Chapter 904: What Exactly Is He Doing?

Laila stepped out of the lounge and casually walked into another empty one. After closing the door behind her, she quickly dialed Roy's number.

Right now, she needed to hear his voice.

The thought of Heath Ledger's fate weighed on her chest like a boulder, making it hard to breathe.

For the first time, she regretted letting Roy take on that cursed role.

If he had truly lost himself in the character and was now struggling to break free—just like Heath—what was she supposed to do?

The call connected.

"Laila?" Roy's voice came through, sounding as casual as ever.

Hearing his familiar tone, Laila's heart eased slightly. "Where are you?"

"Uh, I'm out with some friends. Got some things to take care of." Roy's answer was a bit vague.

But because Laila was preoccupied with her thoughts, she didn't notice the hesitation in his voice.

"Out with friends?" She let out a small breath. "Alright, then I won't bother you. We'll talk later."

If he was still socializing, then it couldn't be that bad… right?

She almost laughed at herself for being so paranoid. The Joker had been last year's role—if it was going to mess him up, wouldn't it have happened long ago?

Still, after what she had seen happen to someone in the East, she took mental health issues very seriously.

Physical illnesses could at least be detected through tests, but mental health struggles were far trickier.

Especially for someone like Roy—if he truly wanted to pretend that everything was fine, would she even notice the difference?

On the other end of the call, Roy sensed something off in her tone.

"Laila, is something wrong?" he asked.

Normally, she wouldn't call him during work hours without a good reason.

Laila quickly found an excuse. "Not really. I just suddenly remembered that you drank a lot last night and wanted to check if you're feeling okay."

A reasonable concern—one that Roy easily believed.

"I'm fine," he reassured her. "Had some soup this morning, and my headache's already gone."

What he didn't say was that he hadn't been as drunk as she thought.

It was just a few bottles of beer—nowhere near enough to knock him out.

But at the time, he had been worried that she might notice something was off, so he pretended to be drunk to avoid suspicion.

"That's good," Laila said.

Just as she was about to say something else, she heard a voice in the background—but before she could make out the words, it was cut off.

Either someone had stopped talking, or Roy had covered the phone's microphone.

She instinctively felt something wasn't right.

"If you're busy, we'll talk tonight," she said.

"Alright," Roy replied—then he hung up first.

Laila stared at the phone, her brows furrowing.

…Roy had always waited for her to hang up first.

But this time, it was like he was in a hurry to end the call.

What was he doing?

Why did she still feel like something was happening behind her back?

Meanwhile, on the other end of the call, Roy's heart was pounding.

Sometimes, he didn't understand himself.

He was a damn good actor—he could flawlessly portray any emotion, deceive anyone.

But when it came to Laila, he felt like he lost that ability completely.

No matter how hard he tried, he always ended up showing his real emotions around her.

If they had been face to face just now, she definitely would have noticed that something was off.

Even during the call, he had the nagging suspicion that she might have sensed something.

Over the years, he had learned one important thing—never underestimate a woman's sixth sense.

Sometimes, they were so eerily accurate that it felt like they had mind-reading abilities.

And whether they acted on their suspicions or not depended entirely on how much they loved you.

"Roy, hurry up! Come check this big beauty out!"

Someone called out to him from a distance.

"Coming!" he responded.

He shoved his phone back into his pocket and ran over to the voice.

But that unexpected call had solidified his decision.

Rather than letting Laila slowly piece things together, it would be better to come clean himself.

Before that, though… there were still a few things he needed to take care of.

Back at the studio, Leonardo watched as Laila walked back in, deep in thought, still holding her phone.

"You're still worried about Roy?" he asked.

Laila gave a casual smile. "Yeah."

Her nonchalant attitude made it impossible for Leonardo to tease her.

He hesitated, then sighed. "You know… never mind."

He had been dying to satisfy his curiosity—to ask her outright who was really in control of their relationship.

Honestly, he still believed Roy was the one being bossed around.

Laila might not act arrogant, but come on—she was a billionaire heiress.

There had to be some natural dominance that came with that.

But right before he spoke, he decided against it.

At the end of the day, it wasn't his business.

Whatever the dynamic between them was, it was their own thing.

Laila raised an eyebrow but didn't press him further.

Instead, she changed the subject. "Regarding this script—when's your schedule open? We should start preparing soon."

"I turned down all my projects this year for this one," Leonardo said. "Whenever you're ready, I'm ready."

Leonardo was the all-in type—if he was going to do something, he wanted to do it right.

He had put so much effort into this film, so naturally, he was going to give it everything he had.

"I don't have anything lined up either," Laila said. "We'll start assembling the crew after the Oscars."

Leonardo nodded. "I'll leave all that to you. You're way more experienced in this than I am."

Sure, he could pull together a production team if needed.

But why would he, when her team was already the best in the industry?

It was undeniable—Laila had built the most elite crew in Hollywood.

And the craziest part?

She had personally trained every single one of them.

Many of them had been complete nobodies before working with her.

People whose names no one had ever heard of.

But under her leadership, they had become unstoppable.

Looking back at how Chicago dominated the Oscars… it was obvious that The Lord of the Rings was about to do the same.

With a dream team like hers, Leonardo would be insane to try and put together a different crew.

Laila, of course, agreed. If he had brought in a bunch of second-rate people, that would have been a real headache.

"Alright, then—it's settled. After the Oscars, we start."

"Sounds good!"

They high-fived, sealing the deal.