After hearing the president of her company telling her she was fired, Mia’s mind went blank. Then she went into a panic.
“Sir, let me explain,” Mia pleaded.
“What is there to explain? You used the company’s resources to do your brother a favor. Do you think we wouldn’t find out? Secret magazine was supposed to be one of our projects. If our own models had appeared on the issue’s cover, all this notoriety would have been ours, not global’s. But what did you do instead? You gave it all away!” The president scolded Mia.
“I hope you’re prepared to compensate us for breaching your contract. As you know, the penalty for helping a competitor like this is 200 million pesos,” the president continued.
After speaking, the president hung up the phone, not giving Mia the chance to explain herself. Mia’s phone fell from her hands. She was dumbfounded. Slowly, she began mumbling, “It’s over. Everything is over. My career, my life.”
“What happened, Mia?” Nathan asked.
“It’s all over because of you!” Mia screamed with all her might. “Thanks to you, I’ve been fired, and I have to pay 200 million pesos for breaching my contract. That’s 10 million dollars!”
Nathan and Amber were stunned. They had never thought the consequences of their actions would be so severe.
“On top of that, I’ve also been blacklisted. Do you know what that means? It means I can no longer make a living here in Mexico. All the effort I’ve put in over the years has been wasted,” Mia lamented.
After Mia finished speaking, she fell to the floor on her knees. At this moment, she was filled with regret and rage. “Why did I have to help my useless brother?” she thought. “Why did I agree to help Amber compete with Emma?”
Nathan kneeled down to comfort her. “Mia, you haven’t lost everything. You still have me,” he said.
She pushed him away. “Leave me alone! Amber’s the only person you care about now,” Mia retorted.
“Let me help you,” Nathan insisted.
She scoffed at him. “Fine, fine. You want to help me? You can split the penalty for breaching my contract with me. Also, I want to be Emma’s manager. If you two won’t support her career, then I will. I can use her to help me make a comeback.”
Nathan and Amber looked at each other in shock. Even if they agreed to let Mia manage their sworn enemy, there was no way Emma would allow it. But Nathan couldn’t bear to see his sister suffer like this. “I can sell off a few shares to help you with your penalty. We’ll get over all of this together. But the way you’ve treated Emma, there’s no way she would let you be her manager. Plus, she already has Ashley,” he explained.
“What’s Ashley compared to me? Since Global can no longer control Emma’s progress, why don’t we help her to the top ourselves? At least that way, we can boost our own reputations along the way. And most importantly, I’ll be able to keep an eye on Emma. It’ll be like killing three birds with one stone,” Mia proposed.
Mia cried. She was already dreaming about the ways she could control Emma. Mia was full of hatred for her and unwilling to accept defeat. She wanted to see if Emma could still do as she pleased with her as her manager.
Nathan considered Mia’s argument. “This could work,” he thought. Even if Mia couldn’t completely control Emma, at least she’d be able to stop her from causing them more trouble. “Mia, I’ll agree to it,” he said.
Mia stood up and smiled. “You guys return to New York first. After I’ve sorted things out here, I’ll join you and take over as Emma’s manager.” Mia was confident in her plan. If she only knew that the king of the entertainment industry, Eric Roberts, was ready to protect Emma from anyone who tried to harm her.
“Sounds good, Nathan,” said Amber. However, she wasn’t happy with this decision. She couldn’t believe they were going to purposefully help Emma’s career. But she knew the incident with Secret magazine had been her fault, and Nathan and Mia had taken the fall with her. So at this point, there was nothing she could say. All she could do was look at Nathan and whine, “Don’t you want me anymore?”
“What are you talking about?” Nathan said. “You saw it too. There’s no way we can keep Emma down. Let’s just let my sister handle her. That way, we’ll have some time to relax.”
“Amber, I’ll never give up on you,” Nathan added.
Amber was sure that as long as she still had Nathan in her grasp, she would eventually become the first lady of Global Pictures. Then she would have a chance to make a comeback. As for Emma spreading her wings, they still had plenty of time before that happened.
That afternoon, Mia’s former company released a statement about her management contract being canceled. The statement pointed out three major mistakes Mia had made and claimed the company would be pursuing compensation for all the damage she had caused. It also stated that she was banned from working for the company or any of its affiliates ever again. Of course, Mia was only a manager. If her employer was simply breaking ties with her, it wouldn’t have been worth a public announcement. But this was different.
When Emma saw the news, she was surprised. Then she realized Eric must have had something to do with this. “This man really can’t help himself, can he?” she thought.
A photo shoot had already been scheduled, and the date was approaching fast. The shoot was taking place in New York, so Emma needed to return home first thing in the morning. To Emma’s relief, she was booked on a different flight than Nathan and Amber were. And thanks to her surge in popularity, her fans no longer had to hold back their cheers. Her fan club had even organized an event at the airport to send her off. So, though it was early in the morning on the day of her departure, the airport lobby was completely packed with well-wishers waiting for Emma to arrive.
Emma was in the car on her way there along with Ashley, Lisa, and Eric. She was reading the newspaper and holding Eric’s hand.
“Emma, did you know Nathan and Amber are flying out later today?” Ashley asked her.
“Yeah, I know,” she replied. “You know what to do about that, right?”
Previously, when she had flown to Seattle, Amber had revealed her schedule online and encouraged Emma’s critics to show up at the airport and cause her trouble. Now that Amber was flying back home as the joke of the industry, it seemed like a good time for Emma to return the favor.
“How could Amber be considered a joke until she experiences being surrounded by naysayers?” Emma thought.
“Emma,” Lisa said, “you still haven’t used your knowledge of Amber’s pregnancy. What do you plan to do with that?”
“Amber’s pregnant,” Ashley thought.
Emma looked at Lisa and smiled. “All this time, she’s been aiming for the Top 10 Model Awards. But don’t forget about the selection criteria. Pregnant women are qualified to receive an award,” she said calmly.
“Then what are you waiting for?” Lisa asked. “Let’s just release it.”
“Knowing Amber, she’ll use whatever means necessary to qualify for that award,” Emma replied. “I’m going to wait until she appears on stage to accept the award. Then I’ll send her straight to her grave.”
Lisa gave an understanding nod. “To receive something precious and then immediately lose it,” she thought, “is truly the most painful experience.”
“From now until Amber accepts the award, she and Global will still have hope for her career. Letting her receive it and then taking it away is the only way to guarantee she’ll never come back. After all, a model only gets one chance to win the Top 10 Model Awards. She won’t be allowed back ever again.”
Eric held Emma’s hand tightly for the entire car ride. He knew that even though she had made Amber into a backdrop, it still wouldn’t be enough to soothe her pain. She would keep picking away at Amber until Amber no longer had the strength to go on, and Nathan had given up on her completely. Emma wanted her to know what it was like to be thrown away.
Eric didn’t want to see Emma so depressed, so he pulled out his phone and looked for the photos he had taken the night before. Then he handed his phone to Ashley. “Put this photo online,” he said.
Ashley looked at his screen. It was a photo of Amber kneeling on the ground outside the hotel, a photo of Amber at her lowest point. Ashley looked at the scheming couple and gave them a sly smile.
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