"And who exactly do you think you are to lecture me?" Lacey snapped back.
"I'm the executive producer," Madelynn replied firmly.
Lacey faltered, her response dying in her throat.
Abby's voice rang out from behind them. "Impressive. Throwing your weight around like that, Madelynn."
She approached in measured steps, heels clicking, and stopped beside Lacey, her lips curling into a faint, knowing smile. "Shame this isn't your project anymore. Mr. Willis made that very clear—you've been replaced, and I'm in charge now. So what exactly gives you the right to call the shots here?"
Madelynn met her gaze head-on. "I'm doing this as Margot's friend. Is that good enough for you?"
Abby laughed hard. "Friend? That's quite the claim. You're just an employee trying to latch onto a celebrity; do you really think she considers you as a friend?"
At that moment, Margot stepped forward through the crowd and took her place beside Madelynn. "She is my friend."
Abby's face went rigid at once.
One by one, people began to gather around them—the script supervisor, lighting crew, and even a couple of supporting actors. Each of them had, at one point or another, been on the receiving end of Lacey's deliberate or subtle mistreatment.
Not a single person said anything.
They simply stood there.
The shift in Abby's expression was impossible to miss.
Right in the middle of the tense silence, Louis' voice cut through the air. "What's with the delay? Are we shooting today or not?"
He pushed his way forward, and the moment his eyes landed on Madelynn, his brows drew together. "You again?"
Madelynn paid him no attention and continued addressing Abby, saying, "I've already arranged for someone to retrieve the behind-the-scenes footage. If Lacey doesn't provide Margot with a written apology before the day is over, I'll be sending the full, unedited recording directly to the Dawson Group's legal department on behalf of Infinity Entertainment. Since this is their production, I assume they won't mind stepping in to resolve the matter, right?"
Abby faltered. "You wouldn't—"
"Feel free to test that," Madelynn interjected calmly.
Louis quickly grasped the situation.
His gaze shifted from Lacey to Margot's swollen cheek, and his expression darkened.
"Did you do this?" he asked Lacey.
Lacey visibly panicked. "Mr. Barrett, just let me explain—"
"Answer the question. Did you do this or not?" Louis cut her off.
Lacey fell silent, not daring to respond.
Louis said nothing for a few seconds, then muttered a curse under his breath.
When he looked back at Madelynn, the usual mockery in his tone had disappeared for the first time.
"The Dawson Group will cover all of Margot's medical expenses," he said.
Madelynn didn't reply.
Louis lingered for a brief moment before turning and walking away.
Abby and Lacey followed behind him, their expressions stiff with embarrassment.
The crowd slowly dispersed.
Meanwhile, Margot remained beside Madelynn, her eyes rimmed red. "Madelynn..."
"It's alright now," Madelynn said, giving her shoulder a light pat. "Go put some ice on your cheek."
Margot nodded, but after taking a few steps, she turned back again. "Madelynn, you mentioned before that Louis and Caiden know each other personally."
"Yeah."
"Then... is that why he helped us just now?"
Madelynn didn't answer.
Her thoughts drifted to the message Jed had sent her the night before.
It was brief.
"Mr. Dawson said you can continue your work in Avlester. He'll take care of Louis."
She hadn't replied.
It seemed Caiden had already taken care of things with Louis.
As evening set in, a light rain began to fall.
Madelynn left the set without an umbrella, wandering down the street without any clear destination.
She didn't feel like returning to the hotel. She didn't want to sit alone there.
Her thoughts were tangled and restless.
It had been four years. She had believed she was used to handling everything on her own by now.
But standing there earlier, in the middle of that confrontation, she had suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of exhaustion.
It wasn't a feeling she experienced often anymore.
The last time she felt that had been four years ago, when she stood in front of Caiden and said, "The contract is over. Let's end things peacefully."
She had never forgotten the look in his eyes that day.
It was cold as ice.
She had always believed he hated her.
Maybe he did.
But why had he appeared in that alley the other night? And why had he asked Jed to pass along that message to her?
Could it be that he still hadn't broken the habit of helping her? Just like before.
The rainfall intensified, turning steadier and harsher.
Madelynn stepped beneath a roadside bus stop to dodge it, resting against the advertisement panel as she gazed absentmindedly through the veil of rain.
Her phone rang suddenly with a call from an unfamiliar number, and she picked it up.
"Madelynn." Caiden's voice came through the line.
Madelynn stiffened in place. "Caiden?"
A short silence followed from the other end of the line.
"Where are you?" Caiden finally asked.
Madelynn glanced around instinctively. "Avlester. Why?"
"Send me your location."
"What?"
The call abruptly disconnected.
Madelynn looked at her phone screen, momentarily unsure what to do.
After a long three minutes, she finally sent Caiden her location.
The second she hit send, she felt a bit foolish.
Why had she complied so easily just because he asked?
Acting on impulse, she quickly retracted the message.
Almost immediately, Caiden replied, "Already saw it."
A wave of awkwardness settled over Madelynn.
She slipped her phone back into her pocket.
The rain eased slightly, yet she remained where she was. She wasn't even sure what she was waiting for.
About twenty minutes later, a black car came to a stop beside the bus stop.
The car window slid down.
Caiden sat behind the wheel, his gaze landing on her through the curtain of rain. "Get in."
Madelynn didn't move. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I had a meeting nearby in the afternoon."
"A meeting that went on until now?"
Caiden gave no response.
They held each other's gaze for a brief moment before Madelynn finally reached for the door and got in.
The interior of the car was warm, carrying that familiar pine scent.
Caiden started the car without another word. He didn't ask why she had been standing alone there or why she looked so drained. He simply drove. The only sound was the steady sweep of the wipers cutting across the windshield.
Madelynn leaned back against the seat, her eyes drifting toward the blurred city lights outside.
"Thanks for today," she said after a while.
"What do you mean?"
"For handling Louis."
Caiden gave a quiet nod in response, offering nothing more.
Silence settled between them again.
Then, out of nowhere, Madelynn spoke, her voice quiet, almost distant. "Four years ago, when I left..."
Caiden's grip tightened slightly on the steering wheel.
"It wasn't because of Isaac," Madelynn continued.
She kept her eyes forward, not looking at him. "Back then, your mother came to see me."
The rhythmic sound of the wipers continued, the only thing breaking the stillness.
Caiden said nothing.
Madelynn waited for a moment, then let out a faint laugh. "Forget it. That was all in the past anyway."
She shut her eyes.
Caiden didn't press her further, and she offered no more explanation, either.
Four years had gone by, long enough that neither of them knew how to begin to talk about this topic anymore.
