Chapter 19

Vivian's fingers trembled slightly as she applied the last stroke of mascara. The reflection in the mirror showed a woman reborn - not the brokenhearted divorcee from yesterday, but a determined artist ready to reclaim her place in the spotlight.

A miracle had happened last night. Lydia Bennett, her former agent, had actually agreed to meet after all these years.

"Vivian?"

The crisp knock at her apartment door made her jump. That voice - sharper now, more authoritative - still carried traces of the eager young agent she once knew.

She swung the door open to find a vision of corporate chic. The Lydia standing before her wore a slate-gray power suit that screamed success, her once-round cheeks now sculpted into razor-sharp cheekbones. This was no longer the struggling agent who'd taken a chance on an unknown actress.

Back when Lydia first signed Vivian, she'd been a nobody in the industry. "My first real protégé," Lydia had gushed, eyes shining with dreams of their shared future.

How quickly things changed.

Within two years, Lydia became the agent everyone wanted, launching fresh faces into stardom while Vivian... Vivian had chosen love over career, frozen in time like some tragic heroine from a period drama.

"Lydia." Vivian stepped aside, gesturing toward the plush armchair. "Please."

Lydia swept in, her designer heels clicking like a metronome counting down Vivian's humiliation. "So the fairytale ending didn't work out?" The words dripped with acid. "No happily ever after playing house with your rich husband? What was it you told me? 'He hates the spotlight'?" She made air quotes with manicured fingers. "Funny how you come crawling back now that the money's gone."

The truth stung. Vivian had barely begun working with Lydia before meeting Maxwell. Their professional relationship had been brief, their personal connection practically nonexistent. When Vivian announced her departure, she'd painted a picture of domestic bliss - a wealthy husband who wanted her all to himself.

Lydia had seen right through it.

Now here they were, two years later, with Vivian's marriage in ashes and her career nonexistent. That desperate midnight phone call still burned in her memory - the choked confession, the humiliating plea for help.

Lydia's expression said it all: This was charity. Only Vivian's striking beauty and that brief, shining potential from years ago had earned her this meeting.

Vivian swallowed the lump in her throat as Lydia's verbal lashing continued. Every word was deserved. Every syllable a reminder of her colossal mistakes.

The past couldn't be changed. But the future? That was still hers to write.