Chapter 207: It Won’t Last

These past few days were a riot of strange occurrences, Kaleb noticed. His boss wasn’t himself again but it was no surprise, the man wasn’t only in love but he had just discovered he had two beautiful little kids, the man had basically become a family man overnight.

But today, the master of all strange occurrences happened when Kaleb looked down at his watch, realizing his boss was late for work.

“I’ll be damned!” He muttered to himself looking down at the staff who were gathered in the lower floors, whispers buzzing around as if they were all witnessing the apocalypse.

“Okay, this is unusual, if he’s not here in the next thirty minutes, I’m going to give him a call.” Kaleb paced the office saying to himself.

The president went from a man who spent his whole days and nights in the office, making all the staff work overtime, not resting, not taking a break to not showing up at work at all even though it was already almost lunch time.

Even though he’s become a family man, can someone kill their obsessive attachments to work in a few days? It was impossible… could something have happened?

Had the president gotten kidnapped? An accident or fallen gravely ill?

At the thought of that, Kaleb grabbed his phone and immediately made the call without thinking, it rang for a few seconds before it was picked.

“President, please tell me you’re alive!” Kaleb immediately said into the phone but the first thing he heard was a little girl’s squeal.

“Daddy, that is not how you brush my hair!”

“Sorry princess, I’ll brush gently.”

As Kaleb heard his boss’s doting voice, he stiffened.

Holy hell! The president was alive and well and he seemed to be… brushing a little girl’s hair. Unbelievable!

“Kaleb, I was just about to call you. I need you to bring the Havenport files to me, there are some things I need to go over first before we finalize the deal.”

Kaleb’s mouth fell slack for a moment and he heard the girl’s voice again. “Daddy’s a fast learner.”

“Thank you princess.”

“President, aren’t you coming to work today?” Kaleb asked not believing it even as he said the words.

“No, my wife has work to do so I’m staying with the kids.”

’Your wife? You don’t even live together.’ Kaleb said internally.

“But there’s a lot of pending work president.” Kaleb grumbled.

“And I pay you a lot of money to handle it, whether I’m there or not.”

“But president…”

“Daddy…”

Apparently, Kaleb’s words weren’t half as important as his daughter’s, because he hung up the moment his daughter called for him.

Kaleb sighed. “Damn it! I didn’t do all that matchmaking just to get all the work after you have your woman.”

Resignedly, he had no choice but to take up the responsibility, he immediately dismissed all the staff to get back to work and he grabbed the files Tristan instructed him to bring.

…..

Celine sat quietly in her chair, her script resting neatly in her hands as her eyes scanned through the lines once more.

The buzz of the set surrounded her, makeup artists moving around, assistants rushing back and forth, crew members setting up lights, but she remained focused.

This was her moment, her first major lead role after returning to the industry, and she wasn’t going to make a single mistake.

“Alright, positions in ten!” Director Thomas called out from across the set.

Celine took a slow breath, steadying herself.

Just as she was about to go over her lines again, the door swung open.

A wave of chatter followed and heads turned almost instantly. Celine didn’t need to look up to know who it was, but she did anyway.

Lilian walked in like she owned the place, dressed impeccably, her heels clicking against the floor with confidence. Behind her trailed a small entourage of assistants, stylists, and a manager who looked far too eager to please Lilian.

Celine shifted her gaze away seemingly losing interest.

“Oh my gosh, Lily! You look so gorgeous I almost didn’t recognize you!” One of the newer actors who was just playing a small side role gushed, rushing towards Lilian as if someone welcoming a goddess.

“Philip right? We met a year ago on set, I didn’t think I’d see you again here, you look so good.” Lilian had secretly rolled her eyes in annoyance. She hated it when one of these pesky small actors tried to curry favor with her to gain connections, still she put up a smile and greeted.

Soon, other actors playing side roles picked up the game as well, seeing an opportunity to get acquainted with the famous Lilian Roberts, it would do them good in the future to be among her circle. They didn’t even care to get acquainted with the woman playing the lead role as she was just an unknown former star who was making a comeback after being drowned in scandals, no one wanted to be associated with that.

A small conversation began to unfold, different topics being brought up, from old movies Lilian had played and them asking her questions so they could learn from her, to a certain actress among them, noticing Celine still sat at the side, eyes focused on her script, an idea burst into her mind.

“Look at her, one would think she was seriously reading her script, but in reality she’s just putting up a show. She got the role through sleeping around anyway, she doesn’t need to put an effort.” Wendy Davis said quietly, but her eyes were on Lilian hoping to see if the other woman looked pleased with her speaking badly about Celine.

It was a well known fact that this role originally belonged to Lilian before Celine showed up and all of a sudden snatched the spot.

Lilian’s expression looked neutral, not revealing what she actually felt, but the other actresses picked up on what Wendy was trying to do, they quickly jumped on the train.

“I really can’t understand people like her. They ruin this industry by taking the back door just to make a place for themselves. Shouldn’t she be ashamed to even show her face in public after using such a disgusting method to make a name for herself again?”

“People like her do not feel shame, I genuinely can’t stand the fact that she took the lead role so easily without even having enough skills to play the part.”

“Sleeping around to get what you want is a disgusting behavior, think about the truckload of STDs she must have down under.” This remark caused a wave of giggles to burst forth among the group.

“Girls, please…” Lilian broke into their conversation. Though her eyes glimmered with pleasure, she kept it masked behind a facade.

’See Celine, no one actually likes you in this industry. You can’t compete with me.’ She thought, but instead said,

“The woman you’re talking about is my sister, I’m not happy to hear you spreading all these rumors about her. My sister is not a whore, and she most definitely doesn’t sleep around to get roles.” Lilian’s voice sounded exaggeratedly loud, one would think she was scolding them, but the tone of her voice was clearly intended for everyone to hear. Shocked gasps resounded across the set.

“She sleeps around to get roles? Why haven’t I heard of that before?” Some distant actors seemed to have overheard the interesting topic.

“It’s true, there was a scandal about her years ago but it’s all covered up now. Just like people say, old habits die hard. Though people forgave her after that scandal, I think she just came out and spoke a bunch of lies to fool people and they believed her.”

A smile spread across Lilian’s lips the moment her eyes landed on Celine as if she hadn’t noticed her there before.

“Oh my God, Celine!”

Before anyone could react, Lilian rushed forward, arms already spread wide.

Celine stood up just in time to catch her. Lilian wrapped her arms around her tightly, as though embracing a long-lost sister she adored dearly.

“I’ve missed you so much!” Lilian exclaimed loudly, her voice carrying just enough for everyone nearby to hear.

Several people paused, watching the whole scenario. Celine might have been a big actress before but that was already in the past, right now Lilian surpassed her in the industry. Hence it surprised everyone that Lilian was showing such care for a sister who was said to have selfishly disappeared, abandoning her family five years ago.

Celine could already feel the attention Lilian wanted to draw towards her.

Her devious little step sister wanted to paint a certain narrative, and evidently it was working.

Slowly, Celine’s lips curved into a gentle smile.

She would be infinitely stupid to let Lilian’s little schemes succeed.

Celine lifted her arms and hugged her back, warmly as if it was the most natural thing to do, just as convincingly as Lilian’s own act.

“I’ve missed you too,” Celine replied softly.

For a split second, Lilian stiffened. That wasn’t the reaction she expected.

She had anticipated Celine to shove her away and say how much she despised her, but her damned step sister seemed to know the game well. Lilian’s fingers clenched into Celine’s skin on her back, so tight her fingers dug through but Celine didn’t make a single reaction to show the pain of her fingers clenching over her skin.

Celine leaned in just enough, her lips close to Lilian’s ear, her smile never fading.

“Is that your anger I feel digging into my back?” She murmured then paused before adding, “Pathetic.”

Something sharp twisted into Lilian’s chest causing her anger to surge, it had taken a lot for her to calm herself and not reveal how much she hated this sister she was currently pretending to hug.

“Don’t get too comfortable, Lily” Celine whispered calmly. “We still have a score to settle, remember?”

For a brief moment, the sweetness in Lilian’s expression cracked, her eyes darkened.

But just as quickly, she pulled away, her smile returning as if nothing had happened.

“You look amazing,” Lilian said, her tone sugary sweet. “I always knew you had it in you.”

Celine met her gaze, her expression just as pleasant.

“Thank you.” She replied casually, the air between them remained light on the surface but beneath it…hatred brewed within Lilian’s eyes so sharp, it could hardly be hidden from anyone close enough to see it.

Director Thomas clapped his hands, breaking the moment.

“Alright, everyone! Let’s get ready!”

Celine gave Lilian one last look before turning and walking toward her mark, calm and composed, unaffected by Lilian’s evident anger.

Lilian watched her go and the smile on her lips slowly faded.

Her eyes followed Celine’s every step, something dark flickering within them.

“Enjoy the lead role while you have it, Celine…” she muttered under her breath.

A smirk crept onto her lips.

“It won’t last.”

Her gaze shifted subtly toward the set. Specifically, toward the equipment carefully arranged as the setup for the opening scene.

An unfortunate accident happening on set…Lilian thought.

Well, those things happened all the time and when they did the show must go on. And if the lead actress suddenly became… incapable of continuing then naturally the role would have to be handed over to someone just as suitable, someone already present.

Her.

Lilian’s smile deepened.

“Let’s see how long you shine,” she murmured softly.

As across the set unaware of what was being set in motion, Celine stepped into action following the director’s cue.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep