"Hmm," Laila withdrew her hand, lowered her head, and concealed the anger in her eyes behind half-closed lids.
Regardless of who was behind this, she had to congratulate them for successfully provoking her! She would make that person understand what countless money meant in the United States!
"Miss Moran, are you okay?" A person who looked like a police officer approached.
"I'm fine, thanks to you for coming so quickly. Otherwise, I don't know how to handle this." Laila looked at the officer, who seemed to breathe a sigh of relief after hearing her words. Her smiling expression suddenly turned ice-cold. "Do you really think I would say those things?"
The officer was stunned.
Laila sneered, "How long have these protesters been here? Not only did you fail to disperse them, but you also didn't even leave a few guards. Don't tell me you didn't know there was a potential danger. What exactly have you done with taxpayers' money?"
"Miss Moran..."
The officer tried to defend his side, but how could Laila give him a chance to speak?
"I want to know as soon as possible why these people attacked me, and I want to know what kind of punishment they will face! Listen, officer, this is an election year in the United States, and I think your superior would be more than happy to throw a few scapegoats under the bus to secure the support of our Moran Media Group. I really hope your name won't be among those unfortunate souls!"
The implication was clear: if you don't find the real culprit, be prepared to be thrown under the bus by your boss!
Having said that, she didn't give the officer any more chances to speak and got into her car.
"To the nearest hospital!" She didn't want to sit here waiting for an ambulance, so she immediately ordered her bodyguards, and the car started moving.
While waiting in the emergency room for Roy's injuries to be treated, Laila made a series of phone calls without any pause. She didn't have time to dwell on her recent moment of weakness; the only way to make amends was to ensure that the culprits faced the appropriate consequences and tasted the revenge she had prepared for them.
After making the arrangements, Roy had also finished being treated and came out of the emergency room.
Laila handed him the clothes she had been holding and watched him put them on, her expression cold as she concealed the horrifying scars on his back.
"Doctor, how is he?" she asked the doctor in charge of his treatment.
The doctor seemed to recognize her and smiled, "Don't worry, Director Moran, Roy is a great young man. He only suffered some superficial injuries and just needs some rest. He'll be fine."
"Thank you," Laila nodded and expressed her gratitude. After the doctor left, she turned to Roy, "How do you feel?"
Roy moved his arm a bit, "The doctor said I'm okay, and I don't feel any problems. Don't worry, I won't have any issues during the filming."
Laila's face had already been unpleasant, but it now turned even darker. "Am I such an unreasonable boss? Knowing that an actor is injured and still making him work?"
Roy didn't expect her to explode like a firecracker; her words could set off an explosion with just a casual remark. "I didn't mean it that way. It's just..."
He was a bit speechless. "Boss, is this the tone you should use with someone who just saved you?"
"Okay, I apologize," Laila knew her emotions were getting out of control. If she didn't find a way to let off some steam, she was afraid she would start screaming like a madwoman.
At that moment, the TV on the waiting room wall broadcasted a news report, and it featured the recent events that had taken place at the filming location entrance.
Laila had never been short of topics, and recently, she had been attacked by a group of anti-LGBTQ+ protesters due to the lesbian incident. It could be said that for as long as the protesters had been outside the filming location, reporters from major media outlets had been following suit.
Now, they had indeed gotten a big story. The protesters had turned into attackers, assaulting Laila Moran and Roy Seasonstar with weapons in broad daylight.
Fearless reporters and cameramen chased the assailants with their cameras, and some of them even came under attack.
But no matter how many losses they incurred, they had gotten the sensational news that made them ecstatic. This news had successfully spread throughout the United States and the world.
Early the next morning, The Entertainer Newspaper, in its most aggressive language, criticized the police for their inaction and condemned the brutality and audacity of the attackers. Meanwhile, Moran's media outlets also joined forces, focusing the discussion on the police and the attackers, without mentioning the LGBTQ+ topic or the anti-LGBTQ+ protest alliance.
This was the conclusion Laila had reached after discussing it with her grandfather. She couldn't let herself and sensitive topics become entangled any longer. Someone was plotting against her from behind, even maliciously attempting to end her life. She couldn't give them another opportunity to launch another attack.
Fortunately, the police acted as scapegoats. They had indeed made mistakes of inaction, and Laila didn't mind exposing more of their errors to the public. She needed a focal point to divert attention, and the police, unfortunate as it was for them, were the chosen targets!
In this situation, the first to be affected were the attackers who had been arrested. The police were in no mood to be friendly with them now, and with the help of some tactics, the captured assailants spilled everything they knew.
As expected, they were indeed instigated by someone, a very generous person at that. As long as they could injure or kill Laila Moran, they would receive a massive fortune!
Nobody knew who the mastermind was or where the money came from; all they knew came from the middleman. Requests such as hiding among the protesters and impersonating them to carry out the attack were also conveyed by the mastermind through the middleman.
Originally, they had planned to claim that they were just there to protest, and they only lost control and acted out violently when provoked, which would have given them a chance at a lighter sentence if caught. However, they hadn't expected the police, under pressure, to change their approach entirely and nearly play them to death with various methods.
Even more unexpected was that when the police subjected them to harsh interrogations, some well-dressed individuals appeared before them, offering various conditions that they had no choice but to cooperate with. Some were their greater wrongdoings that were kept hidden, and others were vulnerabilities related to their families. In any case, all the conditions made them have to choose cooperation.
And just when the police had thrown all their resources into hunting down the middleman, they received news that the middleman had been silenced.
Now all the leads were cut off, and until new leads were found, those in law enforcement who trusted the police would continue to be anxious.