I'm pursued by superstar after betrayed

Director Charlie Snyder showed up in a rush, breathing hard as he said, "God, it’s been forever since we caught up. My husband’s a total hardass about me working, so I’ve been laying low out of the industry lately."

Violeta Reynolds shook his hand warmly, greeting him back. "He’s always swamped with work anyway, never checks up on what I’m up to. Charlie, this is Quincy Lawrence—he’s an artist from my studio. Any chance you could throw him an opportunity?"

Quincy already had a solid social media following, and he was slowly gaining traction… but he just hadn’t gotten his big break yet.

Charlie clapped a reassuring pat on Quincy’s shoulder. "Absolutely, I’d love to. Pull up a seat—we’re just about to start casting the secondary male lead."

The choice felt like a done deal at this point—just going through the motions.

Violeta turned to Quincy and whispered an encouraging line: "Just stay calm. Charlie’ll call your name any minute now."

Quincy nodded, took a deep breath, and stepped off to the side to wait.

Charlie settled into his chair and sighed. "With you back on board as our top agent, you’ve definitely earned a spot. This project’s gonna be something special, I swear—it feels like we stumbled on buried treasure."

Violeta looked effortlessly elegant that day. Her natural beauty turned heads with just quiet, simple grace.

She smiled. "There’s always space for a fresh start, right?"

Charlie lifted an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth tugging up into a grin. "Looks like you switched up your game plan. I should’ve seen it sooner."

The lead role auditions got started, but one key candidate was nowhere to be found—conspicuously missing.

Charlie frowned and called out again, sharp this time: "Who’s not here?"

Violeta immediately guessed it was Lenora Kelly. Worried Raiden Evans would run into her if she stayed, she stood up. "I’m just gonna go stretch my legs."

She planned to come back once Lenora’s audition was over and done with.

"Don’t go wandering too far," Charlie warned.

A water bottle in hand, Violeta stepped out into the hallway and let out a long, shaky breath.

When she passed the women’s restroom, she heard a soft, breathy whimper through the door.

"Raiden, I shouldn’t have tried this… I’m late, the director’s already mad at me… Please just cut me some slack…"

For all her desperate words, Lenora had her legs wrapped tight around Raiden’s waist.

Through the partially cracked door, Violeta caught the seductive glint in Lenora’s eyes clear as day.

"Raiden, learning from you is such a rush… wait—who’s out there?"

Raiden chuckled, pinching Lenora’s cheek smugly. "Well, sweetheart, where’d you learn a line like that?"

"Tighten up, don’t let anyone find out!"

Violeta went pale, her heart dropping straight to her stomach.

She stumbled back a step, and suddenly a pair of hands clamped over her eyes.

"Don’t look. It’ll only break you."

Her water bottle slipped out of her hand and clattered to the floor. The noise made Lenora jump. She glanced up at the sound outside and nudged Raiden fast.

Raiden let go of Lenora and turned, spotting the abandoned bottle on the carpet.

He calmly straightened out his wrinkled shirt—after all, they hadn’t actually gotten caught doing anything too bad, just messing around.

Unsure if someone had taken photos or if trouble was brewing, he stepped out into the hall and called his assistant. "Pull the security footage."

"Find out who was around here, and make sure nothing gets out that could ever reach Violeta."

Lenora fixed her clothes in the bathroom mirror, racking her brain. She remembered someone had slipped out of the audition room not long ago—definitely going to check what was going on.

"Raiden, leave this to me. I know who it was, and I’ll make sure they keep their mouth shut."

Raiden drew himself up to that lofty, aloof stance he wore so well, and pinched Lenora’s cheek lightly. "Smart girl."

"I know what I’m doing. Let’s grab dinner later, yeah?"

He chuckled and glanced down at his watch.

That watch had been a gift from Violeta, given to mark one of the biggest moments of his life, and he’d never taken it off since.

While the two joked back and forth, eager assistants quickly swept Raiden away. He walked with his chin held high, straight into the audition room.

Inside, everyone already looked uncomfortable, but their expressions were all dead honest.

Charlie was visibly impatient when Lenora sauntered up, and he was already two seconds from dismissing her entirely—until someone hurriedly leaned in and reminded him: "Director, the boss put her here."

Charlie scowled. Wasn’t the boss Raiden?

But Violeta was standing right there.

It clicked, and Violeta confirmed it with a casual shrug: "I don’t claim her. She’s his problem."

And besides, everyone knew Raiden doted on her in ways that didn’t need saying out loud.

Lenora introduced herself all sweet and began her audition.

Her acting was an absolute trainwreck. The whole room sat in cringing silence, and even her own cheeks burned red with embarrassment.

She’d stayed up all night with Raiden, and completely blanked on every line. This was nowhere near even her mediocre usual standard.

She quickly jumped to excuse herself to Charlie: "Director, I was busy with my boyfriend last night! I didn’t mean to forget my lines, I promise I’ll be prepared next time!"

When she finished, she shot Violeta a sharp, threatening look. "This isn’t over. Whoever saw something better watch their back."

Lenora’s beauty had always been unrivaled in the room, but Violeta’s striking looks outshone hers without even trying.

Nobody likes to be upstaged, especially not in showbiz—where your face is your whole career.

Charlie was not impressed, and his tone dropped straight to ice: "I don’t care who she’s connected to. She’s not gonna ruin my auditions."

Lenora, who’d been coddled and praised everywhere she went, felt tears spring to her eyes at his words.

Her agent immediately pressed a tissue into her hand and jumped in: "Director, poor Lenora had such a rough night! It’s not what it looks like, we’re so sorry for the disruption. C’mon Lenora, let’s just call Raiden, okay?"

The agent was dead set on not letting Lenora lose out, always ready to stir up drama to get her what she wanted.

As she was led away, Lenora never took her glare off Violeta.

Violeta watched as the call connected.

On the other end, soft calming words came through, and Lenora visibly relaxed right in front of her.

That’s when Violeta started to put it together—why Raiden indulged Lenora so much.

Lenora’s smile, her whole demeanor… it was uncannily similar to someone else.

She was almost the exact spitting image of the unattainable muse from Raiden’s youth.

It was a haunting resemblance—one that could tug at anyone’s heartstrings.