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“Excuse me?”

“Your first hit film? The one that put you on the map? Everyone in the industry knows you lobbied to have the original lead actress replaced. You took her role, her breakthrough.”

Marlowe's face flushes red. “Get out of my office.”

“And now you're doing the same thing with Camille. Using her, manipulating her to get what you want.”

“I said get out!”

“We're leaving,” I say, stepping between them. “But this isn't over, Ms. Skye.”

In the elevator down, Wren lets out a shaky breath.

“You okay?” I ask.

“No.” She leans against the wall. “But I needed to see her face. To know for sure.”

“And now?”

“Now we fight back.” Her eyes meet mine, fierce and determined. “She wants a war? She's got one.”

I nod, admiring her resolve. But the way Marlowe was so quick to escalate, the personal nature of her vendetta nags at me. It feels like there's more to this story than a rejected business proposal.

As we exit the building, my phone buzzes with a text from Cal:

More on Marlowe. Found an old connection between her and someone on Wren's team. Need to talk ASAP.

I glance at Wren, who's already on the phone with Talia, strategizing their next move. I don't want to worry her with half-formed suspicions, but my gut tells me we've only scratched the surface of what's going on.

And someone close to Wren might be part of it.

9

WREN

The air is thick with tension the next afternoon as I stare down at my legal team, their faces arranged in varying expressions of concern. The table between us feels like an ocean. Legal pads, coffee cups, and printouts of hateful social media posts are scattered across the surface.

“We have two options,” Peter Wells, our head counsel says, flipping through a thick stack of papers. “We sue Camille and Marlowe for defamation. Or we wait it out.”

“Waiting is killing us,” Ava snaps, pushing her hair away from her face. Her laptop screen glows bright. “Every hour, there is a new headline. New hate posts. People believe this lie.”

I massage my temples.

“Let me get this straight. Half of you think we should sue, and the other half think we should let it blow over?”

Peter taps his pen against his legal pad. “Litigation has risks. The discovery could be messy.”

“Messy how?” My voice rises. “We have nothing to hide.”

“It's not about hiding,” Jessica chimes in. “It's about public perception. These cases drag on for months, sometimes years.”

“And in the meantime,” Peter adds, “the narrative becomes 'big company bullies small creator.' Even if we win in court, we could lose in the court of public opinion.”

I glance at the social media reports. Our mentions are a dumpster fire. Sales are slipping. Retail partners are getting nervous.

“So we just... take it? Let Marlowe and her puppet trash everything I've built?”

Silence.