Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 44

Chapter 44 An Empty Shell

Both careers pointed straight up, and Mandy was walking away from them. Nothing about that added up.

Mandy looked at her like she was doing her a favor. “I ran Starfall before you. I signed far too many unknowns, and half the staff got hired through somebody’s cousin. I didn’t want to hand you that mess,

“So apart from WolfBait, Sabrina, and the people who earned their desks, everything I’m leaving you is clean. The rest are coming with me.”

Nora wasn’t buying it. “You’re that thoughtful now?”

Mandy nodded, all sincerity. “I made the mess, so I’ll clean it up. If I can’t be any help to you, the least I cany do is not leave you problems.”

She gestured at the group behind her. “These are the ones coming with me. Take a look. If there’s nobody you want, I’ll take them all.”

Nora looked past her at the group, maybe fifteen people, and she didn’t recognize a single one of them.

She’d gone through the staff and talent files before taking over, and most of the employees were related to Mandy one way or another.

The people on the talent roster were nobodies with no traction at all.

One thing did catch her eye, though.

At the back of the group stood a young man and a young woman, both of them completely unremarkable, and something about them was familiar enough that Nora narrowed her eyes and looked twice.

Mandy’s back went stiff under that look, then loosened again, and she smiled. “If any of them catch your eye, keep them.”

Nora went over the group one more time and found nothing special about a single one of them, so she let it go. “No. Take them all.”

The first time around she’d spent every waking hour trying to get out from under Adrian, and the entertainment business had never once crossed her mind. She had no idea which stars or streamers had blown up in that life.

The only reason she’d wanted Starfall at all was that Mandy had come to her begging in that life, with the company shut down, buried in debt, and her hand out.

She’d put in $50,000,000, and after that Starfall’s profits went vertical, past $1,000,000,000 a year.

She’d stopped paying attention after that, and not long after, Mandy set the fire that killed her.

Mandy let out a breath once the group was cleared, and she wanted to be gone before Nora could change her mind. “No objections, then. I’ll take them. Don’t blame me later for not giving you the chance.”

So Mandy wasn’t entirely stupid this time around. She’d at least worked out how to use what Nora didn’t

know.

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Chapter 44 An Empty Shell

Nora gave her a thin smile. “I won’t. Your eye for talent is so bad I doubt you could turn a handful of nobodies into a cash cow anyway.”

That smile made Mandy feel like a clown standing there in the lobby.

No. She’s the clown here. I’m the one who’s already lived this.

The two nobodies Nora had just waved off were going to be the biggest streamer alive and an international Best Actress.

The young man was Colton Hale. He would end up with over 100 million followers worldwide and move $3,000,000,000 of product in a single broadcast.

The young woman was Genevieve Ward, and she’d go further still, all the way to Best Actress on the word/

stage.

Wolf Bait and Sabrina Cole were hot right now, and both of them were about to be canceled, which would leave Nora holding an enormous bill.

The first time around, WolfBait had gotten into gambling and drugs, been blacklisted off every platform, and vanished without a trace.

Sabrina had gotten caught in a story about an affair with a married A-lister, the internet came for her as the other woman, and in the end she took her own life.

Between the two of them, Starfall paid out $30,000,000 in penalties and went straight under. It only came back from the dead because Mandy begged Nora for that $50,000,000.

Nora thought she was clever and had just waved off two nobodies. The real golden geese were walking out the door with Mandy.

Coming back had been a beautiful thing for Mandy. It gave a person a view from above, every answer in advance, and the freedom to take the blue chips and leave the junk behind.

Nora is the one making a fool of herself here.

Mandy smirked. “Things have always fallen my way, and my eye has always been better than yours. Picking men, picking staff, all of it.”

Nora didn’t bother answering. She glanced at the name tag on the desk beside her. “Chloe, put out a notice. All-staff meeting in thirty minutes.”

Starfall was still a small operation, twenty or thirty people on the payroll, and one floor of the building covered all of it.

Half an hour later, the meeting came to order.

Nora looked around at how few people were left in the room. Counting herself, the security guard, and the cleaner, there were eight of them.

“This is everyone?” She was almost lost for words. Mandy had walked out with so many people that what she’d left behind was an empty shell.

Right then a message came in from Mandy.

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15:21 Thu, Oct 10.

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