Chapter 12
“Mr. Ridge!” Liam was shocked. Callan was the big deal in Arborfield, the kind of guy who could literally squash him with a flick of his finger.
“She’s with me,” Callan said, his voice dripping with disdain as he looked down his nose at Liam
Liam felt his legs buckle and grabbed onto the doorframe for support. He couldn’t believe Mary actually knew someone like Callan
On stage, Amaris noticed the awkward reaction and pretended to be embarrassed. “Oops, wrong press. But hey, that’s not why we won’t get right?
The judges looked even more uncomfortable than before. “How is that possible! Mary is just joking with us!“
“Exactly, just a joke. I’m sure a fair competition wouldn’t end so childishly: Mary wrapped up the preliminary challenges.
The applause erupted from the audience, and even Ostic clapped for her with genuine interest.
Noah leaned in, looking impressed. “What do you think, Mr. Hale Isn’t Mary amazing”
Osric raised an eyebrow slightly. “A bit clever, yes, but also way too arrogant.”
the title.
The folks she offended were all big shots in the industry. If she kept calling them out like that, they would never want to work with her again.
More importantly, the more Osric looked at Mary, the more he felt like he recognized her somehow.
During the voting, the judges made it clear they had no personal ties to Ismay and all gave their votes to Amaris. When the shady dealings came to light, the audience was even more determined to pick their favorite
“In the end. Mary snagged the talk show title by a huge margin, while Isnay barely scraped together third place
As they walked up to receive their awards, all eyes were on Mary, and Ismay was fuming, feeling totally humiliated.
“What gave this ugly bitch the right to steal my spotlight! She’s bound to lose all her fans once she takes that mask off, Ismay thought
Ismay shot a glance at someone she had set up, and before anyone knew it, a guy in a goofy duck–billed hat charged onto the stage, heading straight for Mary,
When he tried to grab her, Mary nimbly dodged to the side, tripping him so he ended up face–first on the
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“Wow, Mary, you just tripped your fan!” Ismay was frustrated that her first plan didn’t work and was getting ready to try again.
Mary shot a sharp look her way. “When did you see me push him? Ismay, just take your loss gracefully.”
“Yeah, of course, he was pouncing on Mary! I saw it!”
“Security! Get this guy out of here and figure out what’s happening!”
“Mary didn’t push him! I’ll back her up on that.”
A few other contestants chimed in to defend Mary while lamay stood there, her face flushed with embarrassment and anger.
The competition had just wrapped up, and Ismay snagging the championship was already a trending topic on the internet. When she glanced at her phone, she almost passed out.
“Who sent this? Did any of you talk to the media? Get Liam to take this down now!” she snapped.
She was fuming–shed thought the championship was practically locked up, and out of nowhere, Mary swooped in again. Her team hadn’t put in the effort, and now they’d gone ahead and hyped up the topic. Talk about embarrassment!
Liam walked in, and Ismay hurled the magazine she was holding right at him. “Look what you’ve done! Didn’t you promise I’d be the champion! Why would you even send Mary the deal again? If you hadn’t messed things up today with your greed, I wouldn’t be dealing with this! And the trending topic-
“Don’t worry, it’s already being taken down,” said Liam.
“What’s the point of that now? This just makes it look like Mary’s right about the cover deal!” may was ready to burst into tears from the stress.
