Belittled on the Red Carpet
Angela · Completed · 9.7k Words
Introduction
. Don't interfere with Ryan's shots. Go back to carrying materials." The whole room burst into laughter; everyone thought I was a lowly sycophant forced to swallow my humiliation.
But I didn't get angry. I calmly took out my tablet, cut off all her studio's basic permissions with a single click, and immediately sent the irrefutable evidence of her breach of contract to the brand's legal department.
Three minutes later, she was completely stripped of her control and faced a multi-million dollar claim for breach of contract.
At first, she thought I was just acting out of spite, that a little charity would win me back. It wasn't until the day her assets were forcibly liquidated and she was completely blacklisted from the industry that she desperately realized: for the past three years, she had only been able to sit at the table because of my charity.
Later, shamelessly, she crawled through garbage cans, barefoot, to the airport, knelt before my bulletproof Maybach, and begged me to come back.
As for me, I simply walked onto the private jet surrounded by executives from top European conglomerates.
Chapter 1
Los Angeles, the star-studded red carpet event for a high-end luxury brand. The flashbulbs were as bright as day.
“Ethan, know your place. You’re just a backstage executor. Step back and don’t interfere with Ryan’s solo camera work.”
Maddie's shrill voice pierced through the noise of the media area. She was wearing the off-season haute couture gown that I had barely managed to borrow last night by using all my top connections, but now, in order to please the popular male star next to her, she was ruthlessly trampling me underfoot in public.
All eyes in the room instantly turned to them, filled with curiosity, mockery, and disdain.
Ryan adjusted his bespoke suit tie, deliberately flashing his signature gentle smile at the camera, but his tone was barbed: "McDy, don't be so harsh on Ethan. Although he usually only does spreadsheets and odd jobs, and his efficiency always slows down our core progress, but... in a high-level creative team like ours, someone has to do the dirty work, right?"
A few casual words not only erased the entire project framework I had worked day and night to build over the past few months, but also nailed me to the pillar of shame as an "incompetent scapegoat."
Several familiar entertainment media outlets burst into undisguised laughter. They only recognized the glamorous image of McGrady's studio and had no idea who truly held the trump card.
"Did you hear that?" Maddie, emboldened by her male companion's encouragement, grew even more arrogant. She looked down at me, issuing a command in a tone that sounded almost condescending: "Hurry up and get rid of that lifeless look on your face. Go and finish moving all the support materials for the back door fans. Also, at the press conference later, the project leader's name will be changed to Ryan, which wasn't originally meant for someone like you who's at the bottom of the hierarchy."
Clinging to male celebrities, plundering their achievements, and publicly humiliating them—that's her goal today.
Looking at the face I'd worked with for three years, I felt absolutely nothing.
I just think it's stupid. Incredibly stupid.
"Are you done talking?" I looked at her expressionlessly.
McGrady frowned, seemingly displeased that I hadn't immediately backed down: "What kind of attitude is that—"
I ignored her and, in front of all the media and cameras, took out my phone and tablet.
I dialed the brand's global executive vice president's private number. With a look of surprise on McGrady's face, I immediately pressed the speakerphone button.
"Oh! Ethan! My old friend, how did the press conference go? I'm watching the red carpet live!" On the other end of the phone, the high-ranking vice president's tone was filled with rare enthusiasm and respect.
“I’m sorry, Charles,” I said in a cold and steady voice, “I am officially withdrawing from the project regarding this joint launch event.”
The air in the room seemed to freeze for a second.
Maddie was taken aback at first, then sneered, "Ethan, are you crazy? You think you can threaten me with this childish resignation act? What are you if you leave the studio!"
I didn't even glance at her.
My hands tapped rapidly on the tablet as I typed in the sixteen-digit root server verification password.
"All press releases, matrix promotions, and joint placements on the homepage of 300 core media outlets under McGrady Studio..." I looked at the confirmation pop-up on the screen and pressed Enter without hesitation, "Withdraw immediately."
What nonsense are you spouting—
Before McGrady could finish speaking, gasps of surprise suddenly erupted from the media sections on both sides of the red carpet.
"What happened? The brand's official countdown page has disappeared!"
"My God! All the links to the press releases they just sent us are showing up as 404 invalid!"
"The trending topics have dropped! All promotional materials across various channels are being removed! We can't publish articles anymore!"
The media people who had been looking at me with amusement were now like ants on a hot plate, staring in horror at their phones that had become dead links.
Without my authorization for the API, Maddie Studio was completely mute at this press conference.
McGrady's expression finally changed. Her aloof facade crumbled instantly, and a flicker of disbelief and panic flashed in her eyes: "You... what did you do? You dare to tamper with the brand's advertising channels?!"
Even Ryan couldn't maintain his gentle, manipulative facade anymore. He immediately distanced himself from her and frantically asked, "McDy! What happened? What about my exposure?!"
I lifted my eyelids and finally looked directly at McGrady's face, which was slightly distorted with fear.
I clicked the send button for the last email.
“Just one minute ago, I sent a full HD recording of you publicly belittling your partner and unilaterally changing the project's lead authorship, as well as the original contract which clearly states that ‘Ethan has veto power over the project and its core clauses,’ to the brand's legal department.”
I closed the tablet and tossed it onto the ceremonial table next to me with a dull thud.
"Now, you can take your big star to face the brand's legal team's breach of contract lawsuit."
McGrady gasped. For the first time, she truly felt out of control. She thought I was just a backstage laborer she could manipulate at will, forgetting that for the past three years, it was my rules, my control, and my resources that had elevated her to a height that didn't belong to her.
"You dare to ruin this press conference!" Maddie trembled, still trying to maintain a semblance of dignity with her ridiculous social standing. "Ethan, you're dead! Believe me, I'll use all my resources to make sure you can't survive in the PR world of Los Angeles anymore!!"
"Whatever you want."
I had no interest in being sarcastic and turned to walk straight to the other side of the red carpet exit.
Behind him, the media was in complete chaos, with the frantic clicking of camera shutters and McGrady's barely suppressed screams.
Their misfortune has only just begun, and that is no longer my concern.
Stepping out of the glaring spotlight, the Los Angeles night breeze brushed against my face.
My phone vibrated briefly in my pocket; it was a pop-up message for a high-level email that had been intercepted through an encrypted channel but then allowed to pass.
Sender's signature: Global Partners Committee of Onesis Group, a top European public relations conglomerate.
The main text consists of only a brief one-line appendix.
"Your job offer has been confirmed and is now valid. Please take with you the complete project evidence chain. We can't wait to see how you dismantle those stupid old rules."
Last Chapters
You Might Like 😍
LOVING MY BILLIONAIRE STEPSON
There was also a twenty-year age gap between them, Michelle didn't care because their relationship was the only ray of sunshine in her rather bleak world. And when he popped the question she was more than happy to say yes. Michelle thought she had found her happily ever after, but she couldn't have been more wrong. With each year that passed Elliot became more of a stranger and less of the man she had fallen for, neglecting her and looking the other way when his mother treated her poorly, that was until the day their 5th anniversary rolled around, she caught him in bed with her sister.
Her love is replaced by hate, a swooning affection now burning rage. Well, two could play that game. That night, she dials her stepson's number with a single text that will change their lives forever.
‘I need you tonight’
Pawn of the Starless God
Instead, a god found me.
One moment, I was bleeding beneath the neon glow of the city, my life slipping through my fingers. The next, a glowing blue screen appeared before my eyes, offering me a choice that was never really a choice at all.
Accept the Summoner’s Mark. Or die.
Now I belong to the Death Game — a brutal cosmic system where ordinary people are turned into Players, thrown into impossible missions, and forced to survive horrors designed for the amusement of gods.
Every trial has rules.
Every monster has a weakness.
Every victory comes with a reward.
And every reward makes me less human.
My name is Nerissa Valehart, and I refuse to be anyone’s pawn.
But surviving the Game means trusting the one man everyone warns me to fear.
Veyren Ashford is ruthless, powerful, and dangerously beautiful — a veteran Player with blood on his hands and secrets in his soul. He says attachment will get me killed. He says love is a weakness the Game always punishes.
Yet when death comes for me, Veyren is the one standing between us.
In a world where gods gamble with mortal lives, monsters hunt from the shadows, and desire may be the deadliest weakness of all, I have only one goal:
Survive long enough to cross the board.
And make the Starless God regret choosing me..............
The Deadly Mafia Princess
Her gang take the matter in their own hands, to try to save their leader from the horror of her home. What none of them know, they wasn’t her real parents, and now Ro will be sent away to live with her real family. That makes her closest members in her gang pack up and move as well. They don’t want to be far away from their leader.
Rise of the Banished She-Wolf
That roar stole my eighteenth birthday and shattered my world. My first shift should have been glory—blood turned blessing into shame. By dawn they'd branded me "cursed": cast out by my pack, abandoned by family, stripped of my nature. My father didn't defend me—he sent me to a forsaken island where wolfless outcasts were forged into weapons, forced to kill each other until only one could leave.
On that island I learned the darkest edges of humanity and how to bury terror in bone. Countless times I wanted to surrender—dive into the waves and never surface—but the accusing faces that haunted my dreams pushed me back toward something colder than survival: revenge. I escaped, and for three years I hid among humans, collecting secrets, learning to move like a shadow, sharpening patience into precision—becoming a blade.
Then, under a full moon, I touched a bleeding stranger—and my wolf returned with a violence that made me whole. Who was he? Why could he wake what I'd thought dead?
One thing I know: now is the time.
I have waited three years for this. I will make everyone who destroyed me pay—and take back everything that was stolen from me.
Offside With You
At the hospital, Asher falls into a coma. His scans reveal bruises, internal bleeding and signs of prolonged physical abuse. Broken and furious, Aveline vows to expose the cruelty hidden behind the prestige of Crestwood Academy.
Cutting off her hair and disguising herself as her brother, Aveline infiltrates Crestwood Academy and fights her way onto the hockey team determined to unmask those responsible. Revenge should have been simple until she meets Kieran Hampton, the team’s arrogant and sharp-eyed star player. From their first clash, tension ignites. Aveline is certain he’s guilty and has no problem making his life miserable, but their undeniable chemistry only draws them closer with every confrontation.
While Aveline focuses on the wrong target, the real threat stands closer.
Cassian Thorne seems strange at first, his interest in her uncomfortably personal yet he gradually becomes her friend. Meanwhile, Kieran despite believing Aveline is male finds himself drawn to “him” in ways he can’t understand. When he uncovers her true identity, he chooses to protect her at all costs even as she refuses to trust him.
Revenge turns to grief when Asher dies, leaving Aveline drowning in guilt for falling for her brother’s supposed tormentor. Questions remain unanswered, and the truth is far darker than she imagined because Asher Carter was never just a victim. The bullying wasn’t just random.
As secrets unravel and loyalties shatter, Aveline must face one devastating question: what happens when the brother you were ready to destroy the world for isn’t who you thought he was?
Alpha Under Love Spell
Thorin pushed her on the bed and pinned her with his body. He growled near her face, “Liar!”
“No! No! I am not lying!”
“Then explain this!” Thorin whipped the screen of his phone near her eyes. Maeve looked at the screen, and her eyes widened with shock. It was a DNA report. It clearly said that Valeska was Maeve and Thorin’s daughter. “You have been lying to me for months now. Why did you hide that she is my daughter? Why did you start hating me? Did you never love me?”
“What should I have done? Let you kill my daughter!” snapped Maeve.
“What? Kill? What the hell are you talking about?” shouted Thorin.
After a passionate night with the Alpha Heir Thorin Blackridge, Maeve Arrendale, a human, found herself pregnant. She knew she had left her contact details for Thorin to find her, but he never came. Desperately, she went to tell him everything and ask him to take responsibility. But what came at her was humiliation and the devilish serial killer, Ozul.
She had no idea how she escaped her certain but she thanked every god and ran far away from Thorin and his world. She raised her child on her own. She herself had a difficult life and didn’t want her daughter to suffer. So she did everything in her power to give Valeska a good life.
Her life was turned upside down when Thorin came to her office as her boss. His fated mate, Vespera clinging to his arms. Now, Thorin hated her for vanishing from his life, and Maeve hated him for sending a serial killer to kill her.
Will Thorin accept his daughter? Will Maeve forgive him for attempting to kill her? If not Thorin, then who sent a serial killer to kill Maeve? An ancient magic, a prophecy, a powerful child is going to change everything in everyone’s life. Is everyone ready?
The CEO's Unspoken Love
Before I could answer, he moved closer, suddenly looming over me, his face inches from mine. I felt my breath caught, my lips parting in surprise.
"Then this is the price for speaking ill of me to others," he murmured, nipping my lower lip before claiming my mouth in a real kiss. It began as punishment but quickly transformed into something else entirely as I responded, my initial rigidity melting into compliance, then active participation.
My breathing accelerated, small sounds escaping my throat as he explored my body. His touches were both punishment and pleasure, drawing shudders from me that I thought he felt reverberating through his own body.
My nightgown had ridden up, his hands discovering more of mine with each caress. We were both lost in sensation, rational thought receding with each passing second...
Three years ago, to fulfill the wish of his grandmother, I was forced to marry Derek Wells, the second son of the family that had adopted me for ten years. He didn't love me, but I had secretly loved him all along.
Now, the three-year contractual marriage is about to end, but I feel that some kind of sentiment has developed between Derek and me that neither of us is willing to admit. I'm not sure if my feelings are right, but I know that we can't resist each other physically...
Taking what she wants ( Love and Revenge )
Adrian : Her careless and don't give a fuck attitude bothered me. when it was confirmed she wasn't responsible for the accident , i let her go but truth be told she had gotten under my skin. When I saw the chance of having her i took it. i could help that I had fucked her sister months prior. her family wanted me to leave her and marry her sister but that wasn't happening and they weren't going to stop. Some of my family members decided they wanted the family business and thought they could use Rayna to get to me but little did they know , the woman I married was a fucking demon and she was out for blood, her family and mine.
I looked at her laying in my arms and couldn't help but smile. she was finally mine.
Bella and Her Beast
.
Locked in her frozen tower, Bella dreamed of warmth, of touch, of freedom and of love. Cursed with the power of ice and snow, she’s spent her life alone. A secret they tried to protect the world from. Her only escape comes in the form of the books she reads. Stories of heat, desire, and the kind of love that could melt even her frostbitten heart.
Damien is the Beast. A dragon King with a temper forged in flame and a soul hollowed by duty. The world fears him. The people call him a monster. But beneath the scales and the rage lies a man who has never been touched by love.
When frost meets fire, the world shatters. She was never meant to leave her tower. He was never meant to find her. But destiny doesn’t bow to kings or care for cages and now the question burns through them both: Can Bella have her Beast? Or will the girl of snow melt in the heat of his desire?
.
"I’m keeping her."
"What?"
Before I can react, he scoops her up. Her small body fits easily in the cradle of his talons. For a split second, she looks startled, but not afraid. Her hand rests against one scaled finger, and she stares up at him with that same curious wonder, as though she’s already forgotten she was ever meant to fear me.
"Put her down," I try to command, panic threading through my thoughts. "You’ll hurt her."
"She’s ours," the beast insists, possessive and fierce. "Our snowflake."
The mafia princess return
Protectors Of Her Warrior's Heart
Rescued by men who call themselves Protectors—warriors from another realm who embody the legends of angels and vampires—she is thrust into a world she never knew existed. For the first time, she experiences freedom, safety, and the possibility of a future.
But freedom comes with a price.
Tali is forced to face the father she believed abandoned her and a powerful council determined to use her for their own ends. Stranger still are the abilities awakening within her—powers no one understands, yet everyone seems desperate to control.
As she learns to trust, she chooses the mates destined to stand beside her. In their arms she finds love, devotion, and a family worth fighting for. But not everyone wants their bond to survive.
When the council betrays the Protectors and attempts to steal her newborn son, it ignites a war that will shake every realm.
Now Tali stands at the center of a conflict far greater than herself. The answers to ancient mysteries, the fate of her child, and the future of countless worlds all rest on her shoulders.
Surrounded by mates who love her fiercely and refuse to leave her side, Tali will battle enemies old and new, forge powerful alliances, and discover just how strong she truly is.
Because this war won't be won for her.
It will be won with her.
And together, they will fight for their future, their family, and a love worth crossing realms to protect.
Rebirth Of The HighSchool Villain
When he chose Jane Sinclair over her, Aurora lost control and on graduation night, she died after drinking a poisoned wine, not knowing who poisoned her. With her last breath, she wished for a second chance and woke up one year before her death.
This time, Aurora refuses to be the villain. She breaks off her engagement, stops chasing Adrian, and walks away with her pride intact. But the more she ignores him, the more Adrian wants her back.
And when his cold, mysterious half-brother Marcel, the one who was supposed to die, returns and begins to fall for Aurora after she saves him. Now the brothers are at war.
One wants the girl who stopped loving him. The other wants the girl who saved him. But Aurora isn’t chasing anyone anymore. She’s rewriting her fate.
Will Aurora be able to change her fate? Will she return back to Adrian or choose Marcel? Or will fate turn her into the villain again? There is only one way to find out.
Take note, that names, characters, location are all fictional.
