The airport terminal buzzed with the frantic energy of travelers rushing to their gates. I sat frozen on the plastic chair, the echoes of Ryan's betrayal still ringing in my ears. My finger hovered over the screen of my phone before I finally pressed Damien Sinclair’s contact name.
"He did what?" Damien's voice roared through the phone speaker the second I explained the situation.
I kept my eyes fixed on the departure board. "You heard me."
"And you're just sitting at the gate? Olivia, you need to gut him. Call your lawyers right now."
"I'm not divorcing him yet."
"Are you insane?" Damien asked. "He brought another woman into your home."
"I am practical," I replied, watching a baggage cart speed across the tarmac outside the massive windows. "Ryan and I are business partners. Our marriage is a technicality."
"He was sleeping with his co-star on your mattress!"
"Which is a PR nightmare, not a heartbreak." I gripped the plastic armrest, forcing my tone to remain completely steady. "I spent five years building the Ryan Carter brand from scratch. Every million he earns is a testament to my professional capability. I am not destroying my own empire just because the lead actor can't keep his pants zipped."
"You can't stay married to a man who disrespects you like this. He humiliated you."
"He's a client who breached a moral clause. I can manage that."
"You're lying to yourself, Olivia. You're trying to compartmentalize a betrayal."
"I am protecting my investments."
"By letting him walk all over you?" Damien challenged. "Since when do you play the victim?"
"I'm not a victim," I said, my voice turning icy. "I'm a strategist. Watch me."
I pulled the phone away and ended the call. The overhead speaker crackled, announcing the final boarding call for New York.
I looked at the gate. Then I looked at the exit doors.
Ryan thought he held all the cards. He thought my career depended entirely on his goodwill.
I grabbed my suitcase handle. The wheels spun sharply as I turned away from the gate. I wasn't running to the East Coast. I needed to secure my agency assets before he tried to spin this narrative.
Forty minutes later, I pushed open the glass doors of my agency headquarters. The bullpen was entirely empty, the staff already dispatched to the arena for the competition finals. I walked straight into my corner office and dropped my bag onto the leather sofa.
Before I could even wake up my computer monitor, the heavy mahogany door swung open.
Ryan strode in. He wore the crisp navy suit I had custom-ordered for him last month.
"Cancel my afternoon," he said, stopping in the center of the room.
I didn't look up from the keyboard. "You don't give me orders."
"I'm giving you one right now," he countered, his tone hardening. "From today on, you are no longer arranging my work."
I stopped typing. I met his gaze. "You have a brand launch for the new athletic line in twenty minutes. The sponsors are already setting up the press wall."
"I'm not going."
"It's a contractual obligation, Ryan." I stood up, resting my hands flat on the desk. "I planned this specific career path to transition you into sports endorsements. You skip this, you breach the agreement. They will sue you."
"I have other plans."
"Your only plan is the one I put on your calendar."
He crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't need you mapping out my career anymore."
"Is that so?" I rounded the edge of the desk. "And who exactly is going to manage your schedule? The PR team you alienated last month? The assistants you scream at when your coffee is cold? Who is going to negotiate the backend points on your next film?"
"I am."
A second voice drifted into the room. "Actually, I am."
I shifted my focus to the doorway.
Vanessa Hart strolled in, wearing a tight crimson dress that left very little to the imagination. Right behind her stood Ethan Brooks.
I recognized Ethan immediately. He was a bottom-tier talent manager who spent more time at nightclub VIP tables than in boardroom negotiations.
"What is this?" I asked, my voice dropping a fraction.
Ethan stepped forward. He adjusted his silver watch, a smug grin forming on his face. "The investment committee held an emergency vote this morning, Olivia. They made a decision."
"Without my presence?"
"You weren't needed," Ethan said. "If you remain as Ryan's manager, the committee will pull all funding for his upcoming projects. They want a change in leadership."
I stared at him. "You don't have the authority to restructure my agency."
"They hold the purse strings," Ethan replied. "And they want fresh representation. They want someone who isn't tied down by outdated methods. Someone who knows how to leverage social media engagement over boring corporate sponsorships. They want me."
I cut my eyes back to Ryan. "You agreed to this? Ethan knows absolutely nothing about the sports industry. He doesn't know entertainment law. He's a glorified party promoter who still owes half the clubs in Hollywood for unpaid tabs."
"He knows how to listen," Ryan said. "Which is more than I can say for you."
"I listen to the market," I shot back. "I listen to the data. That's why you're an A-list star instead of a washed-up soap actor."
Vanessa walked up to Ryan. She raised a hand and hooked her index finger around his silk tie, pulling him slightly downward.
"Ethan might not know the industry," Vanessa smiled, her eyes flashing with pure malice. "But I know exactly how to make Ryan happy."
Ryan didn't pull away. He let her keep the tie wrapped around her finger. He actually leaned into her touch.
"You think managing a career is about keeping him happy?" I asked Vanessa. "It's about keeping him profitable. Something you wouldn't understand, considering your last three projects went straight to streaming."
Vanessa's smile faltered for a second before she recovered. "At least I know how to keep my man."
"He isn't a man," I said. "He's a product. And you're just the current packaging."
Ryan slammed a hand onto the back of a leather chair. "Shut up, Olivia."
"You're blowing up your own career for a fling," I told him.
"I'm taking back control of my life," Ryan fired back. "You always treated me like a line item on a spreadsheet. Vanessa treats me like a star. She actually respects me. You're fired."
"You can't fire me from the company I built."
"I own the majority shares," he reminded me, his jaw flexing. "I funded the startup costs. The board answers to me. I've already had security revoke your building access. Get your things and get out of my office."
I kept my posture completely rigid. I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me flinch. "You are making a massive mistake. When the sponsors walk, don't call me to clean up the mess."
Ryan scoffed. "The only mistake I made was letting you think you were irreplaceable."
He leaned in closer. His voice dropped into a mocking, cruel whisper.
"If you really can't bear to leave me," Ryan said, "you can always stay at the house. I hear we need a new maid to sweep the floors. You're good at cleaning up, right?"
Vanessa laughed. It was a sharp, grating sound that echoed off the glass walls.
I didn't yell. I didn't throw a tantrum. I simply picked up my phone and my purse from the desk.
"Enjoy the launch, Ethan," I said, walking past them toward the door. "Assuming you even know where the venue is. The client expects bottled water at exactly forty degrees. Don't mess it up."
I stepped out of the building. The Los Angeles sun beat down on the pavement, harsh and unforgiving. I didn't look back at the glass facade of the agency I had poured five years of my life into.
I pulled my phone from my bag and hit Damien's contact name.
He answered on the first ring. "Did you board the plane?"
"No," I said. I walked toward the curb, raising a hand to hail a taxi. "Maybe you were right, brother."
"Right about what?"
"Your dear sister just got swept out the door."
Silence stretched over the line. I heard the faint sound of traffic from Damien's end in Chicago.
"What does that mean?" Damien finally asked, his tone turning deadly serious.
I opened the door of a yellow cab. I slid into the backseat and closed the door with a solid thud.
"It means I don't manage him anymore," I said.
"He fired you?" Damien's voice spiked with disbelief. "After everything you did for him?"
"He replaced me with a nightclub promoter and a C-list actress."
"Olivia, I'm booking a flight to LA right now. I'm going to kill him."
"Don't waste your money on a ticket," I said slowly. "I have a better plan."
"What plan?"
"It means Ryan Carter is no longer my brand," I explained, staring up at the giant billboard of Ryan's face plastered on the side of a nearby building. "He is no longer my partner."
"And?"
"And," I finished, my voice hardening into steel. "He is now my biggest future competitor."
I ended the call before Damien could argue. The driver looked at me through the rearview mirror.
"Where to, miss?"
"Downtown," I said. "I have an empire to build."
The cab merged into traffic, leaving my old life behind. Ryan wanted a war, and he was about to learn exactly how ruthless I could be.
