Rewind With A Superstar System

Chapter 219: Sammy’s Anger

<🎧 Song Recommendation: MAROON.45 by ME3CH>

...

Sammy gritted his teeth so hard that his jaw audibly popped. His face turned a deep, angry shade of red.

"I spent 1.5 million dollars, Kelvin! A million and a half! You can’t be serious!"

That wasn’t just pocket change. That sum was a massive chunk of his liquid assets. Sammy had drained his personal accounts to pay off the fixers and the critics because he saw it as an investment.

If he was successful, if he managed to bury his competition and somehow ride Blood Money to the People Choice Awards, and then an Oscar win, his acting rate would skyrocket.

He would easily recover that money with a single movie deal. But now, it was gone. Burned to ash.

"That’s your money," Kelvin said coldly. "You seem to have way too much of it to throw away. But you can’t do anything about this now. I’ll advise you to stay put in the meantime. I’m just giving you a heads-up that you’re not winning anything tomorrow. But do not act improper. If it is discovered that you paid those critics, you might just be done for. Winning the Oscars will be the absolute least of your—"

Crack!

All that Kelvin was telling Sammy just sounded like gibberish to his ears. Driven by rage, Sammy hurled his expensive phone directly at the floor.

The screen shattered into a dozen pieces before the agent could even finish his sentence.

Sammy stood there, his chest heaving as he stared at the broken device.

"My money..." Sammy muttered, his voice trembling with fury. "Julian... Von... It’s all their fault. It’s that bastard’s fault!"

Sammy was beyond angry. He was entirely unhinged by the occurrences of the day.

With a loud roar, he picked up a heavy crystal ashtray from the desk and hurled it directly at the large vanity mirror. The glass exploded in a shower of sharp, glittering fragments that rained down onto the carpet.

But destroying the room wasn’t enough to numb the burning humiliation in his chest.

Sammy stormed over to the mini-bar, ripping open the small refrigerator. He pulled out two miniature bottles of premium vodka and downed them back-to-back, not even wincing at the burn in his throat.

He grabbed a larger bottle of whiskey, cracked the seal, and walked out of the suite, needing to escape the suffocating walls.

He spent the next few hours drinking heavily at a secluded corner of the hotel’s private VIP lounge, letting the alcohol fuel his dark, bitter resentment.

It was almost 10 PM when Sammy was finally stumbling back down the long, carpeted hallway toward his hotel room. His vision was slightly blurred, his footsteps heavy and uncoordinated.

As he turned the corner near the elevators, he stopped.

A few yards down the quiet hallway, there was a girl with bright blonde hair tied up in a neat ponytail. She was wearing a simple, elegant evening dress. It was Chloe.

She was crouching down near the edge of the wall, talking softly to a small, sleek black cat with striking purple eyes.

"Don’t you belong to Von?" Chloe asked the cat with a gentle and confused voice. She reached out a hand to stroke its dark fur.

"Why are you outside here all by yourself? The hallways are too big for a little thing like you."

Loki was simply sitting on the carpet, lazily licking her paws. She looked up at Chloe, completely unbothered, internally wondering why this human was disturbing her peaceful late-night stroll.

Sammy leaned against the wall, his alcohol-addled brain slowly processing the scene in front of him.

He recognized her instantly. It was the lead actress from Perfect Ruins. The girl who had stolen the spotlight alongside Von Varley. She was also the one who had made things difficult for him during the audition.

A dark, twisted surge of anger and entitlement flared up inside Sammy’s chest. He had lost his money, his award, and his pride today. He felt entirely stripped of his power.

’I couldn’t find any woman I was interested in at the bar,’ Sammy thought, an ugly sneer forming on his face. ’But she will do. I’ll take something back from them.’

Without a second thought, Sammy pushed himself off the wall and marched heavily toward her.

Chloe didn’t even have time to react. She was just starting to stand up when Sammy reached her. He grabbed her arm with a violent, bruising grip, yanking her upright.

"Hey!" Chloe gasped, her eyes widening in shock and immediate terror as she smelled the heavy stench of whiskey radiating off the man. "Let me go! What are you doing?!"

"You think you’re so smart, don’t you?" Sammy growled, his face inches from hers. His eyes were wide and crazed. "You and your little boyfriend ruined my life!"

"I don’t know what you’re talking about! Let go of me!" Chloe screamed, trying to desperately pull her arm away.

But Sammy was much larger and fueled by drunken rage. He shoved her violently backward. Chloe lost her footing in her heels and crashed hard onto the carpeted floor, letting out a sharp cry of pain as her shoulder hit the wall.

Sammy stepped forward, reaching down to grab her again.

But before his hand could even touch her, a black blur shot upward from the floor.

Loki, who had been lazily watching the interaction as an observer, instantly recognized that this aggressive human was hurting someone Von cared about.

And more importantly, he was being incredibly loud.

With a feral hiss, Loki launched herself directly into the air. Her sharp claws fully extended, she latched onto Sammy’s face.

"Argh!" Sammy shrieked, staggering backward as the cat’s claws dug into his cheek and forehead.

He frantically swatted at his own face, stumbling blindly as Loki viciously scratched him before leaping off gracefully and landing back on the floor.

Sammy fell backward, clutching his bleeding face and groaning in pain.

Loki quickly turned to look at Chloe. The blonde girl was still on the floor, holding her shoulder, her eyes wide with absolute terror.

Seeing the human’s helpless condition, Loki knew her tiny cat form couldn’t hold off a grown man forever. She did the only right thing.

Loki turned and bolted down the hallway at lightning speed, rushing straight toward Von’s room to inform him of what had just happened.

***

Back in the suite, Von was still standing outside on the balcony with Emily. The cool night breeze felt refreshing against his skin, and they were quietly discussing their schedule for tomorrow’s award ceremony.

Suddenly, Von felt a familiar weight land squarely on his shoulder.

He didn’t even flinch as Loki climbed up his back. But immediately, a voice echoed directly inside his mind.

Von’s entire body went entirely rigid. The relaxed smile vanished from his face in a fraction of a second, replaced by an angry expression.

Emily, who was looking at her tablet, didn’t understand what was happening. She just saw the black cat jump onto Von’s shoulder, and then all of a sudden, Von stood up so fast that his chair almost tipped over.

"I have to go somewhere. Right now."

Emily looked up, her heart skipping a beat as she saw the anger radiating from Von’s face. She had never seen him look so dangerous.

"Von? What’s wrong?" Emily asked, quickly dropping her tablet on the table. "Where are you going?"

"I don’t know exactly what’s happening, but Chloe is in trouble," Von said, already turning to stride toward the suite doors.

"What? Wait! I’m coming with you!" Emily begged, rushing to follow close behind him as he threw the heavy hotel doors open and stepped out into the corridor.

Led by Loki’s mental directions, Von practically sprinted down the long, winding hotel corridors.

He rounded the final corner just in time to see the scene.

There was no hotel security in this secluded VIP wing. Chloe was still on the floor, scrambling backward against the wall in tears.

Sammy Howkins, his face bleeding from several deep scratches, was just managing to stand back up on his feet.

He looked furious, wiping the blood from his cheek and taking another aggressive step toward Chloe.

"Hey!" Von’s voice echoed down the hallway like a crack of thunder.

Sammy froze and turned his head. Before his drunken mind could even process who was shouting, Von had already closed the distance.

Sammy saw the singer and let out an angry roar. He swung a wild, heavy fist directly at Von’s face.

But to Von, the punch looked like it was moving in slow motion. Von didn’t even blink. He effortlessly raised his left arm, casually slapping Sammy’s fist away.

Before Sammy could recover his balance, Von stepped inside his guard. He grabbed Sammy by the lapels of his jacket, lifting the much heavier man slightly off his feet with quiet, terrifying strength.

Then, Von pulled Sammy forward and delivered a devastatingly fast, precise right slap directly to Sammy’s jaw.

Smack!

The impact was very loud that Sammy’s eyes instantly rolled to the back of his head.

All the tension left his body, and Von carelessly let go of his jacket. The A-list actor crumpled directly onto the carpeted floor in a heap, knocked out completely cold.

The hallway went dead silent, save for Chloe’s panicked breathing.

Emily rounded the corner just a second later, skidding to a halt. She looked at Chloe crying on the floor, and then down at the unconscious, bleeding body of an A-list actor lying on the floor.

There was a whole lot of explanation that had to be made.