Bound to My Boss

If someone had told me my career would die within a week, I would have sworn they were lying. I never saw the hit coming. I sat in the quiet of my trailer on the Easton Studios back lot, folding the remnants of my life into a box while my phone buzzed against the table like an angry insect. Different hashtags. Cruel comments. Over forty million views. All for a fake Video. “Twenty minutes, ma’am,” Walt said softly from the doorway. He was the night guard, his uniform slightly rumpled as he offered a sympathetic look. “The front office told me twenty minutes, but I could stretch it to thirty if you need it,” he added. I forced a tight smile. “Twenty’s fine, Mr Walt. Thank you.” He cleared his throat, shifting his weight from one foot to another. “For what it’s worth, my daughter watches all your movies. She told me there’s no way that’s you in that video. She’s certain of it.” A sudden knot formed in my throat, making it hard to swallow. “Tell her thank you for me.” He gave a small nod and stepped back. The door clicked shut. I didn’t need to watch the footage again. I knew it by heart, the way you remember a recurring nightmare. It was a one-minute clip from the Revenge or Not premiere party. In it, I was wearing my signature red dress, cornering a young production assistant named Dani in a dimly lit hallway near the restrooms. The camera captured my hands landing on her cheeks, giving her a hard slap. “You are nothing,” my voice had hissed through the speakers, “and nobody would even notice you if you disappeared.” I pushed her off and the clip ended with Dani crying as I walked away. One thing I knew for sure was I had never said those words and I never touched Dani. The video was fake but without proof the world didn’t care. Why would anyone go to such lengths to destroy me? On the night of August ninth, I had actually left the premiere at nine p.m. It was the anniversary of my mother's death. I had spent those exact hours sitting on my cold kitchen floor with a cup of tea, the one she used to make for me, as I rehearsed her first ever monologue to keep the loneliness at bay. But nobody cared to investigate nor look into my alibi. Dani played the perfect victim, refusing to see me or answer my calls. My Agency held an emergency meeting, placed my contract under review, and terminated it in less than a week. Now, my face was plastered across every gossip site. The brands I represented pulled down my billboards overnight and even my own manager had stopped answering my calls. My whole life had turned upside down in just a week. “You know what the absolute worst part of this is?” Theo said, cross-legged on the floor as he fixed his make-up box. Theo had been my best friend since tenth grade and my personal stylist before I could ever afford to pay him. “You didn’t even get to actually scream at anyone.” He continued, adjusting a brush container. “Like, in reality. If I were the one getting cancelled, I would have at least made sure I committed the crime.” A cracked, breathy laugh escaped my lips despite the heavy weight on my chest. “Maybe I should become a barista. I need a new source of income” “You’d be a terrible barista. You burn toast." “I know.” We both shared a small, bittersweet laugh. I reached down to grab the final item left on the dressing table. It was my very first script, now scuffed and dented. I pressed it against my chest and, out of habit, one I had never told a living soul. I reached out and knocked on the wooden frame of the mirrors three times. “The light stays on.” That was Mom’s phrase. She said it before every performance and I had adopted it before every scene but this time around, it felt like a final goodbye. A slow, deliberate knock rattled the trailer door. I turned so quickly the script nearly slipped from my hands. A man stood at the doorway. He was tall, his broad shoulders easily filling the space beneath a tailored black overcoat. His dark hair was perfectly styled, except for a single strand that had fallen across his forehead. He had a sharp jawline and steady gray eyes that seemed to strip away my defenses the moment they locked onto me. I recognized him instantly. I had seen his face on a hundred corporate magazine covers, and more importantly, his elegant signature was neatly stamped at the bottom of my termination letter. Julian. Julian Easton. “Leave,” Julian said, his voice flat and dangerously calm as his gaze shifted over to Theo. Theo blinked, completely caught off guard. “Excuse me, sir?” Theo glanced at me, waiting for me to put him in his place. But Julian’s eyes slid back to me, silently demanding that I dismissed my friend. I shouldn’t have bowed to the man who had just dismantled my career, but a sudden curiosity flared up inside me. I wanted to know why the king of Easton Studios was standing in my trailer. “Theo”, I said quietly, keeping my eyes on the intruder. “Give us a minute, please.” Theo hesitated, looking between us. Finally, he picked up his phone, giving Julian the fiercest glare a loyal best friend could muster, and slammed the trailer door hard enough to make the vanity mirror rattle. “Ms.Bellamy,” Julian began, his tone low, smooth and completely unbothered by the dramatic exit. “I apologize for coming so late.” “What the hell do you want?” The corner of his mouth ticked up into a slow, infuriating smirk. “Easy, Ms.Bellamy. Let’s keep our tempers in check.” “You fired me and terminated my contract.” “I did.” “Then why are you here?” He didn’t answer immediately. He just stood there watching the frantic rise and fall of my chest, taking pleasure in the fact that he had successfully baited me into a corner. I wanted nothing more than to wipe that arrogant look off his face. “To tell you not to bother shopping for a new agency,” He said casually, taking a step forward. “I will have a proposal ready for your review tomorrow morning.” I let out a harsh, dry scoff. “I’d rather starve on the street than set my eyes on you again. So to hell with your proposal.” “You are welcome to starve. It really makes no difference to me.” “You are completely out of your mind.” I snapped, my hands curling into a fist at my sides. “You ruined my career, and now you show up with a proposal?” “Yes, that’s precisely how this works.” I dragged both hands down my face, fighting the exhaustion creeping into my bones. “Well I don’t care. I don’t want to see you, and I don’t want your proposal so leave my trailer. Now.” He didn’t argue. Without a single word, he turned and disappeared into the night, the steady rhythm of his leather shoes faded across the lot. In a burst of pure rage, I threw the script I had been holding on to at the door, but it did absolutely nothing to ease the fire burning in my chest. Within seconds, the door burst open and Theo rushed back inside. “Did he threaten you? Because I have a hot styling comb in my bag, and I’m ready to burn his designer coat.” I couldn’t even bring myself to answer, biting my tongue to keep the hot tears from spilling over. Theo’s expression softened. He sat on the floor and flipped his laptop open. “Listen to me, Don’t cry, okay? I actually found something, but you have to promise me you won’t freak out.” “Why would I freak out?” “Because for the past forty-eight hours, I have been running the scandal video through a detection program to look at the hidden files layers. I didn’t want to say anything until I was completely certain.” “Certain of what, Theo?” He turned the laptop screen toward me and pointed his manicured finger at a line of code. “ Look at the creation Timestamp . October seventh, 2:00 pm” I stared at the numbers, my knees starting to feel like water. “The premiere party wasn’t until the ninth.” I whispered. “Exactly. Someone made this video two whole days before the party even happened. But that isn’t even the worst part” He pointed to the string of text below it. “The file was uploaded directly from the Easton Studios internal corporate server. Whoever framed you is an insider. Someone we know” A sickening knot twisted in my stomach. An insider? My mind ran through every industry rival, every annoying producer and staff member but nobody fit the profile of someone with that kind of deep server access. Out of nervous habit, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone, intending to clear the screen but something was wrong. My phone was still buzzing like an angry insect but the notifications flooding my screen had completely changed. The hate comments had vanished, replaced by news alerts. “What the actual—“ Theo breathed, staring at his own phone. My thumb trembled as I tapped open the official Easton Group Media page. A massive headline stared back at me in bold letters. “BREAKING NEWS: VICE PRESIDENT OF EASTON GROUP, JULIAN EASTON, ANNOUNCES ENGAGEMENT TO FALLEN ACTRESS KATHY BELLAMY. WEDDING SET IN A MONTH.” My breathing completely hitched in my throat. I was getting married to that monster and I didn’t even know about it?