"Do you have any ideas?" Laila pinched her temples. "What if we send them away first?"
Xiao Ye shook his head. "I disagree with that. Sending them away would mean splitting up our manpower. If those people still think they're with the crew and decide to attack, having more people around would be safer."
Laila thought about it and realized he was right. Back in their home country, she had considered every possible scenario and felt confident they could handle things before coming here. But even the wise can make mistakes—she had accounted for everything on her side but overlooked the other party's actions.
Seeing her so agitated, Xiao Ye smiled. "You don't need to overthink it. Don't forget, we have plenty of people on our side. With proper precautions, there shouldn't be any issues. Plus, the authorities will also send protection, not to mention the prior arrangements made with the U.S. side. Maybe once those people realize they're dealing with big celebrities, they won't dare cause more trouble?"
"I hope so." Laila frowned and sighed softly.
She wished those people would feel some pressure and not push things too far. But her gut told her things might not be as simple as she hoped.
As it turned out, her worries were justified. The gang leader who had lost his diamond—only for Roy to benefit—was currently holding a newspaper, his expression dark as he stared at the clear photo of Leonardo on the front page.
"Boss, isn't that the guy from before?" The man who had brought the newspaper watched his leader nervously. He had hoped to earn some favor by reporting this lead, but the boss's reaction made him too scared to even mention a reward.
To many people, Caucasians all looked alike—just as Asians often seemed indistinguishable from Westerners.
But that only applied to average faces. For someone as distinctive and recognizable as the man in the newspaper, the gang leader immediately identified him as one of the two men he had put a bounty on. Back then, none of his men had managed to track them down, forcing him to swallow the loss. The incident had become a running joke among his peers, a stain on his reputation that refused to fade.
Even though everyone assumed the two had long since left South Africa, he had secretly continued investigating them. He wanted to know how they had arrived, their purpose for coming, where they had gone afterward, and whether they had sold the diamond or kept it for some other use.
Every time he thought about his diamond—a raw blue gem worth millions—falling into someone else's hands, it felt like a thorn lodged in his heart, keeping him awake night after night.
Yet, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find them, let alone the diamond. There had been no sign of such a rare blue diamond appearing domestically or internationally, leading him to suspect it had been acquired by some powerful figure and locked away, never to be seen again—just like many other famous diamonds.
Just as he was beginning to accept that the diamond was lost forever, someone handed him a photo of one of the two men. At first glance, his deadened heart began stirring with renewed hope.
"You've done well." He pulled out a wad of cash and tossed it to the man. "I want to know everything about this guy. Investigate him for me!"
"Boss, I know who he is. My girlfriend is obsessed with him—I've even seen his movies!"
The gang leader's face darkened further. "Movies?" What the hell was this about movies?
"Haven't you seen? The paper says he's a movie actor, a huge Hollywood star!"
"A Hollywood actor?" The boss had been too focused on the photo to read the accompanying article. He had little interest in films, especially American ones he couldn't even understand. But he had heard of Hollywood—wasn't that where celebrities made insane amounts of money?
"Yeah! Hollywood! A major star!" The man grew excited. When he first saw the photo, he had thought the face looked familiar but hadn't connected it to Leonardo. Who'd expect a superstar like him to show up here? Weren't rich people supposed to be traveling the world, dining on gourmet food, sipping wine, and partying on yachts with beautiful women?
The gang leader's eyes gleamed. "I've heard stars are loaded?"
"Super rich! They make millions per movie! This Leonardo guy is even bigger—I heard he got $20 million for his last film!"
"$20 million for one movie?!" The boss's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. "What kind of movie pays that much?!"
"Heh, you'd be surprised." The man pointed at Laila's photo in the paper. "See her? Her last movie made over $1.6 billion at the box office. Just one film!"
The gang leader cursed in shock. "No way! Is making movies really that profitable?" If so, why was he still messing around with diamonds? He should just start filming!
The truth was, the man didn't know much about the industry either—most of his knowledge came from media reports and his girlfriend's chatter. But that didn't stop him from boasting in front of his clueless boss.
"Of course it's profitable! This director's lowest-grossing film still made $300 million. It's right here in the paper!" He flipped through until he found the section describing Laila's career.
"Here! It says her first movie cost less than $100,000 to make but earned $300 million at the box office. And none of her films since have made less than that. Her latest trilogy? The lowest one still pulled in over a billion!"
Of course, they didn't realize that box office numbers didn't account for production costs, distribution fees, or theater cuts—the actual profits were far lower. All they saw were staggering figures, all in the billions and in dollars.
If a single movie could rake in hundreds of millions or even billions, why bother with diamonds? A good gem was rare enough, and most were just average.
"How do you make a movie?" The gang leader's mind was already drifting, visions of dollar bills dancing before his eyes.
"You need actors, a script, and most importantly—a great director!" The man recalled past articles. "I've heard that without a good director, you might end up with a flop. Then forget making money—you'd be lucky to break even!"
The boss licked his lips but soon hit a snag. "If movies are so profitable, why haven't I heard about it before? Who in South Africa is a good director?"
The man laughed. "Ha! There aren't any good directors here. We barely even get good films, let alone talented filmmakers. Expecting them to make a movie worth hundreds of millions? Impossible."