As soon as I finished speaking, the conference room fell into a suffocating silence that lasted for ten seconds.
On the other end of the line, Dominick chuckled softly, his voice steady as ever, "It's unfortunate, but if you need assistance, just tell me. I'm always here for you."
I hung up the phone, put it away, and calmly scanned the faces in the conference room, each marked by shock.
Finally, my gaze settled on Evan.
His expression froze. He was clearly still in shock.
Then, some brutal realization pierced through his mind. The top domestic resource, Dominick, whom he desperately wanted to get in touch with but couldn't even get close to, spoke to me in a familiar tone, as if greeting an old friend, even with a rare hint of accommodation.
"You... you know Dominick?"
Evan's voice was hoarse, "When did you..."
"Do I need to report to you when I get to know Dominick?" I interrupted him, my tone flat, "Just like you didn't tell me when you started hooking up with Jayne."
These words were like a slap in the face to him.
Soon, the fury of being fooled, belittled, and especially publicly humiliated shattered the dignity he had been trying to maintain.
"Mallory! You betrayed me?" He suddenly overturned the coffee cup in front of him, the liquid spilling onto the pristine table, staining the freshly signed termination agreement.
His eyes were blazing with rage, veins bulging at his temples. He pointed at me and said in a furious tone. "You've been planning this all along, haven't you? You think getting close to Dominick makes you special? Without me, you're nothing! Who in the entertainment industry would recognize you? You'll regret this! You will definitely come back to me on your knees and beg for my forgiveness!"
The shareholders and executives were silent, their eyes complicated as they watched Evan's loss of composure, sneaking glances at my consistently calm stance.
Jayne tried to grab his arm, only to be harshly shaken off.
I watched his disgraceful action, feeling the last ripple in my heart settle.
So his heart was truly despicable.
I couldn't even be bothered to argue with him any longer.
I simply turned and walked towards the door.
As my hand grasped the doorknob, I paused.
I didn't look back. My voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly throughout the silent conference room. "Well, I forgot to tell you all. This office building is under my personal ownership."
Several gasps of disbelief echoed behind me.
I slightly turned my face, capturing Evan's suddenly rigid silhouette and Jayne's instantly pale face with the corner of my eye.
"You have three days. Take your belongings..." I paused, delivering the final words. Get out. If you don't move out by the deadline..."
I opened the door, the light flooding in, outlining my upright posture.
"I'll have security clear you out like trash." I turned my head away, my eyes icy. With that, I left without looking back.
...
The news of my contract termination caused a stir. Although it was not officially announced, undercurrents were already surging within the industry.
Evan's reaction was swift.
Perhaps he was provoked into irrationality by me, or maybe he was truly blinded by Jayne.
Less than a week after my contract termination, he announced his relationship with Jayne on social media.
He posted a close-up photo of their fingers intertwined under the sunset, with a caption both sentimental and pretentious. "Meeting you was the best thing," he even tagged Jayne.
A top-tier male star announcing a romance was akin to dropping a nuclear bomb in fandom. Twitter servers crashed for half an hour.
His fans instantly reacted in several different extremes.
A few offered blessings, but many more dramatically noped out of fandom and criticized him.
And there were also malicious conspiracy theorists who quickly turned their attention to me.
"Why announce it now, right after breaking up with his agent? Was he pushed too hard by Mallory? Using the announcement as a form of retaliation?"
"I always thought Mallory's control over Evan was abnormal! She always controlled everything!"
"I heard the termination terms weren't agreed upon? Is it because Mallory wanted to continue leeching off Evan, and since he wouldn't allow it, she threatened to expose Evan's relationship? And then Evan himself announced his relationship first?"
"She's involved in workplace gaslighting and sexual harassment. Mallory, get out of the entertainment industry."
"We should support Evan! Mallory must apologize!"
Rumors, fueled by those with ulterior motives, spiraled out of control and eventually ignited during a backstage group interview at a brand event a few days later, led personally by Evan.
When a reporter sharply questioned, "Why didn't you renew your contract with your agent, Mallory, with whom you've worked for seven years?" all cameras were trained on him.
Evan, dressed in a bespoke haute couture suit, feigned a vulnerable yet restrained melancholy under the flashing lights.
He paused for a few seconds, seemingly suppressing his emotions, then raised his head to the camera, offering a bitter smile. "Mallory is someone special to me. I am eternally grateful for the seven years of companionship and dedication."
He paused, his voice slightly trembling, perfectly portraying a hint of suffering. "However, there are certain matters involving personal values and limits where I can no longer compromise or remain silent. The only problem between us is some irreconcilable differences in our work philosophies and methods. Please, do not speculate excessively or trouble Mallory."
He didn't say a bad word about me at all, and his words were even "sincere," but in the current public opinion environment, the target of his words was self-evident.
He was implying that I had been controlling and oppressing him for seven years, beyond our working relationship.
The interview video spread like wildfire.
Topics such as "Evan's agent bullies him in the workplace," "Evan has endured it for seven years," and "I feel sorry for Evan" quickly became trending topics.
My name became synonymous with sin.
My photos were edited into vile caricatures, and my personal information was dug up.
My phone was flooded with curses and insults from unknown numbers, even affecting my long-deceased mother.
"Mallory, you leech, why haven't you just died?"
"Bullying a celebrity at work, how can someone like you even be an agent?"
"Apologize! You must apologize publicly! Get out of the entertainment industry!"
Even the PR director of Fidelia Entertainment called me. "Miss Campbell. Your personal feud with Evan has severely impacted the company's reputation. Please state to clarify the false rumors as soon as possible, or the company will reserve the right to pursue legal action against you."
I stared at the screen, overwhelmed by the wave of hostility.
Watching Evan's perfect victim performance in the interview video, I was furious.
My phone buzzed again with a message from an unknown number. "Do you regret leaving so decisively that day? Netizens are all criticizing you. If you just beg me, I'll help you clear your name."
I could imagine Evan's smug expression as he typed those words, confident of his victory.
How did he become like this?
He once hugged me and twirled around in excitement for landing a minor role. How did he turn so despicable?
I didn't reply to him.
Instead, I calmly picked up another spare phone and called my lawyer. "Jaxen, you can start preparing the encrypted files I sent you. Also, contact the reporters and tell them the first batch of material will be sent in ten minutes."
Those encrypted files contained recordings from my habits as a top agent, including Evan's early hints for me to deal with overzealous female fans, his complaints about a certain actress being "unreasonable and unwilling to cooperate with promotional stunts,"
It also included screenshots of recent WhatsApp chat logs showing him flirting openly with Jayne and several other models and actresses, discussing how to use rumors to promote each other, and even involving resource exchanges.
Of course, even more crucially, these documents contained clues that could prove his tax problems and illegal operations.
On the computer screen, the "sent successfully" prompt quietly popped up.
I picked up the coffee that had long grown cold, taking a sip.
The bitterness spread across my tongue, sharpening my gaze.
"Evan, the game had only just begun." I thought.
