Chapter 3

3.

Robert remained silent for a long time. The aggressive anger that surrounded him finally dissipated.

He looked up at me, a rare look of guilt on his face, his eyes turning red.

"I'm sorry."

"It was my fault. I didn't mean for it to happen."

"I love you, Evelyn. You're the only one for me."

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me, his chest hot against me. "I just saw her getting bullied by an assistant director at an audition, and it reminded me of when I first started. No connections, no backing, just people looking down on me… I was wrong. Whatever you do to me, I'll accept it. I really didn't mean to hurt you."

In all our years of marriage, this was the first time he had ever shown such vulnerability. I felt the wetness on my shoulder, sighed, and my heart softened.

"I can let this go."

"But Chloe Bennett... I don't want to hear her name from your lips again, and I don't want to see you involved with her in any way."

"If she's so talented, let her make it in Hollywood on her own merit."

"This is your last chance, Robert."

I pushed him away and looked into his swollen eyes, speaking each word carefully.

"If there's a next time, we're getting a divorce. I will not allow my partner to betray me."

He seemed to tremble with fear. His eyes were red-rimmed, his voice choked.

"Okay. I will never let us get divorced."

He pulled me into a hug so tight I could barely breathe, as if he wanted to merge me into his very bones.

To prove his commitment, he deleted all of Chloe's contact information right in front of me and transferred her contract to another agent at the company. He spent a week at home as a full-time husband, and after much consideration, I decided to give him back the director's chair for the HBO project. I knew he had poured as much of his heart and soul into this script as I had.

We threw ourselves back into pre-production, and our relationship began to heal.

I never made any effort to crush Chloe. A minor actress wasn't worth my energy. But Hollywood is full of shrewd people. Some things they do on their own, even without my explicit word.

Without Robert's resources backing her, Chloe found it impossible to get anywhere. She slowly faded from the scene.

I poured all my energy back into shooting the new series.

A few months later, we wrapped.

The wrap party and media press conference were held at a five-star hotel. As the creative leads, Robert and I were supposed to attend together. But just as we were about to enter the ballroom, his phone rang.

It was an unknown number.

He frowned and declined the call, but the person on the other end was persistent, calling again and again.

After rejecting the call a dozen times, he was about to block the number when a text message with a photo came through.

Robert's face was grim as he opened it.

The next second, his expression changed dramatically.

"I have an emergency, I have to go. You go on ahead."

Before I could ask what was wrong, he had already disappeared around the corner.

With Robert gone, I had to face the press conference alone. I stood by myself, facing countless cameras, forcing myself to answer questions about the series. As I was cheerfully telling a story about my on-set interactions with the director, a commotion erupted from the audience.

A TMZ reporter in the front row held up his phone and shouted a question.

"Ms. Reed! Your husband, Robert Vance, just posted on Twitter publicly supporting actress Chloe Bennett and accusing someone in the industry of maliciously blacklisting her! What are your comments on that?"

"Is his sudden departure related to this matter?"

His words dropped like a bomb. Every camera instantly swiveled to me, the flashes so bright they hurt my eyes.

"Ms. Reed, is it true that Chloe was not only shelved by your company but was also driven to attempt to end her life at the Santa Monica Pier?"

"Ms. Reed, does your company engage in the abuse and exploitation of its artists?"

"Ms. Reed, is your marriage with Director Vance in trouble?"

My ears were filled with a cacophony of questions. I was completely bewildered and had to be escorted off the stage by security, ending the press conference abruptly.

Backstage, I pulled out my phone and saw a long post from Robert's official, verified account.

[Effective immediately, I will be stepping down from all business at Reed Pictures and forming my own personal studio.]

In the statement, he went on a long rant, condemning the company for "exploiting" and "persecuting" Chloe. He detailed her "struggles" and "talent," every word dripping with sympathy and a fierce desire to protect her.

He said he couldn't bear to see a brilliant young actress's career destroyed, so he had decided to use all of his resources to make her a star.

And Chloe, the center of this storm, had retweeted his post with her own caption.

[After the storm, there's always a rainbow.]

[With you by my side, no matter how rough the road ahead is, I will keep moving forward. @RobertVance]

Below the text, she had attached an intimate photo of herself and Robert.

Looking at the comment section, which had already exploded, I felt a chill spread from the pit of my stomach.

The project I had meticulously prepared for three years, my passion project, at the very moment it was finally ready to be unveiled, was being dragged through the mud by the husband I had built from nothing. All for another woman. And he did it by stabbing me in the back.

I suppressed the rage boiling inside me and immediately dialed Robert's number.

"Give me an explanation."

His voice on the other end was distant and cold.

"Evelyn, Chloe almost died!"

"If I hadn't gotten there in time, she would have jumped from the pier!"

"She works so hard, yet she was being crushed by the company, bullied by everyone, all because you couldn't stand her!"

"I will not stand by and watch her be destroyed! I have to help her!"

"Help her?" Hearing his words, I laughed until tears streamed down my face. "And your way of helping her is to drive a knife into my back?"

"You didn't even bother to verify the facts before you posted that garbage, slandering me and my company. Did you even think about the consequences?!"

"I can't think about that right now! You were the one who abused your power first! You ruined her! I have to protect her!"

He slammed the phone down.

Listening to the dial tone, the last bit of warmth in my heart turned to ice.

I threw my phone at the wall. The screen shattered instantly, and with it, our wedding photo on the lock screen, of us dressed in elegant formalwear, was torn into a million pieces.

Alright, Robert. You want to play this game? Fine. You just declared war on an opponent you have no idea how to fight. Let's see how this plays out.