Chapter 1

The night I finally clinched the Best Actress award, the tabloids exploded with a video of me, undeniably pregnant.

The whole room erupted.

Every single reporter swarmed me, shouting,

"Ms. Miller, who is the father of the child?"

I turned my head, my gaze landing on Leo Vance, his face a mask of shock.

The man who was always so composed, so detached, lost his composure in public for the very first time.

I forced a smile, turning back to the reporters.

"I don't have a child."

The moment Leo left me for his childhood sweetheart, it sealed our fate. There was no way anything real could ever exist between us.

Before stepping out of the car onto the red carpet, Brenda, my agent, warned me repeatedly: if I ran into Camilla, pretend I didn't see her. Absolutely no more conflicts.

Who could blame her? Camilla’s backer was Ashton.

The Ashton family basically owned half of Hollywood.

There was an old saying circulating in the industry:

"Want to make it big? Sleep with Ashton."

Though crude, any woman connected to Ashton seemed to find their way effortlessly in the entertainment world.

Except for me.

I was the only one who had publicly dated Ashton, only to end up almost blacklisted.

All because I offended his childhood friend.

For six years after that, no matter how hard I worked, no matter how much the public loved my acting, I never won a single award.

Repeatedly being nominated, yet never winning, had stripped me of all my fire.

I started avoiding sharing stages with Camilla. Any script she showed interest in, I’d politely decline, citing scheduling conflicts.

Maybe my silent surrender finally got through to her, or maybe, with her and Ashton about to marry, she just didn’t want me to stir up any more drama.

So this time, they grudgingly allowed a single trophy to fall into my lap.

Brenda nearly cried when she heard the news.

"Skylar," she’d said, "the hard times are finally over."

Ashton was finally willing to let me go.

Even if the breakup wasn't my fault, I simply couldn't fight Ashton.

I’d given up a long time ago.