Natasha stood flabbergasted looking at the landlord of her apartment. The man had been very welcoming and jovial when she came to rent the apartment, but now he was looking far more sinister.
"I am sorry, what?" Natasha asked unable to comprehend his words. "Are you telling me that I should vacate my room?"
"Yes, girl," the landlord said in an impatient tone. "Weren't you listening?"
"Wait, I have paid the rent for six months. It is not even the second month. Why are you asking me to leave now suddenly?" Natasha asked in confusion.
"You have some bad associates girl. There have been some complaints. I do not want to be on the news just because I rented my apartment to you," the landlord said without batting an eye.
"Oh, oh, wait a minute," Natasha said shaking her head. "If you mean Tony, then I am sure you are overreacting. He will not create any problems."
"I don't mean anyone girl," the landlord said agitatedly. "Don't put names in my mouth. All I know is that I have received complaints regarding your acquaintances. I do not want any trouble here."
"Hey, if it isn't Tony, who do you mean? I barely have visitors. You can't kick me out without telling me the reason," Natasha's tone became hard seeing that no useful information was being given.
"Don't create a ruckus, girl. This is Los Angeles. This isn't some backwater town you came from. I do not want you to stay here. End of discussion. You better pack up…"
"Or else what asshole?" Natasha got in the landlord's face. "Are you going to call the police? Guess what, I have the receipts for my rent. Call them, we can see whose side they are on."
"Look girl," the landlord frowned a bit. "I don't want any trouble. I don't know what you have been doing. But, you have offended people you shouldn't. This is Los Angeles. You need to learn who you should offend and who you shouldn't. I can't teach you that. All I will say is this. You need to leave. I don't want trouble."
Natasha frowned at hearing that. She could vaguely guess the reason behind her eviction by reading between the lines. She had somehow offended someone important. And they are causing trouble in this manner.
And looking at the landlord, he didn't look like someone who was brave. The man had repeatedly said that he didn't want any trouble. That meant someone must have hinted at him to evict her.
Once she understood what was happening, she knew that there was no way she could change the man's mind. He looked hell-bent on evicting her. That meant she was going to be homeless soon. Such a situation wasn't something she expected to happen anytime soon.
"Give me an hour," Natasha said frowning. "I will figure something out."
"Not going to happen," the landlord shook his head. "I want you gone by the end of the day."
"Look here asshole," Natasha said massaging her brows. "I am trying to be understanding here. Don't push me. Anyway, since you are kicking me out without proper reason, you better give me back my full deposit."
"What? You have already stayed here for more than thirty days. I am not giving you your full deposit," the man said enraged.
"Then, I am not leaving this place as well. If you have a problem with that, you can call the cops. I will drag you to court and seal this entire building," Natasha retorted.
"As if you have money to hire a lawyer?"
"Then, why don't you try me?"
They both stared at each other. Neither of them was willing to give ground. In the end, it was the landlord that took a step back.
"Fine, I will return the deposit minus your one month's rent. You will vacate within two days," the landlord grunted.
"Not happening," Natasha didn't relent, however. "You either pay me in full or I will stay here for six months."
"Don't go overboard…"
"You are the one being unreasonable. You haven't given me any reason to evict me legally. You just turn up and tell me to pack up. Who do you think you are?"
"I am this building's owner," the landlord roared.
"But, I am the rented tenant. I have a legally binding document. Unless you have a very valid reason, this apartment has been rented out to me for the next five months. When the lease runs out, I will pack my bags and go. Until then, you have to live with me being in this apartment."
The landlord blustered a bit, but Natasha crossed her arms and stared down at him. In the end, the landlord gave a heavy sigh.
"Fine, I will pay back the full deposit. But, you have to leave within the hour," the landlord said angrily.
"Good, you have one hour to give me my money," Natasha said slamming the door in the landlord's face.
As soon as the door closed, Natasha began frantically messaging on her pager. She knew since the landlord had already agreed to pay the full deposit, it wasn't a matter of convincing him to let her stay.
Who knew what kind of ghost thing would happen if she continued to stay here? With an unreliable landlord like this, there are a lot of things that could go wrong. She wasn't some naïve college girl who hasn't seen the real world.
There are a lot of things that could be done to her with the landlord's help. Furthermore, the landlord had a spare key to her apartment. Who knew what kind of hijinks people would get up to with his help?
So, it was better to vacate this place.
Natasha was very decisive in her actions. After sending two hurried messages to Tony and Marvin, she immediately started packing her stuff. She didn't have many possessions to her name. When she arrived in Los Angeles a month ago, both Tony's and her belongings were able to fit in a single car.
Even though she had added some dresses and other things after coming to Los Angeles, it wasn't as if she had much to pack. Her things were packed quickly within the next half hour.
Just then, her pager beeped.
Looking at the pager, she heaved a relieved sigh. Tony had messaged back that he was on the way to pick her up. However, the next moment she frowned a little. Marvin has yet to contact her back.
While she knew that Marvin might have been a bit busy, his late response at this crunch time dissatisfied Natasha a bit. As her agent, he had urged her repeatedly to tell him if anything important happened. But now, when she informs him, there was no immediate response from him.
Natasha knew that the landlord wasn't acting alone. Someone had instructed him to evict her. Considering the chances of her offending someone influential, there was only one thing in recent memory that she did that would have offended someone.
And Marvin's reluctance to talk about some stuff the last time they met gave Natasha a clue as to where the problem might be. Someone didn't like her playing in
Apart from signing that contract with Murphy Productions, Natasha hadn't done anything major recently. As for the MV role, Natasha didn't think the girl who got kicked out had enough energy to affect her like this.
If she had enough energy, she wouldn't be bargaining for more pay in such an underhanded manner. So, Natasha eliminated her immediately. But,
Her counterpart's memories gave her enough understanding of the competition between stars when it comes to commercial productions. Even some side roles will have fierce competition.
All kinds of crazy maneuvers were employed by people to grab a role. That was for a side role. Hers was the second female lead. There would be definitely some competition for such a role. Even though
And her role was one of the few roles that were left for white females.
So, it is only natural that someone was playing some tricks in the background. She was happy that they thought of making her life difficult instead of doing some really shady stuff. With the owner in their pocket, it would be easy to do so.
So, now the priority was to find a safe place to live until the filming began. Nothing else mattered. As for her argument with the landlord, she knew that if she went away quietly things would only get tougher in the future.
Making the landlord cough up her full deposit was her little payback for the landlord's actions. As for who was the one pulling the strings behind the scenes, Natasha would wait and find an opportunity to stick it to him as well.
She was someone from the streets. She didn't have the habit of slinking away quietly. If someone attacked her, she would hit back. She didn't have any psychological pressure regarding fighting back.
For now, she would safeguard herself first. Then, she would figure out who attacked her and teach them a good lesson. And Marvin better have some answers this time…
*****
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