Chapter 5

No Best Actress winner had ever left an awards ceremony as humiliated as I did.

My dress was stained, and one earring was lost in the chaos.

A huge crowd of reporters chased after me; it didn't look like I had just accepted an award, but rather was fleeing for my life.

Brenda and Chloe were utterly terrified.

After we got into the car, it took them a while to calm down before Brenda asked:

"What the hell happened? You have a child? Ashton's? Where is the child now?"

There were so many questions, I gave a wry smile, unsure which to answer first.

Brenda and Chloe weren't the ones who started with me.

So, they only knew about Ashton and me from online rumors or overheard conversations.

During the year I disappeared from the public eye, everyone initially thought I'd been blacklisted.

When I returned to Hollywood, people then speculated I'd been too heartbroken from the breakup and had gone away to heal.

No one in the industry knew what truly happened that year.

Brenda and Chloe didn't either.

Until they saw that video today, they, like everyone else, assumed I'd gone to have a baby.

A year’s time fit perfectly.

Brenda even sounded a little excited:

"If Ashton comes looking for you because of the child, you should seize this chance to get back with him! You’ll be drowning in awards after that!"

I shook my head.

Brenda froze for a second, then nearly sprang up and hit the car ceiling.

"You're not planning to offend him again, are you?"

How could I dare?

My head shake meant: "There is no child."

There had been one, but I didn't keep it.

Brenda looked skeptical; a year was too coincidental.

She was about to ask more, but Chloe handed her phone over. "Brenda, look."

"Blacklisted trending topics again? Those vultures!"

Brenda snatched the phone, but after a glance, her expression turned strange.

"What… what's going on?"

There wasn't a single negative trending topic about me, not even an unflattering photo.

Yet, I had been utterly humiliated leaving the venue earlier.

This was Ashton’s doing.

It was easy for him to make someone's life difficult.

And just as easy for him to protect someone.

Brenda looked stressed.

"You really didn't keep the child? Then how do you plan to explain it to Ashton?"

Why should I explain anything to him?

He didn't love me.

And he and Camilla were about to get married.