Chasing Stars in Hollywood

Despite going to bed late, Angray Davis still woke up at 5 AM, as usual. However, this morning, the housekeeper's first task was to send all the maids and guards away from the mansion. She then personally prepared breakfast in the kitchen.

At 7 AM, the pager on her wrist buzzed. Angray was surprised. She didn't dare to guess when the young man had gone to bed, but she didn't expect him to wake up so early.

Leaving the kitchen, she carried a tray with freshly prepared toiletries to the fourth floor, where she attended to Simon's morning routine. Afterward, she led him to the second-floor dining room, served the breakfast she had prepared, and quietly stood by.

She had already tested the waters. Simon didn't mind someone being present while he washed or ate.

At the dining table, Simon picked up his utensils and asked, "Where is everyone else?"

Angray replied, "I gave them a day off."

Simon nodded. "Good."

Encouraged by his response, Angray added, "If I could be informed in advance the next time you visit, I could prepare even better."

Simon merely grunted, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

With that, the conversation ended, and the only sound left in the room was the quiet clinking of silverware as Simon ate.

This wasn't exactly a test. Simon was already fully informed about this housekeeper's background. 

Angray Davis was indeed an impressive woman. At 38 years old, she had already been married twice and had three children. Without delving too deeply into her past, her most recent job had been as a housekeeper for a businessman in Florida. She had nearly secured the position of his wife.

Angray almost achieved her goal without resorting to lowly tactics like seducing the man. Instead, she had performed her duties as a housekeeper so well that the businessman began to see her as the ideal wife, more suitable than his actual wife, who was over a decade younger but already aging and overly fond of parties and spending.

Unfortunately, when it came time to confront the situation, Angray's plans fell apart. The businessman and his wife had not signed a prenuptial agreement, and after more than ten years of marriage and two children, a divorce would have cost the businessman half his wealth and possibly even control of his company. 

So, Angray was out.

All of this, which was kept hidden from the public, was quietly collected by the Westeros family's intelligence team, catching the attention of both Simon and his wife.

The vast Westeros system has plenty of room for ambition.

However, Angray Davis wasn't immediately placed within the Westeros household but was temporarily assigned to oversee the Geller family.

Simon is never stingy with his people.

Angray's eldest son, now 18, had been admitted to Yale University this year despite his average academic performance, thanks to the Westeros network. Over the past few years, Simon and his wife had been increasing their donations to various North American universities. This was part of a long-term, deep-rooted strategy, and one of its immediate benefits was the ease of securing spots at these elite institutions. Simon never wasted these spots, using them either as favors, rewards, or benefits for the children of the family's service team. Every year, a number of students were recommended for admission to these universities.

In American elite universities, academics are secondary; networking is key. Crossing this threshold often means changing one's social class.

Angray's younger son and daughter were also enrolled in Manhattan's top private schools, fully funded by the Westeros system.

By doing this, Simon was investing in the future, nurturing a new generation of 'Westerosians'—young people raised under the influence of the Westeros system who would be more loyal and dedicated.

As for Angray herself, she was expected to serve the Westeros family for several years. If she could demonstrate her capabilities, Simon wouldn't mind giving her opportunities to climb even higher.

After breakfast, Simon left 92nd Street.

Inside the mansion, Angray cleaned up the dining room and went about her other tasks, never once considering going upstairs to check on the others.

Having started working as a maid at sixteen, Angray Davis had seen too much of the inner workings of wealthy families. She knew that those who thought they could leverage a wealthy family's secrets often met tragic ends; she had personally witnessed more than one or two such disappearances.

In the steel jungle, the apex predators aren't easily threatened by wild boars or field mice.

Thus, Angray learned long ago to mind her own business.

She knew from the beginning that she probably wouldn't succeed in her last job. The man didn't like her that much, and he lacked the decisiveness a strong man should have. When the couple reached a standoff, Angray, foreseeing the outcome, quickly chose to leave, taking her three children and moving out of Florida without hesitation.

As for her current job, Angray wasn't overly ambitious. 

It was rumored that the young man liked mature women. If he had needs, she wouldn't refuse, but she wasn't foolish enough to think he would lose his head over her as her previous employer had. Moreover, compared to women like Sophia Feisty and Claire Gaines, who emerged from the Westeros family, Angray knew her place. Those women had exceptional abilities, enabling them to handle any situation after transitioning to other roles.

Angray was just a maid.

Her salary had jumped from $80,000 at her last job to $200,000, with top-tier benefits including healthcare, housing, transportation, and a bright future for her three children. Angray knew better than to ask for more.

Around 8 AM, Victoria Geller, the youngest of the Geller family, finally came downstairs and headed straight to the dining room. Last night's events had shattered any perception Angray had of Victoria as a harmless, innocent girl. Noticing the girl's awkward gait, Angray didn't comment but politely served her breakfast.

She guessed that if it weren't for the need to eat, the girl might not have gotten out of bed at all.

Angray had long noticed Victoria's psychological issues with hunger. In recent days, Angray had observed that for Victoria, nothing seemed more important than eating.

After eating her fill, Victoria awkwardly climbed back upstairs. Before leaving, she reminded Angray to wake her up for lunch and mentioned that she wanted seafood.

Victoria's mother and sister were allergic to shellfish, not severely, but enough to make them itch and break out in rashes.

The relationship between the three women had always been strained. Angray initially thought Victoria's request was just a way to irritate her mother and sister. Now she realized the girl genuinely didn't care—or perhaps even wanted something to happen.

The other two women didn't come downstairs until nearly noon when the housekeeper was called upstairs.

As for the punishment from the previous night, Simon had ordered Angray to oversee it after she brought up two bowls of water, leaving with Victoria afterward.

Angray had watched as the two women knelt with bowls on their heads from 11 PM to 1 AM. Cathy Geller had quietly begged Angray to show some leniency, but this time the housekeeper refused, citing a very good reason: she didn't want to lose her job.

When the punishment ended, the two women collapsed on the floor, unable to stand.

Simon had instructed them to crawl back to their rooms, which proved to be the only option.

Angray brought some food to the fifth floor, where the mother and daughter were lying in the master bedroom.

The master bedroom had initially been claimed by Victoria, but her mother had since taken it over, forcing the younger daughter to move to another room.

Victoria was probably asleep in her room by now.

Ignoring the mess in the master bedroom, Angray set up a small table on the bed and arranged the food.

Because Angray hadn't agreed to show mercy the previous night, Cathy Geller looked at her with clear resentment. Angray didn't care. She was now more wary of Victoria than of Cathy, who wore her emotions on her sleeve.

Calmly facing the hostile gazes of the two women, Angray set up lunch and left the room.

She had thought they might need some ointment for their bruises, but for once, the usually diligent housekeeper found herself conveniently forgetting to bring any.

Being a smart woman, Angray understood what Grace had hinted at in the past and what last night's events had made even clearer: she only needed to be loyal to Simon Westeros. As for the three women in this house, doing her job was her duty, but neglecting it wouldn't get her into trouble.

Of course, Angray knew better than to cross any lines.

There were always people keeping an eye on things. Even if Simon didn't care about the three women in this mansion, he certainly wouldn't appreciate a servant who didn't know her place.

Simon's morning was spent discussing matters related to the upcoming midterm elections with Paul Spitzer, another key figure in the Westeros family's political operations.

With voting set for November, the Westeros system's strategies to both disrupt its opponents and maintain its political base were progressing smoothly.

Earlier this year, Wisconsin Democratic Senator Craig Emms had launched a fierce attack on the Westeros system, only to be embroiled in a scandal involving a recommendation letter he had written for a sexual predator. The young man he had recommended was a repeat offender, and his victims were mostly girls from ordinary or even poor families. The scandal had snowballed, and as more of the senator's skeletons came to light—particularly another recent appointee with a similar dubious record—his approval ratings in Wisconsin had plummeted to an embarrassing level.

Of course, the Westeros system

's efforts had played a significant role in this outcome.

Emms was aware of this and had even quietly reached out to the Westeros system to make amends. However, Simon had no intention of stopping now that the damage was done.

This year's midterm elections, lacking any clear social or political issues, had devolved into a series of smear campaigns and scandals. The skyrocketing campaign budgets were advantageous to the Westeros system, which was well-resourced on both sides.

Throughout the morning, Paul Spitzer, increasingly trusted by Simon, provided a detailed report on the progress of various 'projects' he was overseeing.

As they approached noon, Spitzer glanced at his notes and brought up the final issue. "One more thing, Mr. Westeros, regarding the union issue. Eaglet's Amazon division has recently begun trial operations at a number of newly built logistics distribution centers across the country. I noticed that Eaglet is taking steps to prevent the workers at these centers from forming unions, which is fine. However, I suggest delaying these efforts or at least keeping them low-profile for now. It could easily become ammunition for those looking to attack the Westeros system, which could also affect the politicians we support. We only need to delay until after the November 8th midterm elections."

Alice Ferguson's Amazon online store had invested $350 million earlier this year to build a series of large-scale warehouse logistics distribution centers across the United States. Several of these centers had already begun trial operations, with recruitment and training of workers well underway.

However, Amazon was now facing the issue of unions.

Compared to the first half of the 20th century, unions in the United States had been in decline due to economic globalization and deindustrialization. The Reagan administration's 1981 crackdown on the air traffic controllers' strike, citing national security concerns, marked a turning point for American unions, which had once commanded considerable power from both political parties.

Today, unions still held significant sway in industries like automotive, aviation, and entertainment, but the overall union membership among American workers had dropped to below 10%.

As the e-commerce business grew, Amazon would inevitably need to hire a large number of lower-tier workers, making it impossible to avoid interactions with established unions like the United Auto Workers.

For Amazon, cooperation with these unions might be manageable. However, allowing unions to infiltrate Amazon's operations would be a disaster for the efficiency-driven e-commerce sector.

Once a union gained a foothold, its members would inevitably demand higher wages, shorter hours, reduced workloads, and even have the right to engage in work slowdowns. This would only lead to extreme inefficiency within the e-commerce distribution system. While other companies might tolerate lower efficiency and higher costs as long as they remained profitable—or even relocate factories overseas—Amazon didn't have such a 'retreat' option.

Low efficiency would directly impact the online shopping experience, ultimately hindering the growth of e-commerce.

In the U.S., there's a reason why flight attendants are often older and why incidents of mistreatment of passengers frequently occur. The issue isn't that airlines don't want to improve customer service; it's that the unions are too powerful. Contractual terms make it nearly impossible for airlines to replace older flight attendants with younger ones. As for mistreatment of passengers, union protections mean that even if an incident escalates, as long as there's a halfway plausible excuse, the airline can't fire the offending employee and must simply accept the consequences.

In the early days, unions might have been necessary to protect the rights of workers who lacked legal protections. However, after a century of development, many Western unions have become parasitic power structures within large companies, with their endless demands threatening the stability of industries and even national economies.

While Simon couldn't control other sectors, he was determined to prevent any company within the Westeros system from falling prey to unions.

Both Simon and the entire Eaglet management were united and resolute on the issue of Amazon's unions: they would spare no effort in preventing the formation of a union among Amazon employees.

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