King of Hollywood

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: The Foundation of the Empire

After exchanging their boarding passes, Adrian and Kate boarded the plane, a Boeing 747, with the first-class cabin located at the front of the second level—spacious and comfortable as always. Settling into his seat by the window, Adrian stretched comfortably and looked outside, where an Airbus A320 was slowly making its way to the jet bridge.

If memory served him right, it would be a few more years before Airbus could compete head-to-head with Boeing in the large aircraft sector and then take some advantage only after entering the 21st century. Adrian watched with interest the Airbus A320 not far away. If he was going to buy a private jet in the future, would he purchase a branded aircraft directly or acquire a mid-sized one to customize?

Thinking this over, Adrian shrugged. Buying a private jet was possible now, but the maintenance was a real hassle. The reason private planes are so expensive primarily comes down to upkeep. However, he believed it wouldn’t be long. The November elections had been decided, and Clinton had predictably ascended to the presidency of the United States.

This meant that some things were still moving according to their established orbits; the world of the internet was rising rapidly, and his own plans were about to kick off. Whoever could control the internet would dominate the 21st century!

Well, to speak of control was perhaps an exaggeration; no one could completely and thoroughly control the internet, except… erm… the matrix. Okay, what Adrian really meant was that with his foresight, he wanted to secure the largest slice of the cake at this grand feast! And then, this slice would become one of the most crucial foundations of his empire!

However, to achieve that, he would need much more capital. Adrian then remembered the big event expected at the end of the year. Interestingly, Gos had chosen Christmas Day to announce his resignation—whether that would change now was uncertain. What puzzled and surprised him was that the foreign trade company Claude had set up wasn’t very large. Although it had begun operations, the profits hadn’t met Adrian’s expectations. With Regret managing the finances, he was well aware of all this and knew that Claude was up to something else in the Soviet Union with a portion of the funds.

Puzzled though he was, Adrian had no intention of intervening. Since Claude had promised a big surprise, Adrian trusted he would deliver.

Shortly thereafter, at the sweet reminder of the flight attendant, the plane taxied and accelerated down the runway before ascending with a roar into the stratosphere. A few minutes later, as the flight became thoroughly stable, the flight attendants unbuckled and began serving the passengers.

“A cup of coffee, please,” Adrian nodded to the attendant who came by and then turned to Kate beside him, “How about a coffee to perk you up? Then you can sleep in a few hours.”

“I’ll have tea, thank you.” To his surprise, Kate declined his suggestion and, after speaking with the attendant, continued to read her book as if Adrian wasn’t there.

Adrian raised an eyebrow, bemused. Seeing Kate’s tense lips, he couldn’t help but chuckle. Kate, flipping through her book, managed to maintain her composure for about thirty seconds before snapping it shut and glaring fiercely at Adrian, exasperation and dissatisfaction mingling with a trace of dilemma.

“What’s wrong?” Adrian teased.@@novelbin@@

“Oh, damn it, I don’t even know what to say,” Kate sighed deeply, “I thought things would improve over a few months, but that damned little guy still gives me the cold shoulder. What did I do wrong?”

With that, she glared at Adrian again: “And all of you revolve around her, even when she comes to my house. My mother and my sister said she was cuter than I was as a child! Fine, I don’t care about that, and I don’t care that Emma has to be by your side every single moment, including sleep, but… can’t you just say ‘NO’ sometimes?”

Watching Kate’s aggrieved and frustrated expression, Adrian’s smile grew wider, provoking Kate to the point where she wanted to punch him. Of course, she didn’t actually do it; after biting her lip and scowling for a while, Kate finally softened, crossed her arms and sulkily looked ahead: “Alright, I know I’m actually angry at Emma. It’s just so boring to be mad at a child, so I took it out on you… I know that kids always have some privileges, especially since Emma is so unfortunate, but…”

She let out a sigh and cupped her cheeks, not continuing. Adrian chuckled, took her hands away, and kissed her cheek: “It’s okay; you’re a child too, a big child at 18. You don’t need to worry so much. Besides, I think it’s quite cute when you throw a little tantrum once in a while.”

“Really?” Kate responded in a muffled tone.

Adrian looked around and a mysterious smile emerged from the corner of his mouth. He unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up: “Come with me, Kate.”

“What is it?” Kate asked, getting up, puzzled.

“To do something thrilling,” said Adrian with a smile, pulling her by the hand and walking out of the first-class cabin.

“Something thrilling?” Kate got an uneasy premonition, but she followed Adrian anyway.

They left the first-class cabin and passed through business class to the economy section on the second level, where most passengers were now sitting quietly in their seats. After looking around, Adrian gestured to an approaching flight attendant, then pulled Kate towards the gap in front of the aisle.

“Ed, what on earth are you up to?” Kate couldn’t hold back her question.

“Of course, it’s—” Standing in the gap and sweeping the area to see that no one was paying attention, Adrian chuckled, pulled open the lavatory door, and without waiting for Kate to speak, grabbed her hand and pulled her inside.

“Ed… Ed!” Squeezed into the small space, standing almost face-to-face with Adrian, Kate called out, both angry and annoyed, her pretty face blushing.

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