Amber turned to Linda and whispered, “They were brought here by Emma. Otherwise, why would they be humiliating me by paying attention to only her?”
Linda smirked, “Originally, today was supposed to be a celebration, so I didn’t want to upset you by leaving you out. But Miss Lee, I’ve never seen a magazine with two cover models be received like this, with one model becoming the hottest topic in the world and the other receiving practically no attention at all. None, none! Do you know what that means? That means everyone in the U.S. and the world who’s seen this magazine, including the people present, didn’t even notice your existence.”
Amber’s face turned pale. “This is impossible! You must be in on Emma’s conspiracy. This is all your doing!” Amber could not believe what was happening. She was on the front cover of Secret magazine. How could she be so completely ignored? This can’t be real, she thought desperately.
Linda grabbed a copy of the magazine and handed it to Amber. “Aren’t you aware of your own limitations?” she said, pointing to the cover photo. “When we shot this issue, we were already prepared to accept that you would take a back seat to Emma in this photo. But it turned out that you were so forgettable, you became part of the backdrop without anyone noticing.”
Up until this moment, Amber had thought the photoshoot had been a success for her. But after hearing Linda call her a backdrop, her confidence came crashing down. Emma was so good at adapting to her surroundings that Amber was made to look like part of the background next to her. On top of that, Emma’s eyes were so lively that Amber’s arrogant stare looked lifeless in comparison. That’s why Amber had been so completely ignored. No one could even tell she was alive.
Amber collected the magazine and took a few steps back from Linda. If not for Nathan holding on to her, she would have fallen off the stage. Linda continued, “Back in the U.S., somebody’s already written an article comparing you to Caitlin Roberts. If I were you, I would hide in Mexico for the rest of my life because I would be too ashamed to go back home.”
Amber looked like she’d been struck by lightning. Her mind went blank as she stared down at her image on the magazine cover. “This can’t be,” she thought. “Everyone has been praising my modeling skills. There’s no way I can’t compete with Emma. This is impossible. Emma must have done something. She must have…”
Amber became filled with rage as she turned to face Emma. “Emma, I can’t believe you would sabotage me in this way!” Nathan glared at Emma and added, “You’d really go to this length for the sake of revenge?”
Emma smiled sweetly. “Tell me, Mr. Davis, how could a person like me, with no experience and no top-tier manager who even got her clothes stolen from her, ever do such a thing?” Nathan began, but Emma interrupted, “Was I the one who caused her to be ignored? It’s obviously because she wasn’t skilled enough. Was I the one who made her too ashamed to return to New York? That’s because you guys shamelessly used someone else’s fame in an attempt to get her some attention. If you consider this revenge, you know that my real revenge is yet to come.”
Emma turned away from Amber and looked at Linda. Linda nodded and gave a wave to the two ISN representatives who’d been waiting at the back of the room. Two tall, handsome Frenchmen walked up the red carpet and onto the stage. They exchanged friendly hugs with Emma and Linda before turning to the guests. One of them stepped forward and said, “We are pleased to announce that Emma Miller has agreed to be ISN’s spokesperson for the North American region.”
Amber thought in despair, a top French brand with a hundred-year history. Now they’re expanding their reach, and they got Emma to be their spokesperson for all of North America. In comparison, though Amber had received a few job offers as a result of the shoot, not a single one of them was from a well-known brand. How could they compare to a high-end company like ISN? Amber’s face turned even more pale. Her body felt like it was crumbling under its own weight. She knew that if word got out about her display tonight, she could lose even the cheap endorsement deals she had, let alone secure better ones.
Nathan stormed to the front of the stage. “Emma, when did you accept this deal?” he raged. “Don’t you know it has to be approved by Global?”
Emma turned around and faced him. “I forgot to mention it to you. The contract has already been reviewed by Global’s higher-ups. They all approved. As for when I accepted the deal, well, it was when you and Amber were lovingly planning your engagement party while I was working. What were you doing? If you don’t know how to be the CEO of your own company, you can delegate the responsibility to someone else. There are plenty of people who want your position, after all,” she paused and looked at his shocked expression. “What is this considered revenge as well?” she continued.
Nathan, let me give you a warning. If you continue to sabotage me to protect Amber, Global is going to give up on you as a leader. Now that Emma had become so popular, Global shareholders weren’t pleased by Nathan’s decision-making. He was always causing trouble for her, even at public events like this. Emma endorsing an international brand was a huge step forward for Global. In the shareholders’ eyes, it was bad enough that Nathan didn’t support Emma’s career, but for him to go so far as to defame Emma for the sake of Amber was almost unforgivable.
On top of everything, the company had held high hopes for Amber, and they had wasted so much of their time and energy on her. But in the end, nothing had come of Secret magazine for Amber. Nobody had even noticed she was in it. She had gone to Mexico under the impression that she and Emma would be sharing the spotlight, but instead, Amber had just become part of the backdrop. Was this the level of skill Nathan was boasting about that made Amber comparable to Caitlyn Roberts?
At this moment, Amber Lee, the international supermodel with a promising future, was about to fall into the depths of despair and become a loser. She was so overshadowed by Emma that people didn’t even notice her. Who was going to pay attention to someone who is just part of the backdrop? Mia glared at Emma fiercely from the side of the stage. She had no idea that while they were relaxing, Emma was accepting a deal from a famous French brand, increasing the distance between her and Amber by a thousand miles.
That was the first time that Emma, as a manager, couldn’t figure out how to deal with an artist. This had only increased Emma’s popularity, while Amber seemed to be plummeting in the opposite direction. Linda looked around inside. All she’d wanted was a simple celebration dinner, but instead, her event had turned into Global’s battleground. She called the security guard over to escort Amber out of the hotel. Mia stepped forward and stopped her.
“We could chew ourselves out, Linda,” she said. Then she turned to Emma. “Emma, you are ruthless.”
“Ruthless or not,” Emma thought, “what happened here was only fair.” But though Emma had won this battle and signed a deal with ISN, it wasn’t enough for her. Even watching the three of them get kicked out of the hotel didn’t satisfy her. Nathan was still the president of Global, and Amber was still hanging on to a shred of dignity. Emma knew it would take an even more impressive show of revenge to truly give them what they deserved.
As soon as she left the hotel, Amber collapsed on the sidewalk outside in a total state of despair. She began to cry. What she didn’t know was that Eric, who was waiting in the car for Emma, was taking photos of her on his phone. “She’d received such a small blow, and she already can’t handle it,” he thought.
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