Red Carpet Appearance (7)

As Valentina was about to walk into the banquet hall, she took the opportunity to calm her mind. Regardless of why Kaiser or Roman were here, and whatever petty tricks Aaliyah wanted to play, she was here to make a good impression with the rest of her cast mates and other people in the industry who had decided to attend the opening ceremony. After taking a deep breath, she walked in through the door and gazed around the room.

Roman was off to one side with the director and others surrounding him and spread throughout the room, there were a few people in small groups chatting with each other. Waiters were walking around with trays of hors d'oeuvres and glasses of champagne and lovely classical music played in the background. 

She grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing staff member before walking towards the director.

Click. Click. Click.

As she walked, her heels tapped rhythmically on the ground drawing attention to her as she walked by. When she got close to the group, the director spotted her and exclaimed loudly as he made his way to her.

"Valentina my beautiful muse. I'm so happy to see you."

"Hello Director Loewe." Valentina respectfully bowed her head and gave the director a half hug.

"You look lovely! I can feel the essence of Lucrezia in that outfit. Come. Come and meet some of your cast mates. We even have a very special guest from Platinum Entertainment."

As the director excitedly dragged her along, Valentina exchanged a brief glance with Roman before looking away.

 "Valentina these are your cast mates. Elena Piero here is playing the female lead's maid." The director pointed to a relatively plain girl wearing a skintight, bright red gown that exposed her cleavage while dipping dangerously low in the back. 

"Christian Gale is playing the male lead's best friend," the director then pointed to a slight man with blonde hair. 

He continued to go around introducing everyone and Valentina respectfully bowed her head each time with a warm smile.

"Last but not least. Our special guest today is someone you know of but might not have met. It is the CEO of Platinum Entertainment. Mr. Roman Grayson. He's an investor in the film and here to support the Platinum Entertainment artist we all know and love Jonathan Starling."

"Hello, Mr. Grayson." Valentina respectfully bowed her head as she pretended not to know Roman.

"Miss Valentina please call me Roman. I remember meeting you at a dinner with the Fallen Angels cast along with my brother correct? It's nice to see you again. I want to applaud you for the great work you did on that short film." As he spoke to her, Valentina could feel from his sparkling gaze that he wanted to immediately shout sister-in-law.

"I'm honored that you remembered a small-time artist like me. It's an absolute pleasure to be working with one of Platinum Entertainment's stars Jonathan Starling. I hope to learn a lot from him."

"Oh, you met with Kaiser Grayson as well? I heard that he also made an appearance here and will be attending dinner. Is that true, Roman?" The director quickly cut in.

"Yes, my brother is here. He probably had to take a call for work, but he should be inside soon."

"Ahaha, the life of a busy CEO. I'm glad he made time to stop by a little production like this one."

"Don't be so humble Director. Although one of our top artists is part of your cast, the real reason we invested additional funds and even came in person is that we believe in the vision and story you're trying to tell." 

Roman buttered the director up, before subtly moving him away.

Once the director and Roman left, the atmosphere loosened up and the cast mates began to chat a little bit.

"Valentina. How did you come you know Roman Grayson and even get him to remember your name? Is there anything…going on between you two?" Elena Piero asked in a snide tone.

"As you heard him mention, I was one of the two actors for the Fallen Angels MV. Director Sarah Lee took us to a closing dinner and introduced us to Mr. Roman Grayson and his brother who happened to be there. I assume that since our cast was so small, he easily remembered each of our names." Valentina honestly replied before sipping her champagne slowly.

"Is that so? Well, how come you have the same last name as Aaliyah? Is that your real name or are you using a stage name to ride on her coattails in hopes that they mistake you for her and send some of her roles your way? You are in the same agency after all." Elena Piero rudely asked again.

"It's my real name so it seems that it's a coincidence," Valentina replied while holding back a sigh. Really, she didn't know why this woman was targeting her. they hadn't even met before okay?

Wanting to change the subject, she complimented the girl with a smile. "I really love your dress. That color red looks amazing on your skin."

"Of course it does. This is a custom Versace gown in the color Valentino red. It was perfectly customized to fit my every curve. I can assure you. you won't see another one on the market. And these jewels are-"

As the conversation quickly moved away from her into the realm of fashion, Valentina sighed with relief before she looked around the room. 

Her gaze happened to catch Christian Gale's and he held his drink up to her before rolling his eyes toward Elena. Hiding a smile, Valentina winked at him before continuing to gaze around the room. She saw the director in deep talks with Roman and saw that Aaliyah had dragged Jonathan over there. 

There were a couple more small groups of people chatting around the room.

Suddenly a bell rang, and one of the servers announced.

"If the honored guests could please follow me to the banquet hall? Dinner will be served immediately."

Valentina followed the crowd and ended up in a gorgeously decorated room. there was a large table in the center with a spotless white tablecloth and sparkling plates, cups, and silver utensils. She made her way to the table, planning on picking a random seat towards the back when the director called her name.

"Valentina. Please come sit near the front." The director said as he headed for the head of the table. Unsure of what was going on, she simply followed directions and somehow ended up sitting between Roman and Christian Gale. Across from her, Aaliyah was sitting beside an empty seat with Jonathan Starling on her other side. Elena Piero sat beside Jonathan and the rest of the cast filled the rest of the table.

"Director where is Mr. Kaiser Grayson? I heard he was staying for dinner?" Aaliyah asked coyly.

"Yes, he is. The seat beside you is reserved for him." Director Loewe responded causing Aaliyah to shoot Valentina a smug smile. Seeing her expression, Valentina simply blinked twice before looking away.

"Perfect. I can't wait to meet him. I'm so excited that he came." 

"Yes. In fact, I have an announcement to make about our film. Some of you may have heard me say it earlier." The director began-

"Am I too late to join the party?" A deep voice asked with a laugh. Everyone turned their heads to look at where the voice came from. Walking into the room was a relatively handsome older man with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He was dressed in a sparkling white suit and fedora. As he walked in, he seemed like a happy uncle as his eyes twinkled when he smiled.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" Aaliyah stood up in mock surprise as she stared at her father.

Dad?