After the event, Candace and Cody came to pick Thea up at the hotel.
Candace sounded happy as she drove the car, “Did you enjoy the little show on stage just now?”
Thea blew out a breath from her cheeks, getting a bit worried. She didn’t even need to guess that Cody definitely directed all that to make her feel better. But what he did would definitely offend Rachel and her bunch.
“Cody, are you sure that was worth it? Will Rachel hate me even more?”
Cody was sitting in the passenger seat.
Thea would see his wide shoulders from this angle.
“That is not your concern, Thea,” the man’s voice was calm and deep, “Just do your job and make more money for the company. I will take care of the rest.”
He would always take care of the rest.
Thea blushed a bit as she dropped her gaze.
Cody was always a reliable and powerful man.
“Oh! I haven’t even mentioned that, Tiffany! She’s such a snobbish piece of shit. She posted that selfie with Rachel a couple of hours ago. And after Rachel made a fool of herself on the stage, guess what happened? That stupid bitch deleted the post! God… I hate her so much,” Candace shook her head.
Thea shrugged, “You don’t need to worry about her. I won’t get involved with her anyway.”
“Yeah,” Cody looked out of the window, “Definitely try your best to stay away from her.”
Meanwhile, Tiffany’s Twitter was swarmed with all sorts of condemns and criticism. Everyone was mocking her for being fake and a hypocrite. Her agent had stood out to make a clarification, saying that Tiffany only deleted that post because her Twitter account was hacked.
“Are you serious? It’s not like it’s the first time Tiffany acted like that, is it? She used to be friends with Jessica. But after that news about Jessica was exposed, Tiffany just abandoned her ‘best sis’ and went to fawn over Anna, who clearly had a bigger chance to win. After Anna was abandoned by her company, she went back to being friends with Jessica again. I dare you to find another person in their team who’s grosser than Tiffany.”
“She has no morals. I don’t want to see her face again.”
“Why is she so fake?”
Tiffany lost a lot of fans over the event, and she was devastated. She went to beg Derek for a solution.
But Derek was not in a good mood, “This is your fault, and there’s nothing I can do about it. You probably need to spend some money on PR. But it’s your studio’s expenditure. The company will take care of that for you. It’s clear on our contract.”
Tiffany was a spoiled rich girl, and she had built her studio a long time ago. She only signed Derek’s company because she needed their resources and connections. Accidents like this were not covered in their terms.
Besides, Tiffany always tended to do what she wanted. Derek knew she would fall one day. He didn’t want to take too much responsibility.
The PR was just a word, but the process was complicated and costly. They would need to pay at least millions for this. But there was also another way out, and Tiffany could present the audiences with some really good works to distract them. But she only had a minor role in a drama. And that role of hers was also outshone by Yolanda’s. Tiffany basically had no acting skills.
It seemed like the only way out was to beg for protection from the bigger figure.
Tiffany repeatedly begged Derek, asking him to solve this problem for her and promising that she would follow the company’s guidance after this. Derek finally pointed out a solution for her. Derek said Tiffany should take a couple of weeks off and stay low on social media.
People would forget about those things exposed online about her eventually.
And then, she needed to find Bentley Scott and try to be close to him. He was the only one who could help her right now.
Bentley’s name made Tiffany’s skin crawl. But she knew she had to do what Derek asked her to do if she still wanted to survive in this industry.
****
The shooting went well, and Thea soon got another one-week break.
Thea collected her stuff, ready to call her mother that she would go back to visit her and granny soon.
However, John’s call came in first before she could call anyone.
This man used to be her father. But now, seeing his name only made Thea feel disgusted. She picked up the phone.
“Thea, your Mom still owes me 5 million. You need to pay her debt off for her since you’re a star now.”
Thea frowned, “What the heck are you talking about? Are you delusional? If this is blackmailing, I swear that I will call the police.”
“Your Mom signed the contract herself. Even if you called the police, there would be nothing they could do. Your Mom owes me that much, kid. Just pay off her debt, so we don’t need to see each other in court. You’re a celebrity now. I bet you don’t want things to get scandalous, do you?” John sounded smug on the other side of the phone, and Thea only wanted to spit on his face! She hung up the phone and called her Mom. But no one picked up the phone.
Were Mom and Granny even alright?
Soon, a message suddenly burped in. Thea clicked it open, and it was her Mom and Granny standing behind a hot dog cart. It seemed like they were selling hot dogs on the street.
Tears welled up in Thea’s eyes as she started to get changed, putting a massive black scarf around her neck and sunglasses on to hide her face.
She asked Daisy to drive. Whoever sent that picture sent their location as well. It didn’t take Thea too long to find her Mom and Granny’s cart.
It was freezing outside. Thea couldn’t imagine how cold they must feel after standing there for so long.
When she got there, however, two men were smashing their cart, trying to push her Mom and Granny away.
“What the heck are you doing?!” Thea screamed as she dashed forward, pushing one of the men away.
“This place is private property! They shouldn’t stand there to sell hot dogs!” One of the men snapped back.
Thea looked around, hissing, “Bullshit! This place is not! Other people are also selling snacks here! Why don’t you go harass them too?!”
The other man fell to the ground, pretending to moan in pain, “Call the police! Call 911! I think this bitch just hurt my ribs.”