Chapter 4

The morning after I left Julian, the retaliation came exactly as expected.

My agent, Harper, walked into my apartment with red eyes and threw a stack of termination papers on the table.

"Selena, Julian is going crazy. He used all his industry backing. Overnight, he got your remaining five brand deals canceled. Even the massive sci-fi movie you were supposed to star in has recast you with Chloe."

I calmly flipped through the contracts. The cancellation fees were in the millions.

Julian was trying to completely blacklist me, forcing me to crawl back to him.

"That's not all," Harper's voice shook. "The internet is flooded with fake news about you. They’re saying you’re jealous of rookies, that you threw a tantrum at the gala, and they’re even hinting that you have an old billionaire sugar daddy..."

I opened Snapchat and Twitter.

Eight out of the top ten trending topics were about me.

"SelenaShawGalaTantrum"

"CancelSelenaShaw"

"PoorChloe"

At 3:00 AM, Chloe had posted a selfie with red, teary eyes: "I will always respect my seniors' advice. I will work harder and not let anyone down."

Under her post, Julian’s fanboys and paid bots were leaving nasty comments:

"Selena is just a bitter, aging actress who’s jealous of Chloe’s beauty!"

"Bullying rookies? Cancel her forever!"

"Julian finally saw her true colors. Good riddance!"

I looked at the toxic comments, a cold smile appearing on my face.

This was Julian’s play.

Destroy my career, then ruin my reputation.

"Harper, how much money do we have left in the business account?" I asked.

Harper paused. "After paying off the fees, we won't even be able to pay next month’s rent for the studio. Selena... maybe you should just talk to Julian? You guys were together for seven years..."

"Never," I cut her off.

"I would rather starve than beg that piece of trash for mercy."

Just then, Harper’s phone rang.

She picked it up, her face changing expressions rapidly.

After she hung up, she looked at me, hesitating.

"What is it?"

"It’s... the production team of "Wilderness Survival"," Harper bit her lip. "They're offering to pay triple your usual rate to guest-star in the premiere episode. But..."

"But what?"

"But Chloe is a permanent cast member on that show. And you know how dangerous that show is. It’s unscripted, real-deal wilderness survival."

I understood instantly.

This wasn't a sudden lucky break. This was a trap set up by Julian.

He knew I was broke. He was using the massive paycheck as bait to get me onto a show where I would be forced to make Chloe look good, get humiliated, and become the laughingstock of the internet.

"We should decline. It’s too dangerous," Harper said, worried.

"No," I raised my head, a dangerous spark in my eyes. "Accept it. Why wouldn't we?"

Since they wanted to play, I was going to play with them until the very end.

I wanted to hit them the hardest when they thought they were winning.