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I Won’t Be Stand-In Anymore
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My boyfriend pulled in two million a year. He told me that once he'd banked five hundred thousand, he'd invest in my gallery. Year one, he said the startup was bleeding money; he hadn't saved a cent. Year two, he needed a new car to keep up appearances; no funds for me. By year five, he was on his private yacht brokering a major deal and told me not to bother him. I stood outside the cabin door and listened to the laughter rolling out from inside. "If Celeste wanted to open a gallery, Eth would write her a million-dollar check without blinking." "Hell yeah. If Celeste hadn't gone abroad back then, that knockoff he's got now wouldn't even be in the picture." Ethan's voice drifted through the crack in the door, lazy, dismissive. "Enough. Emily's been with me five years. I'll still put something in for her." "She's a free drafting machine. She's not worth five hundred grand. One day's revenue at the firm, maybe. Call it round. Two thousand bucks." My eyes burned. I pulled out my phone and called the one man Ethan hated most in all of New York, Adrian Sterling. "Mr. Sterling. That partnership agreement you offered me? I'm signing it first thing tomorrow morning."
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I Won’t Be Stand-In Anymore Chapter 9
Ethan's trial moved fast.The amount of money involved and the severity of the online harassment pushed the judge toward the higher end. Three years in federal prison.I didn't attend. Jenna went in my place.She came back bursting to tell the story."You should have seen him. He's gone completely to bones. Looked like a ghost.""When the verdict came down, he fell to his knees on the courtroom floor. Cried for you. Begged your name.""The bailiffs had to drag him. Literally drag him."I was marking up a design on my screen. My reply was flat."That's what he earned."On top of three years, he was saddled with more than two million in civil damages. No way he'd ever climb out of it.As for Celeste, her landing was even uglier.Out of the country, she blew through the three million she'd stolen. She caught the attention of an international fraud crew who relieved her of what was left, and then she got picked up by local police for suspicion of money laundering.Rumor had it she had no o
I Won’t Be Stand-In Anymore Chapter 8
Ethan's harassment didn't stop after the garage.It got worse. With nothing left to lose, he tipped into open revenge.If he wasn't going to survive this, he didn't want me to, either.A few days later, a long-form exposé dropped across every major feed.The headline was weaponized: "The Dirty Truth About 'X': New York's Darling Designer Slept Her Way to the Top."The piece purported to be an inside account. It said I'd been sleeping with clients back at Whitmore & Co., that I'd discarded my five-year boyfriend to climb into Adrian Sterling's bed, that I'd fabricated evidence, that I'd framed my innocent ex and driven his company into the ground out of pure malice.The article ran a grainy photograph, one of those candid shots taken at a bad angle over dinner, Adrian leaning in to hand me a napkin. You couldn't see what he was actually doing. You could read it as a kiss.It caught fire immediately. Trending list, front page.Strangers by the thousand started tearing into me. My DMs ove
I Won’t Be Stand-In Anymore Chapter 7
On an evening of torrential rain, he finally caught me in the underground garage.I'd just stepped out of Adrian's car and was heading for the elevator when a soaked shape stumbled out from behind one of the concrete pillars and hit his knees in front of me."Emily. I found you."Ethan looked wrecked. His hair hung in lank strings plastered to his scalp. The suit he wore was rumpled, and the wet fabric gave off a sour, stale smell.No trace left of the boss who'd held court on a yacht.He wrapped his arms around my calves. Tears and rainwater ran together down his face."Emily, I was wrong. I swear to God I know it now.""Celeste lied to me. The company's under. I've lost everything.""For the love of the five years we had, please, let me live."I looked at the heap of wet human at my feet, cold and unmoved."Want me to spare you? Sure."I pulled out my phone and brought up the court enforcement order."Two and a half million, principal and interest.""Pay it in full and we're even."E
I Won’t Be Stand-In Anymore Chapter 6
The morning after I dropped the alias, I sat down for an exclusive with the most influential trade magazine in the industry, under my own name, as X.In front of the camera, I spread out five years of original drafts and timestamped files. Every blueprint stamped with my personal watermark."For the last five years, for reasons that were personal, I chose to work anonymously.""My generosity was repaid with theft and public humiliation.""As of today, I am rescinding Whitmore & Co.'s commercial rights to every design I produced while associated with them."The interview dropped. The design world and half the business world detonated."Holy. This is the bombshell of the year. Whitmore's 'lead designer' was X the whole time.""Ethan Whitmore is a garbage person. Five years of leeching off a woman's talent and he called her a drafting machine?""I cannot stop laughing. He kicked the real talent out and kept the pretty girlfriend. He must be spitting up blood right now."Public rage rolled
I Won’t Be Stand-In Anymore Chapter 3
Nine sharp the next morning, I walked into Sterling Capital.Adrian slid a contract across the desk. The terms were astonishing.Total creative autonomy. Five million in startup capital. Fifty-fifty profit split."Mr. Sterling, these terms. Aren't you worried you'll lose money?"Adrian lifted his co
I Won’t Be Stand-In Anymore Chapter 2
Back at the penthouse we'd shared for five years at Park Crescent, I started packing.Turned out, not much of what was in the place was actually mine.I stood in the empty living room and looked at the space where I'd spent five years of my life, and something strange and clean settled in my chest.
I Won’t Be Stand-In Anymore Chapter 1
Five minutes earlier, Ethan had messaged me saying he was on the lower deck wrapping up an important deal. He told me not to come down.I worried his ulcer was acting up again, so I grabbed a thermos of hot soup and went to find him.The door wasn't shut all the way. The laughter spilled out through
I Won’t Be Stand-In Anymore Chapter 4
The news hit New York like a shockwave.Adrian Sterling's instincts were legendary. Anyone he rated this highly had to be something extraordinary.Meanwhile, Ethan was drowning.The designers he'd hired to replace me couldn't carry the weight I'd been holding. The new season rolled out to thin appla
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