Chapter 3

In the following days, the hospital bills and the agency's contract breach clause crushed me with the weight of mountains.

While my mom remained in the ICU, I could feel my money burning like wildfire.

For the sake of money, I even took part in Ultimate Survival, the most despised prank reality show.

However, what shocked me more was spotting Stan there.

His manager, Lilian Taylor, then sighed in disapproval. "Please try to hold back. Mia is already being flamed all over the internet, and you'll drive her over the brink with any more than that."

"That's not my fault when she's being a loser, is it?" Stan growled, as cold as ice.

Lilian sighed. "Just try to make an effort. Your ship still has fans."

Stan simply chuckled. "Play nice with her? Does she deserve that much? Do you think I would've played along if the agency hadn't forced me into this PR relationship six months ago and promoted it? Just looking at a woman who would stoop that low really puts dirt in my eyes."

I stood behind a wall, my fingers clawing so hard into it I was bleeding.

That man sure was savage!

He wasn't that nasty six months ago when the PR ship first started, but now, I realized that it was his own PR team that handled our chats.

Even as the thought hit me and left me suffocating, Breaker texted me.

[Long day at work, babe? I ordered takeout.]

Seeing that, I took a deep breath and put my phone away as I headed inside.

-

We were engaging in a mudball fight for the show when a starlet named Kelly Smith deliberately crashed into me, knocking me into the mud puddle.

She giggled, "Oh, Mia, I'm so sorry. It was an accident."

The production staff didn't stop as that was exactly what they wanted, while Stan stared at me loftily in disgust. "Don't try to play dead. Continue, or go to Block B if you can't stand this much!"

As every camera focused on me, I wiped the mud off my face and quietly pushed myself up.

I would bear with it for the sake of my mother's medical bills.

Later, during the break, while I was hiding in a corner to wash my face, Stan was sitting in an SUV nearby, his eyes on his phone.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated.

[Sorry, babe. Just saw a really hateful face so I was in a bad mood.]

[But just the thought of you cheers me up.]

My head jerked up toward Stan to see his long fingers rapidly typing on his phone.

What shocked me even more was that as he typed, his left index finger would tap his lap by habit.

It was just like the videos of his hand that Breaker had sent me, where he did the exact same thing.

My heart skipped a beat.

No… That was impossible!

How could Stan be Breaker?

My fingers shaking, I decided to prove it by sending Breaker another text.

[What are you doing right now, Breaker? I'd like to hear you sing.]

Then, I stared fixedly at Stan in the distance.

One second passed.

Then two.

Suddenly, he lowered his phone and rubbed his temples in annoyance before turning to talk to his assistant, Ben Jones.

Soon, Ben hurried off, and then my phone rang.

It was a voice message, and I tapped into it.

"Sorry, babe. I'm outside at the moment so there's a lot of noise, but I'll sing to you later in the evening, alright?"

His voice was machine-altered and had an electric hiss, but his intonation was exactly the same as when Stan spoke to his assistant just now.

And the thought left me freezing up.

So the perfect boyfriend who had stayed with me for two years, always asked after me, and wired me money just because I asked… was also the monster who kicked me when I was down and forced me to pay three million over nothing!

I was laughing silently as I stared at my phone screen, my tears rolling down my cheeks, mixing up with the mud.

'Oh, Stan…

'If you ever find out that the babe you've cherished for two years is Mia Luther, the woman you destroyed, what will your face look like?'