Chapter 289: As Vicious As Ever
Evan York’s vomiting finally stopped, at least for the moment, after Eloise Donovan pulled out a large stack of autographed photos of female celebrities that Hector Donovan had brought her before the New Year.
By then, the ordeal had left him completely drained. He lay on the sofa with a vacant stare, looking so weak and pitiful it was as if his soul had left his body, ready to depart this world at any moment.
The Donovan family cast him a sympathetic glance before decisively turning on Hector Donovan.
"You punk, where’d you get all these photos of female celebrities? And they’re all personally autographed. Don’t tell me..."
"Exactly! And you gave these autographs to Eloise. Were you hoping she could help you pick which of these starlets would be a better match for you...?"
"Stop, stop!" Hearing Mr. and Mrs. Donovan’s speculation getting more and more outrageous, Hector Donovan quickly cut in to shut down their wild fantasies.
"Eloise asked me to get her autographed photos of artists from my company. She said she wanted to give them to her classmates as gifts. These female artists have nothing to do with me. At most, we’ve seen each other once or twice at the company. We’re not even friends, so stop spreading rumors."
"Eloise asked you to get them?"
Hector Donovan, ever the pot-stirrer, added, "That’s right. She also had me get autographed photos of the male celebrities from the company, I just didn’t bring them out."
Mrs. Donovan turned to her in surprise. "Is that true?"
Arabella Donovan and the others also looked over curiously. Eloise Donovan’s expression stiffened for a moment, but she nodded nonetheless.
"My classmates heard my second brother is an artist at Stellar Entertainment, so they asked if I could help them get some autographed photos of their favorite celebrities..."
Stellar Entertainment was Hector Donovan’s agency. Unlike Zane Lynch’s Radiant Entertainment, it was a long-established company, much larger in scale, and represented a wide range of artists.
From veteran actors in their sixties and seventies to teenage variety show heartthrobs, they had it all.
Hector Donovan was one of the company’s biggest cash cows. In terms of achievements, status, and experience in the industry, he was considered a leader among the younger generation.
To make it in the entertainment industry, you need talent and connections. As the saying goes, minor fame can be manufactured, but superstardom is a matter of fate.
So, at Hector Donovan’s request, nearly half the company sent over stacks of autographed photos. They did it partly to show him respect, and partly in the hopes of getting on his radar. If they were lucky, he might give them a leg up if they ever ran into trouble. Even if it didn’t lead to instant fame, it might at least give them a shot at a breakthrough someday.
"How would your classmates in the same major know Second Brother works at Stellar Entertainment?"
’Besides, doesn’t Fourth Sister not have many friends at school? How could so many people suddenly pop up asking for autographs? Something’s not right. Very not right!’
Eloise Donovan met their curious and worried gazes, sighed, and answered truthfully, "Melanie Yates told them."
"Melanie Yates?" Arabella Donovan looked surprised. "That big mouth. Why would she go around saying things like that for no reason?"
"She didn’t mean to. She just saw I didn’t have many friends at school and brought all her friends over to meet me. We started hanging out, grabbing meals, and chatting, and over time we all got familiar with each other."
"During the break a while back, we all went to see a movie. The lead actor happened to be an artist from Second Brother’s agency, and a couple of Melanie Yates’s friends were huge fans of his. While they were talking about it, Melanie casually mentioned my brother, and then..."
"And then what?"
"They got really excited. I guess they never expected to know someone connected to an entertainment company. They asked me which celebrity my second brother was and if I knew the stars they were fans of."
At the time, Eloise Donovan was mindful of her brother’s status, so she didn’t reveal that he was the famous Best Actor Donovan, Hector Donovan. She just said he was a regular artist at Stellar Entertainment.
They didn’t press the issue and just asked if she could have her brother help get some autographs from their favorite artists—only if it was possible, and no worries if not.
Eloise Donovan had a good impression of Melanie Yates’s friends, and the others they later introduced her to, so she brought it up with Hector Donovan when she got home.
She just never expected her brother to have so much clout in the industry that he could casually bring back a whole stack of autographs from stars big and small. Even more unexpected was that before the photos could even reach their intended owners, they’d end up being used to help Evan York.
"So that’s what happened. Fourth Sister, you’ve gotten pretty close with Melanie Yates."
’That girl is really putting in the effort to become my sister-in-law. Then again, it’s possible she just genuinely wants to be friends with my fourth sister—after all, Fourth Sister is pretty too. For someone who’s all about appearances, a pretty face is everything. You could eat two extra bowls of rice just by looking at a pretty face!’
Eloise Donovan’s lip twitched. But when she calmed down and thought about it, Melanie Yates’s friends were indeed all quite good-looking. There wasn’t an unattractive one in the bunch.
Meanwhile, Aurora Donovan seemed to catch on to something. He touched his own face and thought narcissistically, ’Well, say what you will, but that someone has good taste. I *am* handsome!’
Justin Donovan saw right through his little brother’s petty thoughts and shot him a disdainful look. He cleared his throat, pulling everyone’s attention back to the matter at hand.
"Serena, what should we do with this worm?"
"Oh, right, the worm!" Mrs. York, who had been busy tending to her son, snapped back to the present. She glanced at the Curse Worm, which was now rolling grotesquely in the pool of blood, and said, still shaken, "Master Donovan, this worm..."
"Don’t move. I’ll handle it," Arabella Donovan said, taking out a talisman paper she had prepared earlier. She lit it and tossed it into the basin.
The small flame touched the blood in the basin and, as if hitting oil, erupted high into the air. In an instant, it engulfed the entire bottom of the basin, yet miraculously left the plastic unscathed.
The worm, trapped in the bloody mire, was consumed by the blaze. It tried to flee, but fire was everywhere, leaving it no escape. It could only let out a series of shrill screeches as it was incinerated.
The sound made everyone’s hair stand on end. Fortunately, the piercing screeches didn’t last long before they were completely silenced by the flames.
"Done!"
"It’s... dead? Just like that?"
"It’s been burned to ash."
"What about the Lewis Family...?"
"This is just a sub-worm. When it dies, the one controlling the Mother Worm suffers a backlash. A light case would be a severe blow to their life force; a heavy case would be instant death. Even if they’re lucky enough to survive, their vitality will be so damaged they’ll likely be bedridden for the rest of their lives."
However, Arabella Donovan guessed that since the Curse Worm hadn’t managed to drive Evan York completely insane and ruin his family, the backlash against Valerie Lewis probably wouldn’t be fatal. Most likely, she would just be severely wounded and left half-dead.
In that case...
’Tsk, tsk. A father who drops dead, a mother who drops dead, a gravely ill sister, and he himself is haunted. Looks like Terence Lewis is in for a real blessed life.’
The rest of the family: *Pfft...* ’That’s our Arabella, as ruthless as ever!’