All Chapters of Scripted Disaster: When Life Refuses To Follow The Script.: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

Nora blinked against the camera lights, her expression steady in the way only years of media training could teach. She’d done this hundreds of times — interviews, book signings, late-night talk shows, book tours — but tonight, something felt off. The lights were too bright, and for a fleeting second, her practiced smile faltered.“Nora,” the interviewer began — a woman with hair so precise it might’ve been carved, and a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “It’s been two years since The Paper House — your third novel, the one that cemented your reputation in psychological thrillers. A runaway hit, optioned for film before it even left the bestseller list. A phenomenal success. Yet… we’re still waiting for book four. Your fans are eager.”There it was. The million-dollar question. The one she’d rehearsed answers to a dozen times and still couldn’t stomach. Nora adjusted in her seat; the silk blouse that once made her feel powerful now felt tight, constricting. She could sense the au

"Fuck…” the profanity slipped out like a tired sigh.Ethan sat behind the wheel of his car, his posture rigid in his seat as he fought the strong urge to run back into the house and hold his wife until both their broken pieces felt whole again.The look on her face when he suggested the separation would haunt him for the rest of his life, and he had wanted so badly to take back his words, but he knew that separation was the right decision. Not because he wanted it, far from that actually, but because he had run out of ideas.Every attempt to comfort her had somehow backfired- used against him like a weapon in a war he never wanted to fight. It felt like he was trying to debug a program blindly, and the original coder was adamant about leaving it the way it was.‘If only…’ he thought to himself as he spared one last longing look towards the house before driving off.…Driving at breakneck speed, he arrived at the office in record time. He parked his car in his private underground parki

The answer didn’t come to her until later that evening, during the livestream Carmen had organized as a last-ditch effort at damage control. Since Carmen couldn’t trust her with another unfiltered interview, a "casual" Q&A on Nora’s social media had been the next best option.Carmen stood just behind the tripod, flanked by two assistants who were monitoring the lighting and the live feed. Before they’d started, Carmen had given Nora an earful about "minding her tongue" and "sticking to the talking points." Now, Carmen’s hawk-like eyes burned with a warning as she began the final silent countdown with her fingers.Three. Two. One.“Hey, guys,”…Ethan had just come out of yet another meeting. In the six days since leaving home, he had attended more than a dozen sessions lasting several hours each, trying to soothe the ruffled feathers of the board and his lead investors.He lay back on the couch in the resting area of his office, massaging his temples. The last meeting had been a five-