Vivian looked up.
Then she gave this awkward little smile and said, “Nathan, I didn’t have a choice.”
Nathan didn’t say a word, just kept frowning at her.
“Slight Love is basically my brand now,” Vivian said. “If I didn’t claim it, that would’ve looked really bad.”
Nathan still wasn’t talking–obviously her excuse wasn’t cutting it.
“That fan’s been stalking the show for weeks. If you don’t believe me, Nathan, you can check.”
“Even if we didn’t let him in tonight, he would’ve ambushed me later anyway. It was gonna happen
eventually.”
“When we bought that song from ‘Amor,‘ the price you paid was already insane. Even A–list songwriters only get like a million per track. Nathan, you gave her ten million–that’s way more than enough.”
But no matter what Vivian said, Nathan just kept staring at her.
The car was dead fucking silent.
They just sat there eyeing each other.
Finally, Vivian let out this huge sigh. She looked down and said, “Nathan, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, right?”
Vivian’s voice got all soft: “I’m running out of time. If I want to make things happen, this is what it takes. If my whole image falls apart now, how am I supposed to do what I set out to do?”
“As long as what I’m doing in the end is right, that’s what matters, isn’t it?”
Vivian paused, then looked up with a smile: “Amelia… she does the same shit, doesn’t she?”
Nathan’s jaw tightened as he looked at Vivian with her watery eyes.
“So what…” Vivian’s eyes were getting teary. “She can all this stuff, but I can’t?”
“Is this you playing favorites, Nathan?”
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Nathan looked away. He stopped watching Vivian and stared out the window instead.
It was getting dark outside. Everything was flying past in a blur, streetlights throwing these old, tired
shadows.
Amelia wasn’t like that.
Nathan thought to himself.
She’d bend over backwards to take care of everyone.
Amelia… she only went hard on herself.
Nathan’s head was suddenly pounding.
But Vivian… she only had six months left.
Fuck it.
Meanwhile, Vivian studied his profile, her eyes calculating as hell.
She absolutely had to nail the best performance for round one, because that was the only way to prove that “even amateur Vivian could destroy the competition.” That was the whole point of joining this damn
show.
To completely crush Amelia.
If Elena hogged all the attention, how could she spin this for publicity?
So at least round one–she had to fucking win round one.
The Bentley was flying down the highway while Amelia had already picked up Mila.
Amelia had scrubbed off all her mermaid makeup and was holding Mila’s hand in this art supply store, buying drawing stuff.
Mila was obsessed with art. It was actually Mila’s painting that had brought them together in the first place.
“Aunt Amelia, can I get this?” Mila asked super carefully, pointing at this paintbrush set,
Amelia got down to her level, touched her head, and sad gently, “Hey, you don’t have to ask permission, Mila. Whatever you want to do, I’ve got your back.”
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Mila lit up. She loved feeling like this.
But even though Aunt Amelia said that, she wasn’t gonna go crazy buying stuff. She only grabbed what she actually needed.
Amelia could tell what Mila was thinking and just loved her even more.
Mila had this heart thing–ventricular septal defect, which is basically a hole in her heart.
She’d taken Mila to see Harper, and apparently if they did surgery and kept an eye on things afterward, she’d be totally fine.
But Mila’s parents still dumped her anyway, which made Mila think she was this huge burden. The kid
had zero confidence.
But from now on, Amelia was gonna treat Mila like her own daughter. She’d make sure Mila got better.
Thinking about that, Amelia grabbed a few more things Mila might need.
After they paid, Amelia took Mila’s hand and they walked outside.
They were just strolling down the street, with Mila telling her about all the funny stuff that happened at
preschool, and they were both cracking up.
A Bentley went speeding by.
In the back seat, Nathan caught sight of the woman and kid laughing together, and his mood got all weird.
Amelia brought Mila to the private dining room Louie had booked.
Se7ven, Harper, and James were already there. Louie was still on his way.
The second Amelia walked in with Mila, Harper rushed over.
“Mila!” Harper was grinning as she pulled out this gift she’d bought. “You remember me, right?”
“Hi Aunt Harper,” Mila said sweetly, but she didn’t take the present right away. She looked at Amelia first.
Only after Amelia nodded did Mila happily grab the Cinnamoroll stuffed animal Harper got her, her whole face lighting up.
“Thank you, Aunt Harper.”
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Harper was absolutely smitten with this kid and gave her cheek a little pinch.
Amelia was beaming too.
Everyone sat down to eat.
While they were waiting for Louie, Harper told Amelia “I already talked to the hospital. We should get Mila some tests done soon, and once all the legal stuff goes through, we can get her surgery scheduled.”
Since the adoption wasn’t official yet, getting Mila surgery was kinda complicated.
Amelia nodded. “Thanks.”
“No worries,” Harper smiled. “I’ll get my brother to do himself. You know he’s like, the best.”
Then Harper turned to Mila with this sweet smile: “Don’t worry, sweetie. After the surgery, you’ll be just
like all the other kids.”
Mila was obviously scared about the surgery, but she nodded really hard anyway.
She wanted to be normal so bad.
Even if it hurt, she’d tough it out.
Seeing how brave Mila was being, Amelia couldn’t help pulling her into another hug.
“I’m here!” Louie burst through the door and signaled for them to start bringing food.
Louie had brought Mila a present too. Everyone was just obsessed with this little girl.
The whole dinner was amazing for everyone.
Online, people were going absolutely nuts talking about Elena.
Elena’s music, Elena’s performances–everything about her was blowing up.
Every influencer on the planet was using her songs for their content.
There were text videos, dance videos, you name it.
But mostly it was people trying to cover her songs. Son actually pulled it off and got tons of praise, but way more people totally failed and their voices cracked which was actually hilarious and everyone was eating it up.
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At the same time, everyone was trying to figure out who Elena really was.
“She’s wearing that mask, so maybe we already know her?”
“When is she gonna take that thing off? I’m dying to know!”
“Same! I’m so curious!”
Just when everyone was obsessing over Elena, this bombshell story suddenly shot to number one trending:
#Cheating Wife: Amelia and Louie Cavendish Caught in Intimate Moments, Spotted Together Multiple
Times#
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