Chapter 3 Exposure

Charlotte staggered back two steps from the slap, covering her face, eyes wide with disbelief.

Tiffany screamed in fury, "Are you out of your mind? How dare you hit Charlotte!"

Steven's face went pale with rage. He stormed over, ready to hit Eliana back.

Eliana stepped back twice, dodged his hand, and stared at them all with cold, sharp eyes. "So what if I hit her? Say one more word and I'll hit you too."

She turned around, walked back to her room, and slammed the door shut behind her, locking it before anyone could react.

Banging and cursing came from outside the door, mixed with Charlotte's sobbing.

Eliana ignored it all and went to the wardrobe to pack her bags. She couldn't stand being in this house for another minute.

She didn't have much clothing. One suitcase was enough.

Three years with the Sullivan family, and she had never dared to ask for much, always afraid they'd think she was greedy.

Looking back now, it was laughable.

Eliana carried her suitcase out of the room to find Charlotte surrounded by the whole family in the living room, being comforted, one side of her face red and swollen, tears still wet on her cheeks.

Eliana said nothing. She dragged her suitcase toward the door.

"Stop right there." Steven's voice came from behind her.

Eliana kept walking.

Steven caught up in a few quick strides and grabbed the handle of her suitcase, yanking it hard.

The suitcase flew out of her hand and her clothes scattered across the floor.

"You hit Charlotte and you think you can just walk out?" Steven blocked her path, looking down at her.

Eliana looked up and met his gaze.

Steven was a head taller than her, broad and solid, built like a wall.

He ran the family's entertainment company and controlled resources across half the industry. In her past life, it was him who had blacklisted her and cut off every opportunity she had.

"What do you want?" Eliana said flatly.

"Apologize to Charlotte." Steven's tone left no room for argument.

Eliana looked at him and suddenly laughed. "Apologize to her? Does she deserve it?"

Steven's expression darkened. He stepped forward and grabbed Eliana's shoulders, trying to force her to her knees.

The others just watched coldly, with no intention of speaking up for her.

Eliana kicked Steven hard in the knee, slipped out from under his grip while he was caught off guard, and ran to the kitchen. When she came back out, she was holding a fruit knife, pointing it straight at Steven.

"Get out of my way!" Eliana gripped the handle with both hands, her eyes fierce enough to kill.

Steven froze for a second, then let out a cold laugh. "What, you're going to kill me?"

Convinced she wouldn't actually do it, he stepped forward and reached for the knife.

Without a second thought, Eliana drove the blade into his arm. Blood quickly soaked through, spreading across a wide patch of fabric.

Steven let out a low grunt and looked down at the wound in disbelief. Before he could say a word, he collapsed from blood loss.

The whole room was in shock.

Tiffany screamed in horror. "Steven!"

The family rushed to him, and Eliana used the moment to grab her suitcase and run.

By the time she reached the street, she realized she was covered in blood.

She pushed down the fear rising inside her, changed into clean clothes from her suitcase, and made her way to Isabella's place.

Isabella took one look at her and panicked, pulling her inside and wiping the blood from her face with a towel.

Once Eliana had fully calmed down, she told Isabella everything that had happened at the Sullivan house.

Isabella's eyes went wide. "You didn't actually kill someone, did you?"

"Of course not. I just got him in the arm." Eliana was surprisingly calm. "I'm not stupid enough to go to prison over someone like him."

Isabella still looked worried. "But will they let this go?"

"Doesn't matter. I'm not even afraid of dying. Why would I be afraid of them?"

Isabella looked at her, calm and steady, and felt like something about her had changed.

The old Eliana had always been timid, always backing down whenever the Sullivan family's interests were at stake.

Today she looked like someone who was finally fighting for herself.

Eliana had barely settled in when her phone rang. It was Simon.

She hung up without a second thought.

A few minutes later, Simon sent a message: [You hurt your brother. You're done in this industry. The Sullivan family can blacklist you just like that.]

Eliana glanced at it, ignored it, and tossed her phone aside.

Soon after, Samuel and Tiffany both sent messages too, all saying the same thing — come back and apologize, or they'd destroy her career.

Tiffany went further, cursing her, saying they should have let her die in the orphanage.

Eliana read through the flood of hateful messages and felt nothing but a hollow emptiness.

She calmly blocked every single number. The world went quiet again.

Just as she was about to get some sleep, Isabella rushed over with her phone, looking panicked. "Eliana, I think you've been exposed..."

Eliana took the phone and opened it. There was a video, with a caption that read:

[EXCLUSIVE: Sullivan Corporation signed artist tears up contract, attacks person in public — possible mental breakdown.]

The clip was only about ten seconds long and the quality was poor, but it was clearly from a security camera inside the Sullivan house. The person in the video was heavily pixelated — her face completely unrecognizable — but you could see a woman tearing up sheet music and then stabbing Steven with a knife.

The comments were already in the hundreds, all piling on the woman in the video, calling her desperate for fame, saying she attacked someone because she couldn't get work, with many calling for her to be arrested immediately.

Eliana frowned and was about to close the browser when her phone rang again — an unknown number.

She picked up, and Samuel's furious voice came through immediately. "Eliana, have you lost your mind? You blocked everyone's numbers?"

Eliana rubbed her ear, unbothered. "You were all spamming me. Am I not allowed to block you?"

There was a brief silence on the other end. Samuel lowered his voice. "Did you see the video?"

"I saw it. So what?"

"Right now it's just the pixelated version. But if you keep this up, I'll have someone remove the blur. Everyone will know it's you. You really think you'll have any career left after that?"

Eliana said nothing.

Samuel waited a few seconds, then continued. "I'm not threatening you. I just want you to come home. Steven's injury isn't serious. He said he won't press charges. All you have to do is come back, apologize, and write out the song for Charlotte. Then this whole thing goes away. Okay?"

Eliana listened, a cold smile tugging at her lips.

In the end, it was all about Charlotte.

"Done talking? Then I'm hanging up." Eliana didn't give Samuel a chance to respond and ended the call.

A moment later, her phone rang again.

Thinking it was Samuel calling back, she picked up ready to snap at him — but a bright, clear woman's voice came through instead. "Ms. Sullivan, this is EverBlaze Media. Your application has been approved. Please come in for an audition this coming Wednesday."