REBORN AS THE CEO’s DIVA

Except me.

The next morning, Zoey walked into Cole Tower at 8:59am.

The guard at the front desk stood up fast when he spotted her. “Hi, Miss Zoey, Mr Cole is waiting for you on the 25th floor.”

Ethan’s office door was opened this time around. He sat behind his big black desk with a neutral face. Just a pen in his hand and a stack of papers on the table.

“You’re on time.” He said, using that as a hello.

“I’m always on time, now.” Zoey sat across from him. She doesn’t wait for permission from him anymore.

Ethan pushed forward the papers to her. “Cole Entertainment contract. Five years of Lead roles, brand deals, and full control of your image. She picked up the papers and started reading the pages one by one. Page one, page two, page five.

Then she suddenly laughed.

“Clause 12,” she said. “You stated here that Artist will not date co-stars, directors, or staff.” She scoffed. “You want me locked up like a nun or something?”

Ethan leaned back. “It’s normal, Zee. I don’t want my star in a scandal, AGAIN.”

He said it calmly but his eyes were all over her, testing her.

Zoey put the contract down and took Ethan’s pen from his hand.

“Then add this,” she said. She wrote on the bottom of page five, big and clear.

Clause 12b: Artist will not date, except Ethan Cole.”

She pushed the contract back to him. “Sign it.”

Ethan looked at what she wrote. The room suddenly went quiet, even the AC stopped for a moment.

Then he scoffed. “You think you’re funny, Zee.”

“No, I think I’m smart.” She didn’t shift her gaze from his for a moment.

“Sophia signed blindly and died for it, now Zoey reads every single word. You want me to put it in writing?”

Ethan picked up the pen, their gaze still fixed on each other.

“Last chance,” he said. “You sign this, then you’re mine. Everywhere, on paper, in public, in every room in New York. There’s no room for take-backs.”

“Good, she said. “I don’t want take-backs anyway, I want paybacks.”

Ethan Cole signed the contract and pushed it back to her.

She signed it, Zoey Walker. Slowly and neatly, it was as though she was signing Adrian’s end.

Ethan took the contract back from her and locked it in a drawer.

“Now, we have a problem.” He said.

“We have so many problems, Mr. Cole. Which one is it this time?”

He turned his laptop to her face. “Mia says you stole Crimson Throne’s role from her and you had to sleep with me to get the role.”

On the screen, Mia was crying. But Zoey knew they were fake.

“Sophia always stole everything from me. Now she has rebranded, changed her name and stolen my role…”

Zoey watched for six seconds and stood up.

“Very good.” She said.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Good? How? She just called you a w***e to freaking 2 million people.”

“Exactly.” Zoey took out her phone, opened her camera and went straight to i********:. “Last life, I hid and cried myself to stupor, this life, I go live, too.”

She hit the Live button. Streets Blog NYC shared it in nothing less than 15 seconds.

She faced the camera with a bland look. No makeup, a very messy hair and the red dress from last night.

“Hi.” She finally said to almost 90,000 people. “I’m Zoey Walker. Yesterday, I was Sophia Taylor to everybody, but now I’ve rebranded and I’m not hiding.

The comments immediately went wild.

“SOPHIA IS ALIVE??? OMG”

“WELCOME BACK QUEEN.”

“WE MISSED YOU ON OUR SCREENS.”

“Mia says I stole the role from her, but I did not. She’s right about one thing though, I did take something.” Zoey smiled very coldly. “I took my life back. Mia, Adrian, silver screen. You all had five f*****g years to kill me, but you failed. Of course you’ll always fail.”

She leaned closer to the camera. “Crimson Throne comes out in three months, watch me win! And Mia? Keep on crying all you want, it looks so good on you.”

She ended the live and the office went quiet. Ethan watched her but his face showed no emotion.

“Clause 12b,” he said with a very low voice. “Does that start now?”

Zoey looked up at his scar, at the fire and desperation in his eyes.

“No.” She replied. “It starts when I say it does. Read the entire contract Ethan, you know fully well I have full control.”

His lips curved into a sharp smile. “Noted, Zee. But when you say it…”

He leaned down to her. He didn’t touch her, he just leaned close enough for her to feel his breath.

“I won’t be gentle.”

He walked out and left her in the office. Her heart was racing very fast she had to hold the desk to stay still.

Last life, she had died waiting for a man to save her, but this life, she just made a deal with the devil and she planned to win.