Chapter 7 Charlotte, Do You Enjoy Being a Lapdog?

"Eliana, you did that on purpose!"

The mocking laughter around him seeped into Samuel's nerves like poison, bit by bit.

After gasping a few sharp breaths, Samuel shot a vicious glare at Eliana.

"If you've lost your mind, go see a doctor. Don't bark at me like a dog." Eliana rolled her eyes, completely done with this. "I never made you mock me, and I never pushed you to use your connections to go after Ms. Julie."

"Ms. Eliana is right."

Julie nodded and softened her tone. "It's getting late. Let's head to the audition."

"Sure."

Eliana pulled herself together and followed Julie deeper into EverBlaze Media.

"Samuel, what do we do now? Should we call Steven or your dad?"

Just as they were about to step into the elevator, Eliana caught the sound of Charlotte crying and Samuel trying to comfort her.

Her eyes flickered, but she never once looked back.

……

"This is the waiting room, Ms. Sullivan. You can rest inside. You're number nineteen — I'll come get you when it's your turn."

Before long, Eliana and Julie arrived at the shared waiting room for the audition candidates.

Julie had other things to take care of, so she said her piece and left.

Eliana pushed open the door, and the moment she looked up, her heart skipped a few beats.

It seemed the pull of Theodore's final leading role before stepping behind the camera was even bigger than she'd imagined.

Every actor here today was a seasoned veteran with a long list of credits. There was even Scarlett Lewis, who had just won Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival.

"Move. Where did you crawl out from? Can't you see you're in my way?"

Eliana was still taking in the star power in the room when a sharp voice cut through the air behind her.

She spun around and realized that at some point, a woman in a crimson gown had appeared behind her.

Sophia Scott?

One look was all it took for Eliana to place her.

Sophia was the lead singer of a wildly popular girl group. With millions of fans and a loaded boyfriend backing her up, she had a terrible attitude and loved pushing other people around.

In her past life, Sophia and Charlotte had been close friends. Later, through some means Eliana never quite figured out, Charlotte managed to turn Sophia's boyfriend into one of her own admirers.

After that, things fell apart between Sophia and Charlotte. Sophia even went live to blast Charlotte publicly.

But the stream was cut off after barely ten minutes — Steven had stepped in.

Not long after, Sophia jumped from a building and died.

In short, Sophia was a tragic figure, but she was no saint either.

Eliana was here to audition, not to start trouble.

She had no interest in getting into it with Sophia. After a brief glance, she stepped aside without a word, clearing the path into the waiting room.

She thought giving way would keep things simple. Instead, it only made Sophia think she was easy to push around.

"Smart girl."

Sophia touched her chin and let out a cold laugh.

"Fine. I'll give you a chance to make it up to me. Go to the nearest coffee shop and get me a cappuccino. Hot. If the temperature is off when I get it, you're done."

"Get you coffee?" Eliana frowned, irritation clear in her eyes. "Ms. Scott, I'm not your assistant. Why would I do that?"

"Are you seriously talking back to me?"

Sophia hadn't expected the quiet, compliant girl from a moment ago to suddenly push back.

She crossed her arms, her expression growing even more arrogant.

"Get this straight — you're just some nobody actress whose name I can't even be bothered to remember. I have eight million fans. If they find out how you've treated me, you'll never work in this industry again."

"Eliana, are you picking a fight again?"

Charlotte stepped out of the elevator just in time to catch the scene. Her eyes darkened. Without bothering to find out what had actually happened, she walked straight over to Sophia.

"You're... Sophia? Ms. Scott, what a coincidence — I can't believe I'm running into you here. I'm a fan of yours. Do you have a moment? Could you sign my jacket?"

As she said it, she reached into her bag and pulled out a highlighter.

"You're Charlotte from Sullivan Corporation? I know who you are. You've got a bright future ahead of you."

Sophia recognized Charlotte the moment she spoke.

Knowing Charlotte had a close relationship with the head of Sullivan Corporation, Sophia warmed up to her immediately.

Before Charlotte even finished talking, Sophia took the pen and signed her name across the jacket.

While writing, she kept up the small talk.

"By the way, Ms. Sullivan, are you here to audition too?"

"I am. I'm going for the third female lead. Honestly, I wasn't interested in this project at first — I didn't even send EverBlaze Media my résumé."

"But Steven — the current president of Sullivan Corporation — thought the role suited me. He went behind my back and called Mr. Marshall himself, then had someone reach out to me directly. I didn't really have a choice. I couldn't let Steven and Mr. Marshall down."

Charlotte smiled as she spoke to Sophia, but her eyes stayed fixed on Eliana.

She was showing off. Clearly.

'See? What does getting Julie's approval even mean? My backing is Steven. With him, I can skip right past Julie and get whatever role I want.'

Eliana's mouth twitched. She had no interest in wasting another second on Charlotte or Sophia, and turned to leave.

But Charlotte wasn't ready to let her go that easily.

"By the way, Ms. Scott — were you upset with Eliana just now?"

"I don't know what she did, but I'll apologize on her behalf. She grew up in an orphanage and picked up a lot of bad habits along the way. After she joined Sullivan Corporation, Steven tried to rein her in, but nothing really worked."

"That said, no matter how poorly she behaves, she's still a Sullivan Corporation employee. I hope you'll let it go, for my sake."

Apologizing for her?

There it was again. That move — pretending to defend her while quietly dragging her name through the mud.

Eliana looked at Charlotte, then at Sophia, then at the other actors in the waiting room who had quietly tuned in to the conversation. She curled her lips into a cold, mocking smile.

"Charlotte, do you really enjoy being someone's lapdog that much?"