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WREN

“Did Lemon LLC Steal Its Sparkle?” Talia reads, tossing the magazine on my table. “This is beyond ridiculous!”

The headline glares at me in a glossy, accusatory font. It’s the latest issue of Spotlight magazine, and what they've decided to put on the spotlight today is a lie from a so-called indie skincare creator. A lie that everyone else seems to believe now.

My hands clench the paper so tightly that my knuckles turn white. I read a tabloid this morning with the headline “Wren Sinclair? Or Wren Sinc-Liar?!” but even that didn't bother me as much as this.

“I can't believe Spotlight would publish this trash. I’m going to speak to the editor-in-chief.”

Not too long ago, Spotlight magazine heralded me asAmerica’s Skin Queen,but today, they’re dragging me like I'm a scam artist who steals from small creators. Of course, my PR manager is pissed about this.

Talia paces, clenching her shoulder-length brown hair as she swears under her breath. I’ve known Talia for a decade and I’ve never seen her wound up like this. She’s been my PR managersince my breakout as an actress and likes to joke that she doesn't work much since I don’t get into scandals and live a very quiet life. I almost chuckle now, thinking perhaps the universe has sent this mess our way thanks to her jokes.

“They’re a publication after all. This is trending news, of course, they would cover it,” I say, my stomach turning with each word.

“They’re supposed to be a reputable magazine, not highlighting gossip as reputable news.”

I read the article, though I already know what's in there.

Camille Ross is a name I’d never heard until two weeks ago. This Camille is a self-proclaimed indie beauty guru with a blog and a grudge. She claims I stole her idea. Not only the idea of fruit-based skincare but also our latest lemon glow serum —including the tagline for the serum: “When life gives you lemons… glow.”

I used to laugh at stories like this. But I haven't been laughing for the past week since her story went viral. My phone buzzes with notifications. I reach out to retrieve my phone from my bag. Talia takes my bag from me.

“Enough, please. Don’t read any more of those nasty comments.”

“It could be an important email.”

My phone buzzes even more. Talia whips it from the bag and glances at the screen. She grimaces.

“No. It’s not an important email. You’ve been tagged in the Spotlight article. It’s going viral. My goodness.”

She shrugs out of her tailored black suit and plops into the seat opposite me, looking drained.

“Let me see.”

Talia sighs, handing me the phone. The post has gained thousands of likes since it was posted with five thousand quotetweets discussing it. I scroll to the comment section. My stomach clenches. It’s a landfill of hate.

One of the accounts with the most likes slams:“Of course, she stole the idea off a struggling indie beauty creator. So sick of these capitalist losers.”

A stan account called WrenSinclairUpdates comments,“I’m so disappointed. I can't believe she hasn't addressed this yet :((”

User Yumix_x says,“Wren has always been fake. Knew it since her days on Crest. No wonder her cast mates HATED her and ran her off the show.”

I scoff. This couldn't be more of a lie. Everyone knows I left Crest after I became pregnant with my son, Eli. It was huge news back then when I left the show with the public and media spinning tales to make sense of it. At first, the narrative was that the show couldn’t afford me anymore, even though the show revolved around my character, Rhea Crest. Later, the story snowballed into more sensational territories about a feud between me and some co-stars.

I was eventually forced to reveal that I was pregnant and taking a step back from acting. The irony is that I revealed the news in aSpotlighteditorial.

“Wow, she’s just as terrible a person as Rhea in Crest omg. Freda was always the better Crest anyway.”

“Cancel Lemon LLC! #WrenSinclairIsOverParty”

I don’t even realize I’m holding my breath until my secretary, Lily, walks in.

“Wren?”

I look up.