Animal Whisperer: Take Back My Life and Love Chapter 409: The Collapse of a Titan

Barry carried the Pallas’s cat toward the motorhome reserved exclusively for the animals, a faint smile on his lips. "You’re getting a double ration today. Eat and drink as much as you want."

Back on the set, the dunes were alive with activity.

The support trucks sent for Nancy had already set up their stations. The smell of charcoal and roasting meat filled the desert air as the cooks turned skewers of chicken wings and seasoned beef.

The Sanddune crew members were already helping themselves, their faces slick with oil as they raised their drinks toward Nancy in a series of toasts.

"I’m just happy to be riding Nancy’s coattails today!"

"This show is going to be a massive hit!"

"Thanks to Nancy, we’re actually eating like kings!"

Laughter and the scent of the cookout drifted across the sand, but on the other side of the clearing, the atmosphere was bleak.

The Dessert Route crew sat huddled over their identical, lackluster lunch boxes. They watched the feast from a distance, swallowing hard. In the middle of a resource-depleted desert, the smell of fresh barbecue was nothing short of torture.

To make matters worse, they had to watch as the animals lined up and boarded their own spacious, luxury motorhome to enjoy the air conditioning.

"Even the animals get a trailer?"

A stagehand stared, his eyes wide with disbelief and envy. Bitterness spread through the rival crew like a wildfire.

Kevin, the lead actor, shoveled a few bites of bland rice into his mouth. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He leaned toward Jenna and lowered his voice.

"Morten from Starlight Investments told me himself that he pulled all funding from Sanddune. He even paid off the major distribution platforms to make sure they couldn't buy any promotion."

He squinted at the happy, carefree scene across the way, his brow furrowed in confusion. "But look at them. Do they look like a crew that just lost its backing? Why aren't they panicking?"

Jenna frowned, her carefully drawn eyebrows knitting together. "Could Goodman be backing them? How else could they be this comfortable?"

Before she could finish the thought, their director rushed toward them, his face the color of ash. He clutched his phone and shouted to the entire crew in a cracked, desperate voice.

"Wrap it up! Pack everything now! Everyone move, we’re pulling out immediately!"

Kevin was stunned for a second, then a look of smug relief crossed his face. "Director, did we find a new location? Are we finally done taking orders from these nobodies?"

"What new location?"

The director screamed, the veins in his forehead bulging. "Our investors and advertisers just bailed! Every single one of them pulled their funding!"

"What?" The sunscreen spray in Jenna’s hand hit the sand with a heavy thud. "How is that possible? The company said the PR team had everything under control."

"It’s over! Everything is gone!" The director clawed at his thinning hair, his voice trembling. "The video of us bullying the Sicily crew was leaked online! It’s everywhere! The trending topics are exploding!"

He pointed at his screen as if it were something infectious. "It’s so bad that Neo Summers Corp’s PR team can’t even touch it. Every time they take a topic down, three more pop up! And the footage... it’s so clear it looks like it was filmed on a police body cam! Every single disgusting thing we said was recorded. It’s like we were cursed!"

Jenna fumbled for her own phone and opened Twitter with shaking fingers.

Sure enough, the top trends were dominated by their names.

JennaAndKevinBullyingScandal #DessertRouteWarningFromTourismBoard #NationalAnimalExpertHarassedByDessertRoute

The two stars had finally reached the top of the charts, but in the most humiliating way possible.

What they hadn't realized was that the evidence against them came from the military-grade micro-cameras tucked under Master Crow’s wings and hidden in Snowball’s collar.

The bodyguards had blocked the phones held by the Sicily crew, but they never dreamed the real lenses were hidden in the feathers and fur, broadcasting their every move in a 360-degree livestream.

The director looked at the incoming notifications, his voice breaking. "Let’s just get back to the city. This project is dead."

Just then, Jenna’s assistant ran over, clutching two buzzing phones, her face ghostly pale.

"Jenna! Doore Corp just sent a formal notice. They’re terminating all endorsement contracts immediately!"

"Pungente Corp’s legal department is on the line. They’re suing for damages to their brand image. The compensation they’re asking for is astronomical!"

The mask of high society Jenna had spent years maintaining finally shattered, leaving her face a mask of disbelief.

As the saying goes, disasters never come alone. Her agent called, and the moment she picked up, she was met with a barrage of screaming.

"What the hell did you do to offend Sicily?"