At this moment, the news of Laila's disappearance had already been passed on to Old Master Moran by her bodyguards.
One could well imagine how furious he was upon hearing it. Without hesitation, and without caring whether it was an appropriate time, he immediately got into a car and headed straight for the White House.
His granddaughter, the future heir of the Moran Media Group, had gone missing at a filming location! He didn't care how it happened, nor where it happened. All he knew was—if anything happened to Laila, he would do something that no one would be happy about!
"If Laila isn't rescued, I'll support your opponent. Remember that!"
After meeting with the President, the old man laid out everything he knew, dropped that statement, and left without looking back. This year was an election year, and he was certain the President understood exactly what it would mean for him and Moran Media to switch sides.
The President, of course, understood the weight behind those words. Moran Media occupied nearly half of the entire U.S. media landscape. From television networks to print publications, their market share was enormous. If the whole of Moran Media shifted its support to the opposition, the chances of them winning this election would increase significantly.
And even without that political implication, Laila herself had become an iconic figure in Hollywood. The news of her disappearance abroad would have an immeasurable impact back home. The President wasn't even sure how to respond. But one thing he did know—around the globe, far more people liked Laila than liked him. There was simply no comparison; he lagged behind her by light-years.
Regardless, Laila was an American citizen. And not just any citizen—she was internationally renowned. Her disappearance was a blow to the face of America itself. Just based on that, they had to bring her back safely.
That night, lights in many rooms of the White House stayed on until dawn.
The diplomatic team reached out directly to the South African government, hoping to gather more information. The rescue team began mobilizing the best personnel from both domestic and international resources, determined to extract Laila from danger at all costs. Even the military was taking action—if she couldn't be located soon, there was a real possibility the U.S. armed forces would step in. At that point, it wouldn't be a matter a single country like South Africa could handle alone.
As for the issue of national sovereignty...
Uncle Sam said, "What's that? Can you eat it?"
Yep, that's exactly how blunt and forceful it was. In this world, the one with the bigger fists gets the say. As for the little guys who haven't grown up yet—they'd better just keep their heads down and take it.
So, where was Laila?
Laila herself didn't know the answer to that question.
Right now, she was standing inside a room, trying to tiptoe and peek through a small high window to get a sense of where she was.
Unfortunately, even at over 170 cm tall, she couldn't see much—not even with a jump. All she could make out was a few stars hanging in the sky.
Aside from that small window—about 30 centimeters long, 20 centimeters wide, secured with thick iron bars—the only other thing in the room was a solid iron door standing cold and unyielding.
Outside was dead quiet. Other than the sound of insects, there were only occasional barks from dogs.
Laila had regained consciousness about half an hour earlier. Upon realizing she was in an unfamiliar place, she immediately decided to maintain a comatose pose to secretly observe her surroundings. Once she confirmed that no one else was around, she spent several more minutes trying to recall how she ended up here.
She remembered she had returned early to the film set to arrange some good food for the team, who had been working non-stop on the rescue efforts. She wanted to help replenish their energy.
Roy had been completely exhausted these past few days—he could barely keep his eyes open upon entering a room. She figured the rest of the crew was probably just as drained. So she thought she'd get a head start and have the logistics team prepare some nourishing food to make sure everyone could eat well.
Who would've thought that, while driving back, one of the car's tires suddenly blew out? Fortunately, the bodyguard driving had excellent skills, or else they might have crashed into a tree or rock on that muddy road.
Even so, all four people in the car had been thoroughly shaken.
When they got out to check the situation…
Then what? Laila realized she couldn't remember clearly. It seemed like something flew out from the woods—and then everything went black. When she woke up, she was already there.
Piecing everything together, she finally opened her eyes with a serious expression. She realized she'd been dragged into some kind of trouble.
What she didn't know was—whether was she the target from the very beginning, or if was she just caught up in something bigger. Were these people kidnapping her for ransom, or did they have other goals?
From her time pretending to be unconscious, she hadn't sensed anyone nearby. It seemed her captors were confident she couldn't escape this prison, not even bothering to station guards outside the door.
Judging by the quiet around her, this was likely a place far from civilization.
What a mess. Laila frowned as she looked up at the tiny window that was her only glimpse of the sky. From the darkness outside, she estimated it had been several hours since the incident. That meant news of her disappearance had probably already reached home. If they knew she had vanished during filming, would they become even more opposed to her working in movies?
That wouldn't be good for her at all.
If her captors knew she was still worrying about being banned from filmmaking even in this situation, they'd probably be speechless. But that's just how she was—a total film fanatic. A life without movies was worse than anything else for her.
Once the initial panic passed, she began thinking—who had brought her here, and what were they planning to do to her? As for the other three people who were with her in the car… she sincerely hoped they were safe.
By the time daylight began seeping through that tiny window, Laila realized an entire night had gone by. And just as she was worrying about the others, the news of her disappearance in South Africa had reached the U.S. media.
With such a massive response from the White House, how could journalists not notice something was up? Still, at first, many of them instinctively thought the story was fake.
Everyone knew Laila had gone to South Africa to shoot Blood Diamond. They also knew that before leaving, the production had hired plenty of security. Reporters who followed them to South Africa had even covered the presence of military protection. It just didn't make sense—only an idiot would try to make a move on someone so well-guarded.
But more and more reports started pouring in, making the story of Laila's disappearance feel increasingly real.
"Top Hollywood Director Laila Moran Missing on Set in South Africa"
"Planned or Accidental? Director Moran's Fate Unknown"
Headlines like these swept through media outlets large and small in an instant, leaving everyone who read them in utter shock.