Vanessa locked her bedroom door and slid down until her back hit the cold marble floor. Marcus’s words kept replaying, cruel and calm.
_You are a risk. There is nothing you can do._
Her hands shook in her lap. The Hale name had built her career, but tonight it couldn’t save her.
Her phone buzzed. Notification sliced through the silence.
_Mr. Kane: If you want to keep your career, you know what to do. 11PM. Come to my office._
Her chest tightened. Kane. Forty-eight. Starlight Films owner. The man who made three actresses famous… and destroyed five others.
Vanessa stared at the screen for three minutes. Tears dried on her skin, leaving salt behind. She knew what he wanted. Every actress knew.
But she had no choice left.
She stood on unsteady legs and walked to her wardrobe. Her fing
