Linda Evangelista, one of the top supermodels of the nineties, had not expected to run into anyone at an ICM party.
A moment's thought was all Simon needed to understand why.
The supermodel had probably signed an acting contract with ICM.
After all, ICM had always stayed close to the fashion world. Rene Russo back then, and Cindy Crawford, who was still riding high in the industry right now, both had their acting contracts with the agency.
"What a pleasant surprise, Linda. I didn't expect to see you here."
Linda Evangelista's face lit up with delight as well. She reached out to shake Simon's hand and said, "I spotted you the moment you walked in, Simon, but a little shrimp like me didn't dare come over and say hello. Oh, and Miss Kidman, hello. I saw Pulp Fiction. The dance Mia does in the movie is just so cool."
"Thank you."
Nicole shook hands with Linda Evangelista and wanted to return a compliment, only to realize she was not actually familiar with the short-haired beauty in front of her.
Fortunately another voice arrived in time to rescue her from the small awkwardness.
"Linda, try the cocktail I mixed myself. Wow, Mr. Westeros, you… um, hello."
Simon turned toward the woman walking over with a cocktail glass in one hand. She looked to be in her thirties, the same height as Nicole and Linda, wearing an elegant silver-gray silk gown. Her brown hair framed a soft yet undeniably captivating perfect face that would make most men's hearts skip a beat.
Noticing Simon's gaze, the woman who had greeted him smiled and offered the glass she was holding. "Mr. Westeros, would you like to taste the cocktail I mixed myself?"
"Sure." Simon nodded, passed the glass he had been holding to Nicole beside him, took the one the woman offered, took a sip, and praised, "Very good."
Beside them Linda Evangelista protested, "Joan, that glass was supposed to be mine, wasn't it?"
"I'm Joan Severance," the woman said without immediately addressing Linda's little complaint. She introduced herself, shook hands with Simon, then passed him the second glass she was holding. "Here, you take this one."
Linda Evangelista accepted it without ceremony, then realized something and asked, "What about you?"
Joan Severance looked at the original glass now in Nicole's hand. Her beautiful eyes flicked over with a teasing glint as she pointed at it. "Simon, would you mind if I drank that one?"
Simon raised an eyebrow slightly and smiled as he nodded. "Of course not."
Nicole very much wanted to hand the glass over herself.
But in front of Simon she did not dare act spoiled. Reluctantly she watched the highly skilled vixen across from her accept Simon's original glass and lift it to her lips with obvious allure for a sip. Her mood instantly soured.
Linda Evangelista studied the scene, mouth opening slightly, and declared, "Joan, I hereby announce that you are now my idol too."
Joan Severance answered with a touch of proud certainty, "Thank you."
Simon looked puzzled. "What idol?"
Linda Evangelista seemed surprised. "You don't know Joan?"
Simon shook his head lightly.
Hollywood could feel tiny at times and enormous at others.
With so many faces stored in his memory, Simon had at least a vague impression of anyone who was somebody in the circle. He had found Joan Severance familiar the moment he saw her.
Still, unless the person mattered, he had no interest in digging deeper right now.
Linda explained, "More than ten years ago Joan was far more famous than Rene Russo. I used to tape her posters on my bedroom wall. It was because of Joan that I decided to become a model. So really, Joan is the true first-generation supermodel."
Listening to Linda chatter enthusiastically, Simon could not help thinking that such words really gave away her age.
He wondered whether Evangelista had said it on purpose.
So he took another look at Joan Severance.
The actress could easily pass for thirty. Of course anything under thirty would be stretching it. The mature-woman aura she carried could not be hidden, yet it only made her more alluring.
Since Linda had compared her with Rene Russo, the two were probably close in age.
Also an ICM artist, Rene Russo had spent one wild night with Simon and Demi Moore back then. With Simon's support afterward, her performance in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas had earned her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. She had then taken the Jurassic Park trilogy contract and was currently shooting on location in Hawaii.
With the three-film deal locked in, Rene Russo would have no trouble securing solid A-list mid-tier status after Jurassic Park.
For Hollywood actresses, becoming a star after thirty was almost impossible, so Rene Russo, who had only entered the industry past that age, was undoubtedly an enviable "exception" in the eyes of many peers her age.
The inside story behind that was not exactly a deep secret.
Joan Severance's attention was clearly fixed on Simon. Once Linda finished speaking, her lovely eyes stayed on the young man in front of her as she asked, "Simon, does Daenerys Entertainment have any interesting film projects lately?"
Simon nodded. "Plenty. What kind are you looking for?"
"The kind that would suit me," Joan Severance sent another meaningful glance his way and sweetened the offer. "After all, you did drink the cocktail I mixed."
Before Simon could answer, Linda Evangelista could not resist cutting in. "Joan, I think you should be a little more subtle."
"One cocktail probably only buys ten seconds of screen time." Simon chuckled and asked in return, "What have you been in lately?"
"I played a villain in Gene Wilder's Hear No Evil and I was also in that Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn movie Bird on a Wire." Joan Severance continued, "Recently, well, I just finished a comedy called Almost Pregnant. It's about a couple who use a sperm donor to have a baby."
As Joan Severance spoke, another female voice joined in. "What are you all talking about?"
Simon turned his head.
He had just been thinking of Cindy Crawford, and here the supermodel was.
There had been so many guests tonight that Simon had not noticed her during his earlier rounds.
Cindy Crawford greeted everyone as she approached, exchanged a quick hello with Nicole, then unceremoniously took the spot on Simon's other side while looking at Linda Evangelista and Joan Severance.
Seeing Cindy, Nicole remembered how Simon had put the two of them together after the Batman: The Dark Knight wrap party. Looking at the current situation, she suddenly had a very bad feeling.
She wanted to flee on the spot.
Simon answered Cindy with complete honesty. "Joan was asking whether Daenerys Entertainment has any film roles that would suit her."
Cindy gave Severance and Evangelista another once-over and smiled. "If there are, I think I would be more suitable."
Simon had already sensed the faint hostility Cindy was showing. The moment those words left her mouth the feeling became even clearer.
But he quickly understood.
Not to mention Joan Severance, even Linda Evangelista had suddenly jumped into the Hollywood pool. She was obviously here to compete for resources.
Hollywood did not have many opportunities to offer these supermodel-turned-eye-candy types.
Moreover, seeing Severance and Evangelista cozying up to Simon had clearly put Cindy on alert.
Thanks to that small but eye-catching role in Batman: The Dark Knight, Cindy had already earned more than a million dollars just from merchandise. She had no intention of letting similar chances fall into anyone else's hands.
Joan Severance glanced at Cindy and said, "That's not necessarily true. Everyone has her own style."
Nicole felt the sparks flying in every direction around her and finally could not hold back. She tugged at Simon's sleeve and said, "Simon, perhaps we should leave."
Simon checked his watch, then looked up again. Noticing that all the women were watching him, he answered in a perfectly serious tone, "How about this? Let's go somewhere else and discuss your individual styles in detail."
A single sentence popped into Nicole's mind.
You bastard. Of course it would come to this.
Cindy glanced at Simon almost instinctively, then turned to the two women in front of her with a hint of amusement in her eyes.
Joan Severance clearly had not expected Simon to make such a "suggestion." Her red lips parted slightly.
Linda Evangelista's eyes widened and she blurted out first, "Simon, you really are too greedy."
Even as she spoke she instinctively lowered her voice.
There was a whole room full of people around them, and quite a few were definitely paying attention to this corner.
Simon remained perfectly straight-faced. "Linda, I think you misunderstood something. What I meant was that I had a seaside vacation villa built in Hawaii at the beginning of the year, right on Kauai with its own private beach. Perhaps we could fly over. Just imagine, sunshine, sand, facing the ocean. That kind of setting is perfect for sparking inspiration."
Linda Evangelista rolled her eyes. "What does Hawaii have to do with anything? And it's night right now. Are you planning to fly to Hawaii in the middle of the night?"
"Exactly." Simon nodded. "You all know I have a pretty nice plane. We fly overnight and we can spend a wonderful weekend there. Oh, and we can drop by Spielberg's set. They're shooting a dinosaur movie with thirty-foot-tall mechanical dinosaur models. It's incredibly impressive."
Linda Evangelista immediately remembered the Boeing 767 that had appeared in newspapers and magazines more than once. She could not help feeling tempted.
If it had been only her, she would have agreed on the spot.
But…
Four women!
You bastard. Can you even handle it?
So she stared at Simon with a hint of mockery and asked, "And then all four of us become the female leads?"
Simon neither confirmed nor denied it. "Want to bet on that?"
As he spoke he took out a slim bar-style phone that clearly could not be bought on the open market, dialed a few numbers, and quietly instructed the other end to prepare the flight.
He ended the call, looked at the women with their various expressions once more, and said, "Well, if you're not coming, Nicole and I are leaving."
Without waiting for a reply, Simon finished speaking and headed out of the villa with Nicole.
Cindy Crawford followed almost without hesitation and, with no attempt to hide it, slipped her arm through his.
Seeing Cindy's move, Linda Evangelista, who had clearly developed a competitive spirit, could not resist following as well. Joan Severance hesitated for only a second before she too walked outside.
In the front-yard parking area, Cindy, still holding Simon's arm, noticed the two women trailing behind and leaned close to his ear. "You should thank me."
Simon understood exactly what Cindy meant and smiled. "I'll thank you properly later."
Cindy gave the man a helpless roll of her eyes.
This guy. He could at least offer a token empty promise.
The role she had landed in Batman: The Dark Knight, if one thought about it carefully, had actually started as one of those casual little promises Simon had tossed out at his twentieth-birthday party.
On the party floor many people had watched Simon Westeros leave with four stunning beauties at once. Most could only feel envy, nothing but envy.
While the male guests fantasized from afar about how deliciously decadent the night with Westeros and the four women would be, some actresses had already begun quietly digging into the backgrounds of the women who had left and worrying whether new rivals would appear again soon.
From Sandra Bullock at the very beginning, to Nicole Kidman afterward, then Julia Roberts, Valeria Golino, Demi Moore, Rene Russo… over the past few years the number of actresses Westeros had lifted up was truly not small.
Running the numbers, some women had already started to regret that they had not been one of the four tonight.
Compared with the countless scoundrels in the circle who liked to pretend nothing had happened the moment they pulled up their pants, Simon Westeros , in certain aspects, was really too decent.
In Hollywood it was not rare for someone to gather four women, or even more, at once.
The difference was that the four Westeros had just taken away were not the kind anyone could simply assemble. Even the heads of the Big Seven studios, if they dared make such a request to those four ladies, would probably only receive eye-rolls in return. One wrong move and they might even get slapped.
Yet when it was Westeros doing it, no one found it surprising.
This twenty-four-year-old young man possessed power, wealth, status, and even a handsomeness that rivaled Hollywood's biggest stars. All of it combined into an irresistible attraction for women. For those inside the industry who understood exactly how much influence Westeros wielded, resisting him was even harder.
Of course such a sizzling piece of gossip was destined to become the talk of the circle for the next little while.
But it would obviously remain nothing more than talk.
Westeros gossip, even if evidence could somehow be obtained, would never make it into the media.
At the end of the day, the Hollywood gossip ordinary people saw was basically only the gossip the circle allowed outsiders to see.