“What kind of ridiculous agency is Global anyway? Can you believe they forced Emma to appear at this event? That box must be a total idiot.”
“I know, right? If Global can’t make legit deals for their artists, they should let us do it. Even a kid could do a better job than them. Emma, Emma, what are you endorsing next? What should I buy? Who’s gonna give me money? Emma, dump Global. You deserve better.”
“Emma, you’re so cool, we could cry!” After scrolling through these comments, Amber furiously tossed her phone to the side. She could never have anticipated that Emma would be brave enough to risk her career just to stand up to Global. She was supposed to meekly do what she was told. Instead, she’d called out Global’s mistreatment of her and made it clear she wouldn’t be involved with an unreliable product. And then she had the nerve to announce that she was making a comeback. What was going on? How could an outdated model like her announce her comeback in such a high-profile way?
Amber was beginning to hate this uncontrollable version of Emma more and more. “She said with a nasty laugh, as long as she’s still with Global, she wasn’t going to let Emma get away with anything of the sort. And if she went down, she would take Emma with her.”
Nathan was still not over the shock of the Elm Grove event. In a daze, he’d gone straight to his office at Global. Seeing Amber sitting on his office chair, he threw off his suit jacket, raked his hands through his hair, and walked over to stare blankly out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. His frustration with Emma had reached an all-time high.
“Why aren’t you working on a public statement to clear things up?” complained Amber. “I can’t believe she threw all the blame on us, and she’s so rude. How dare she thank Global for the invitation to accompany Chic Lame? She’s never heard of Elm Grove, and she certainly has been treated with a lack of respect. But Amber didn’t consider these points. All she cared about was seizing opportunities to dump on Emma whenever she could. There was no way she was going to hold back now.”
“Nathan, put out a statement right now! Tell everyone that she organized this scene to make money and that Global had nothing to do with it.” Nathan was so furious he was willing to do whatever it took to try and clear Global’s name. Emma had stained their reputation, and he didn’t know if it would ever recover.
“Ever was right. It was time to take action.” He immediately gathered his PR team to write an emotional public statement. This statement reiterated that no one had forced Emma to appear at Elm Grove’s event. She had chosen to represent Global and support Elm Grove’s cosmetics. The only conclusion was that she had lied. This statement also revealed that Global would penalize her to the fullest possible extent. After all, she had defamed the company and ruined the event. It was ridiculous for her to expect Global to cover up for her, especially when she had made poor decisions to begin with.
With this kind of statement, everyone would be able to see that Global Entertainment was separating itself from Emma, and that she was at risk of losing her contract altogether. In addition to the statement, Nathan also arranged for some of his staff to face the media and accept interviews.
“Oh, do you guys want to talk about Emma? There’s not much I can say about her other than nothing is as it appears with her. She’s totally two-faced. To be honest, I think Global’s innocent. Everyone knows she lied, and it’s clearly not the first time. I support Global Entertainment. It’s honestly sad that she would stoop so low just to try and advance her career.” These responses came from employees at every level of Global’s hierarchy, from the receptionists all the way up to a member of the board of directors. It seemed they were all determined to blame Emma and make sure she couldn’t retaliate.
As for Emma, she had no intention of replying to Global’s statements. She wasn’t going to sink to their level and respond to their insults. Unfortunately for him, Nathan had completely underestimated the power of Emma’s announcement that she would boycott Elm Grove’s cheap cosmetics. The online community was on her side. They had already realized that Elm Grove’s products weren’t worth buying. So even though some people were fooled by Nathan, Emma’s popularity continued to rise like a mountain shadowing everyone around her.
While Global Entertainment was spreading rumors, Emma’s team released their damaging evidence. It was time to embarrass Global through a respected online media source. A few voice recordings were sent around that showed the extent of Global’s nastiness. Anyone hearing them could now see that Global Entertainment was a cold-hearted, soulless organization. Evidence included actual recordings of the plot to block Emma from receiving good offers. As if freezing her out wasn’t bad enough, the public had now heard how Global had forced her to substitute for Amber and then apologize in public. They had heaped humiliation on top of humiliation.
While some of this information was shocking, the most surprising aspect of the recordings was the voice giving the commands. It wasn’t Nathan or the chairman of the board; it was Amber. A few people questioned the source of the recordings, but it didn’t matter. Less than an hour after the recordings were released, Ashley opened her email to find it flooded with messages from different companies asking to work with Emma.
But in the end, Ashley didn’t accept any of the offers. She sighed, thinking about the events of the day and what they all meant. Amber was arrogant because Nathan favored her. She was also backstabbing and nasty, and her efforts to promote herself had messed up Global’s formerly smooth operation.
The online comments started to roll in: “OMG, I can’t believe Nathan is such a jerk. He’s on the brink of failure and still wants to make Emma a scapegoat.” “And Global will be so horrible. They tried to throw their own model under the bus. I’ve never seen such a shameless entertainment agency.” “What about the staff that spoke up supporting Global this morning? But he sure looks stupid now.” “Global Entertainment, get out of town!”
Nathan and Amber were one step closer to going down. On the other hand, Emma’s popularity continued to soar. The fallout was widespread. Companies began the process to cancel their contracts with Global, and it wasn’t just Amber that was affected. Global’s other models were also in a holding pattern as all their endorsements were placed on hold.
Mason had seen the overwhelming number of comments online and knew he was really in trouble now. As a last resort, he picked up the phone. “You really want to see me die? Will you only be satisfied with my total destruction?” Emma didn’t address Nathan’s comments directly. “My lawyer is already on his way to see you. It’s time to clarify our contract. You can’t do this. Have you seen what everyone’s saying? You’re gonna bankrupt me.” “In comparison to what you and Amber have done to me, I don’t think this is so bad. But if you decide to release Amber from her contract with Global, I’ll consider showing you mercy,” Emma said calmly.
Nathan’s tone turned from anxious to furious. “Guys, let me tell you, I will fight you tooth and nail!” “Let’s see you try,” she responded and hung up the phone. But even though she sounded confident, she knew this wasn’t over. As long as Amber wasn’t with Global, she still had a chance to regain her popularity.
On his way home, Eric looked at the day’s entertainment news and was impressed by what he saw. His wife was quite the woman. Even Luke praised Emma. “She’s kind of amazing,” he said. “In a moment, I want to stop by and get her red roses. I want to congratulate her on her comeback,” Eric said. “You got it, boss,” Luke agreed, smiling to himself. Maybe he would hide a special little package among the roses. That would be a nice surprise for Emma.
