantial influence over the federal government.

If Simon hadn't obtained the brothers' conversation evidence in advance, once the Hearst Group mobilized, the Westeros system would indeed have been caught off guard.

Even if the union organizations understood the Hearst family's true intentions in shutting down the three newspapers, without substantial evidence, and perhaps with some benefits promised by the Hearst family, they might have targeted Simon.

Now, with the footage, once the incident occurred and the video was released, the many union members, realizing they were used as tools by the Hearst family, would not take it lightly. Just the lawsuits from employees over such a blatant dismissal would cost the Hearst family dearly.

Over 1,100 employees from three newspapers, backed by powerful unions, could result in claims calculated in billions.

Watching the video expressionlessly, Simon considered for a moment and then said to Martin Dinam, "From now on, your team will completely withdraw from the assassination case investigation and focus on monitoring the Hearst family. I need more video evidence, not just audio recordings that can be easily refuted. But..."

Simon said this while picking up the remote control on his desk to turn on the television by the wall again. The screen still showed surveillance footage around the estate.

Martin Dinam immediately recognized a white Toyota that had aroused his suspicion earlier.

These were the regular followers around the Westeros family. Martin Dinam's team had secretly investigated them before, revealing a mix of private detectives, government agents, and some foreign spies—all eyeing the Wester

os family.

Simon had previously ignored these people.

After all, they were like weeds, always growing back after being cut. Moreover, the Westeros family's security and intelligence teams had been insufficient, only preventing these people from breaking into the family properties to install bugs.

Now, Simon no longer intended to tolerate them.

Seeing Martin Dinam's understanding expression, Simon continued, "…Before that, eliminate all these followers. Send them to Fire Island like last time. And warn them, anyone approaching the Westeros family again will either go to heaven or hell."

Martin Dinam nodded. After reorganizing the documents on the desk and giving a brief summary, he left the study with his now-empty briefcase.

Following Simon's orders, Martin Dinam didn't inquire further about the assassination-related matters.

From early on, he knew that the Westeros family had more than just his team. Over the years, his direct intelligence team had grown to five groups with a total of 32 people, but this was only a small part of the family's hidden forces.

Moreover, he realized that most of the time, his team was only responsible for surveillance and intelligence gathering, occasionally dealing with tasks like sending people to Fire Island. They rarely handled more sensitive "dirty work."

Clearly, there were deeper "executors" hidden within the Westeros family's dark side.

During the New York mayoral election last year, the gang war in Bowery Bay, Queens, was officially deemed a random gang conflict. The media mostly agreed, but Martin Dinam knew that the gang transaction intelligence came from one of his teams, followed by the gang conflict they weren't involved in.

There were no coincidences like this in the world.

Martin Dinam occasionally wondered if there were also monitors around his team to prevent betrayal.

But these thoughts didn't trouble him much.

Even if there were, it was reasonable.

From an Australian government agent to his current job, Martin Dinam was very satisfied with everything his young boss had given him and never harbored any thoughts of betrayal. So, having eyes on him didn't matter.

When Martin Dinam left the estate, Simon's bodyguard Ken Dixon discreetly handed him a list of followers who needed to be sent to Fire Island.

Driving back to Manhattan, Martin Dinam reflected on the recent meeting.

His boss's expression remained calm, but Martin Dinam could feel the young man's evident killing intent. It was a subtle feeling; at times, he even thought the young man behind the desk might be like them, having killed before.

Then he dismissed the idea.

He knew many of his boss's "glorious deeds" clearly. The young man possessed extraordinary physical strength and knew combat techniques. He once easily broke the legs of five men alone and held a record of ten consecutive KOs in an underground Melbourne boxing ring. These were often topics of admiration among his team.

Due to their profession, most of them instinctively revered the strong.

But saying his boss had killed, Martin Dinam didn't quite believe it.

His boss's rise since 18 was well-documented. If he had blood on his hands, it would have been used against him long ago, given the numerous people coveting Simon Westeros' wealth.

As for before 18, as an orphan, he might have fought, but killing seemed unlikely.

After a moment of random thoughts, Martin Dinam soon put these irrelevant thoughts aside.

He was just a pawn, so he focused on doing what a pawn should do.

Noticing a white Toyota discreetly tailing him through the rearview mirror, Martin Dinam couldn't help but smile contemptuously. These people, perhaps having followed the Westeros family too easily for too long, had become useless, thinking everyone else was too.

Well, let's start with you.

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