Chapter 7 10 vouchers Haley never expected Alicia to be so crazy. She didn’t give a damn about the Hammonds‘ or Nicolas’s opinion. Just as she was about to say more, she heard the call get cut off. Haley cursed inwardly, “That brat is really out of control.” Haley kept trying to call Alicia, but every single time, Alicia refused to answer and hung up on her. That really pissed Haley off. After thinking it over, Haley shot off a text to Alicia: [Are you really going to keep stirring up trouble like this?] [Don’t forget, you’re an artist with Starlight Entertainment. You can’t just ignore the company’s rules and act however you please.] [If you keep this up, the company will blacklist you from the industry for good.] [And if you keep going after Nicole, your family and Nicolas will be furious. How are you going to face them?] Haley didn’t believe for a second that Alicia would really break off with the Hammonds, nor did she think Alicia didn’t care about Nicolas. She just figured Alicia was acting out because she was pissed off right now. Alicia glanced at the text and just ignored it, not giving Haley the time of day. In Alicia’s opinion, the more drama they stirred up, the more popular she’d get. In her last life, she turned things around through acting, and this time, she’s got a way better starting point than before. Back then, Alicia never called Nicole out for the Hammond family’s sake. She kept their beef under wraps. But now, the Hammonds’s reputation was a joke to her. Even if she called Nicole out in public, she didn’t think it was a big deal. If they’ve got a problem with it, let them try her. Now was her chance to strike back at each of them and finally vent all the humiliation she’d swallowed in the past. Back in her last life, she gave Nicole and her mother a hard time, but the Hammonds always sided with them. After she left the group, she carved out a new path for herself through acting and had a real shot at winning Best Actress for a movie she starred in. 𝚠𝚠𝕨.𝔫ℴ𝓋𝗘⒧𝘄ó𝘳⒨.𝗰𝘰𝘮That same year, Nicole was after the same award, starring in her own film. Nicole put on a tearful act in front of the Hammonds, begging for the Best Actress title. Thus, the Hammonds asked Alicia to back off and let Nicole take the spotlight. When Alicia refused, they used their connections to stall the release of her movie, dragging out the approval process for as long as possible. 𝕎𝓌𝗪.𝘯ô𝘃𝔼𝗹𝕨⒪𝔯ⓜ.𝑐𝗢𝓜1/4 2:13 pm Chapter 7 They only released it after the deadline for award submissions had already passed. 10 vouchers Not only did Alicia miss out on the Best Actress award, but it also affected the entire production team and the other actors involved. Alicia couldn’t help but feel guilty about it. Their actions crossed every line and made her lose all faith in them, leaving her completely cold. Fuming, she quit the scene and went out of her way to fight them at every turn. ⒲𝓦Ŵ.ñ𝑜𝕧ⓔ𝕃𝔀𝓞𝗿m.ℂ⒪𝕞By the time Alicia died, they couldn’t even stand to be in the same room together. They were basically sworn enemies. In her last life, she always tiptoed around just because she cared too much about her family and what everyone else thought. But now that she’d finally stopped worrying about all that, it felt freaking amazing to do whatever she wanted and not give a damn about anyone. This time, Alicia stirred up drama on purpose, not just to publicly drag Nicole and her crew, but to stop pretending to be nice or playing along with their fake smiles whenever they met. And she wanted to make sure a certain someone noticed her. She already knew exactly which company she wanted to join. This whole act was just to get his attention and make him reach out to her first. Back in her last life, she and that guy teamed up. She screwed over her father and brother, while he screwed over his own parents. At that time, they were like the ultimate antagonists, going head–to–head with the leading roles. This time, she didn’t plan to leave the scene, so she didn’t want to fight Starlight Entertainment and her old enemies solo anymore. Even if she had all the money in the world, there were still things she just couldn’t pull off alone. Without a team, she couldn’t handle PR crises in time or deal with stuff like her film getting stuck in review hell. So, she needed to find a company that could go toe–to–toe with Starlight in marketing and PR, and had beef with them, too. Haley waited forever, but Alicia never replied, She kept calling Alicia, but Alicia still wouldn’t pick up.
Meanwhile, Nicole and Alexandra’s agents kept hounding her, blowing up her phone nonstop. Without any choice, Haley used her official account to post an apology on X. Haley: [Alicia’s account got hacked. That’s why those posts and replies happened. We’re really sorry for all the drama, and we’re working hard to sort things out.] She tagged Nicole and Alexandra to show her apology. Meanwhile, Starlight Entertainment’s PR team jumped into action. Before long, the hashtag “AliciaApologizes” was trending on X. 2/4 ⒲𝕎𝕎.𝓷o⒱ε𝓵w𝕠ℝ𝓜.⒞oⓜChapter 7 After seeing the trending topic and Haley’s post, everyone was just rolling their eyes. HeartTicker: [Alicia folded way too fast.] YESIMFUNNY: [I really thought she was the real deal. All that drama, and this is what we get?] Heyyou: [The hacked account excuse is the oldest trick in the book. We’re not gullible, okay?] Catlady: [I’m getting secondhand embarrassment for Alicia.] 10 vouchers Fluffycookie: [She knows when to play it smart. Nicole’s got people backing her up. Alicia wouldn’t really dare cross her. But folding this quickly is just funny.] Buh–buh: [I feel bad for the other four in LUMIA. How did they end up with a teammate who’s got zero shame?] Babushka: [Alicia, just leave LUMIA and the whole entertainment scene already. I’m so done with this.] This time, everyone online was straight–up bashing Alicia. Nobody stuck up for her. Haley let out a cold laugh inside, thinking, ‘Alicia really thinks she can break free from my control? As if. Not a chance! Even if Alicia came out now and said her account wasn’t hacked, with the paid trolls running the narrative, no one would bother listening to her anymore. They’d just see her as a complete laughingstock. Nicole and Alexandra were pretty satisfied with how things turned out. They both posted on X, tagging Haley, and acted all magnanimous, saying since Alicia’s account was hacked, they’d let it slide. After all, Nicole and Alicia were both with the same company, so Nicole was just being the bigger person and caring for the company’s reputation. Their fans flooded the comments, saying how kind and forgiving they were. But some people were calling Alicia out, saying she was totally faking the hacked account thing and telling Nicole and Alexandra not to fall for it or forgive her. Alicia had been keeping an eye on all the online drama. Of course she saw Nicole’s and Alexandra’s replies, She snapped a selfie and posted it on X. AliciaDelaneyOfficial: [Nope, my account wasn’t hacked. Here’s a live selfie as proof.] But as soon as Alicia posted, Starlight Entertainment’s trolls started spamming the comments, accusing her of pulling stunts just for clout and acting out for attention. They told everyone to just ignore her and started feeling bad for her agent and the company. After all, they’d just fixed her mess, and she turned around and threw them under the bus. Of course, some of the bystanders and Alicia’s fans weren’t so gullible. They started questioning what was really going on. But they were too few, and their comments got buried under all the hate. Once Alicia felt the timing was perfect, she made another post on X. 3/4 4/4 2:13 pm Chapter 7 AliciaDelancyOfficial: [Here’s the truth about the whole hacked account thing. Check out the audio yourself.] [P.S. From now on, I’m managing my own X account. If you like getting played for a fool, be my guest.] She attached the audio file right there. 10 vouchers Alicia hung up on H.aley before she could say another word and ignored all her calls after that. She was just waiting for Haley to get impatient and stir up drama first. And sure enough, Haley didn’t disappoint Alicia.
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