Chapter 28: Terminated

Celine knew Ian just as much as he knew her. Without a doubt he must have anticipated that Elise would make a move like this.

He would be expecting her to appear at a press conference even before Elise could have even thought about it and if she went with this story, this fake notion of not feeling worthy of him, it was just accepting and acknowledging to the world that she had indeed cheated on him. No doubt people would absolutely hate her even more.

“Then what would you do Celine? Let me warm you that going out to tell the world about Ian cheating will be like challenging a resting lion, people will side with Ian and he’ll make you look even more terrible to the public. Ian Rode will destroy you.” Elise sounded really concerned. She was one of the people who truly believed in Celine’s talent even in the past when Celine was just a no-name actress. Watching everything Celine worked hard for crumbling to the floor would hurt her too.

“Hasn’t he already?” Celine said with a hidden pain in her tone. Right now with the rumors Ian had released about her, it was akin to already destroying her career.

She knew that many of the upcoming projects stockpiled for after the wedding would have backed out by now.

“What happened to the Love All Over Again project? Am I still playing the lead role?” Celine asked, it was one of the biggest projects for her this year and if Ian had started targeting her already, she knew for sure it would be the first thing he would remove her from.

Upon hearing this question, Elise went stiff. She deflated as if a huge weight had suddenly pressed down her shoulders before admitting, “They kicked you out of the cast. I tried to work things out but director Samuels wouldn’t budge, I have a feeling he has been paid off by someone to be so stubborn.”

Even though Celine expected such a news, it still hurt to hear it. She swallowed the tight lump in her throat and smiled bitterly.

Director Samuels used to fawn over Celine, shooting for the movie Love All Over Again was supposed to have started a month ago, but because Celine was going to be getting married to Ian Rode, the director pulled strings to push the start of filming to two months after the wedding.

That movie was a very high budget project, it was one of the biggest movies she would have starred in, but alas it wouldn’t happen anymore.

“And the Big Five commercials?” Celine asked once more. Big Five in Neville were a starlet’s dream, shooting commercials and being associated with such a huge enterprise would skyrocket even the lowest actress into fame.

Celine remembered how she had stayed up all night researching into Big Five’s history before her auditions the very next day. Due to all the knowledge she had gathered beforehand, she ended up landing the commercials.

Elise lowered her eyes sadly as she replied.

“Gone, they hired Karen Jones and removed your name from the commercial plans, they said since they haven’t signed any contracts with you yet, they have no obligations to continue with you.”

“What about…” Celine was about to ask about something else again but Elise interrupted her.

“Everyone pulled out Celine, every single person dying to work with you no longer wants to even see your face.”

A long moment of silence suddenly descended in the office.

Celine laughed out a second later, it was a low, bitter chuckle of self deprecation. Why had she still been clinging onto some hope even after knowing that there was no use. Crystalline tears glimmered in her ocean blue eyes but she shifted her face to the windows to secretly wipe them off.

She hadn’t exactly been at the highest point of her career, but it still hurts to come crashing down like this.

“You see? This is why I can’t apologize to Ian. I haven’t admitted to cheating yet and already, no one wants to work with me, if I shamelessly go out to tell everyone that I did cheat on Ian and felt too guilty so I fled the wedding, do you really believe people would love me for that?”

Elise looked discouraged herself, she looked like someone who had spent hours working up a solution for Celine’s problem because she genuinely wanted to help. Celine was one of the artistes who pushed her managing career up in the company, losing Celine would be like being tossed back to square one in her career.

“It might not help right away, but apologizing could make people let go over time.” Elise said again, she just couldn’t think of any other way Celine would get out of this unscathed.

Celine moved forward in her seat and took Elise’s hands in her own.

“Cherie Anderson, it has been almost ten years now since that cheating scandal, she still hasn’t recovered from it and till this day no one wants to work with her.” Celine used a formerly popular actress as an example to make Elise see her point.

Cherie Anderson was a huge actress ten years ago, she had been married to an older man who was one of the largest investors in film back then, but she was caught in bed with a younger man which ruined her acting career entirely. Though she eventually came out to apologize to the public and her ex husband for her actions, her career had completely ended there. There were instances where rumors spread that she played as a body double to some actresses years later and people would point out scenes and make long video analysis about why they believed that body double was Cherie. The idea that her career had completely ruptured to the point that she had no choice but to play as body doubles made people laugh about her plight, calling it karma.

From then on, the name Cherie Anderson was wiped off the entertainment world unless when she came up in gossips.

“I wouldn’t be able to recover from a cheating scandal Elise, and I definitely won’t accept what I didn’t do.”

Elise saw sense in what Celine was saying and let out a long sigh. Celine might be right, but there seemed to be no other way around it except for Celine to give up her career entirely.

“Well there’s nothing you can do about it is there?” A different voice suddenly interrupted their conversation along with the sound of shoes walking into the office.

Celine raised her head to see Peter Hansley, the CEO of Lightstar Entertainment, a middle aged man whose whole personality revolved around the ambition to make Lightstar Entertainment the biggest entertainment company in the whole country.

In the past, Celine was one of his most favorite stars because she rose at an alarming speed in the industry faster than those stars who had big names backing them up.

When Celine saw the man entering, she could already roughly guess what he would say. His eyes were set harder than stone and he didn’t even bother to send another glance in her direction. In the past, he would shower praises for Celine’s work and her firm dedication to her craft. The stars who made the company the most amount of money, he treated them like best friends, as for the ones still stuck at the bottom he never even bothered to look at them.

Peter Hansley settled in his seat, keeping a straight unfriendly face when in the past he would be all smiles if Celine was present in the room. It seemed losing overnight fame made even the people you’d think respected and saw you in high regard look down on you as if your existence no longer mattered.

“Why would you do something so stupid, Celine?” He asked with a genuinely confused face.

She assumed he was asking her why she escaped the wedding, being someone who would have casual conversations with Peter in the past, Celine thought he might understand her if he came to know the whole truth.

“I couldn’t bring myself to marry him, I ran away from the wedding because…” Celine was beginning to explain when he cut her off.

“No, who cares why you ran away. I mean why would you even look at another man when you had Ian Rode? The Ian Rode! Do you even know how many women are dying to be in your position, even in Lightstar all the actresses are envious of you yet you chose to throw it away and jumped into bed with someone else? That’s so low I’m repulsed!”

Celine was stunned for a moment before she recovered.

So it was because he believed Ian too. He believed she cheated on Ian too. Actually, Celine knew Peter Hansley would believe whoever had the most potential to earn his company more. Him talking like this wasn’t just because he believed she cheated, it was because she was no longer associated with Ian Rode and because her rising career which brought him hope to grow his company was now crashing down.

Peter Hansley wouldn’t want to come crashing down with her, so even if she told him that it wasn’t her who cheated but Ian he wouldn’t believe her at all…no one would believe her, that was how influential Ian could be.

“What are you talking about, Celine didn’t cheat on Ian, he was the one who cheated on her.” Though Celine could no longer bring herself to explain, Elise spoke up instead knowing Celine didn’t deserve to be insulted for something she didn’t commit. She felt so much indignation for the way Peter was casually accusing Celine as if it really was her fault.

All the woman did was escape a potentially miserable marriage to a cheater who didn’t care about her feelings at all, why was she the one being punished for it?

Though Elise had prepared the press conference and the apology, seeing how Peter reacted she was even more convinced that Celine should never accept and apologize for what Ian accused her of.

Peter shifted his gaze to Elise looking like he absolutely didn’t care.

“The media knows Celine cheated, in fact the whole world knows she cheated, isn’t it obvious which one I’d choose to believe?” He answered her with an unbothered smirk.

In dire moments, one learns to realize who were truly friends and who were mere acquaintances. In the past Celine had considered Peter Hansley a friend because of the way he treated her, but a man who would quickly jump to conclusions about her character and call her repulsive, deliberately choosing not to believe her even if deep down he knew she wasn’t at at fault was never a friend at all.

This man only knew the language of money, and if Celine was no longer a means that would bring in more money, she became nothing to him. That realization sank in painfully deep in Celine’s mind at this moment.

“Look, Lightstar is being dragged, I haven’t been able to breathe for days now. I have to answer reporters everywhere I go, it’s tiring. I’m afraid we’ll have to let you go.” Peter said, addressing Celine this time.

“What? You can’t do this!” It was Elise who spoke up with panic in her tone, but Celine remained in her seat transfixed.

She kept recalling the days she had been signed into Lightstar, the beauty and joy of finally seeing herself achieving her dreams. Being an actress she had never broken any rules, she worked tirelessly for each role she played, when big name directors promised to make her an A-lister in exchange for her body she had never gone against her principles.

Even while she dated Ian she had never asked for shortcut favors from him, she believed in her skills immensely, held on firmly to her principles, never breaking to the influence of the dark side of the entertainment world, never being pulled into changing herself for fame, in the end…she took the wrong turn and now she was falling.

The fall from grace tasted so bitter, it hurt like fire being poured over her heart seeing it’s flesh scorching and melting into a nameless puddle.

“It’s already done, we’re officially dropping Celine Roberts, she is no longer an artiste in this company…”

Peter continued to say but the rest of his words were a far away echo that drifted away in Celine’s mind.

So it truly was over. The career she worked hard to build, was completely destroyed.

Pain, even if it had been anticipated never hurts any less when it arrives.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep