Rising From Betrayal Reborn As The Family Outcast novel Chapter 19

Chapter 19

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Nicole had already heard from Nicolas’s assistant that Alicia and Nicolas were having a huge fight.

Alicia had even blocked all Nicolas’s contact info and completely ignored him.

So, it didn’t really surprise Nicole that Nicolas was going to be on the same reality show.

But she still felt a bit uneasy about it. The last thing she wanted was for those two to patch things up.

And it looked like Lucent Media had invested in this reality show just to save Alicia’s image.

Nicole definitely didn’t want Alicia’s reputation to turn around, let alone let her make a comeback through this show.

Since Nicole happened to have some free time lately, she decided to join the show too.

So she reached out to Nicolas’s agent and asked him to suggest to Nicolas that he bring her along.

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Meanwhile, on the other side, Nicolas had already secured his spot as a regular guest on the show.

He turned to his agent, Liam, and asked, “Who do you think I should bring along with me?”

Liam grinned and suggested, “Why not bring Nicole? If she’s on the show with you, it’ll really give her career a boost. Who knows, she could climb even higher in the ranks of popularity.”

Nicole was brought into the company by Nicolas, and he’d made it clear from the start that he wanted the company to put her in the spotlight.

So even though she’d only been in the business for less than two years, she’d already made it to C–list status and was now almost a B–list rising star among young actresses.

If it were before, Nicolas would’ve agreed without a second thought. But now, he was hesitating.

The whole drama with Alicia started because they were all backing Nicole up.

If he brought Nicole along on the show, making up with Alicia would be even less likely.

He thought for a moment and said, “What about someone else? Anyone else come to mind?”

Liam looked a bit surprised. “Honestly, I can’t really think of anyone else who’d be a good fit.

“Nicole’s agent actually reached out to me today and said she’s interested in joining the show.

“If you don’t bring her, do you think she’ll get the wrong idea?”

Nicole had already made it clear she wanted to be on the show with Nicolas, so of course Liam would do his best to make it happen for her.

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Nicolas frowned, “Man, this is a tough spot.”

If he brought Nicole, he was worried Alicia would get upset and cause a scene.

But if he didn’t bring Nicole, he was afraid Nicole would overthink it and end up feeling hurt.

Right then, Maxwell called Nicolas.

Nicolas picked up. “What’s up, man?”

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Maxwell sounded pretty down. “I haven’t been able to reach Alicia at all these days, and I have no idea where she’s living now. Do you have any way to track her down?”

Maxwell still couldn’t accept that Alicia, the cousin he’d grown up with and been so close to, was really cutting ties with them.

He didn’t even dare to tell Collin about it.

He kept thinking that if he could just coax Alicia, maybe all that talk about cutting ties wouldn’t mean anything anymore.

Nicolas’s eyes lit up, and he replied, “I can’t find her either, but we actually have a chance to spend some time

with her.”

Maxwell asked, “What chance?”

Nicolas told Maxwell about the reality show. “I’m going to be on it, and I can bring a friend along. Want to come?”

With no major competitions coming up next month, Maxwell said, “Count me in.”

Nicolas let out a sigh of relief. “Alright, dude.”

After hanging up, Nicolas turned to Liam. “Maxwell wants to join, so he’ll come with me.”

Then he added, “But if Nicole still wants in, no problem. I’ll hit up the production team and get her a guest

spot.

“Since I’m not bringing her myself, to make it up to her, she can pick a friend to join her. I’ll sort it all out.”

With Nicolas joining, the show would instantly get all the hype.

Plus, with Lucent Media and Starlight Entertainment both throwing money at the show, the crew had cash to burn and could pull off all kinds of stuff.

With so many stars wanting in, hooking Nicole up with two spots was already going above and beyond.

Liam had always been helping Nicole out, but he couldn’t make it too obvious.

He paused for a second and said, “Alright, let me check in with Nicole’s agent.”

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Then he headed out and called Nicole directly.

Liam left out the fact that Nicolas had actually invited Maxwell himself.

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Instead, he told her that Maxwell heard Nicolas was joining the show and asked if he could come along.

Nicole didn’t question what Liam told her.

After all, whenever she’d shown interest in something before, Nicolas had never turned her down.

She let out a sigh. “That’s a shame. I can’t be his direct pick this time.”

Liam tried to reassure her. “Even if Nicolas isn’t the one bringing you on, you’ll still get plenty of chances to

interact on the show.

“We can even hire some accounts and paid commenters to hype up your ship with Nicolas.

“Even if you’re not on the same team, he’s always looking out for you and goes out of his way to help you. Honestly, fans will ship you two even harder than if you were just grouped together.

“And with Maxwell also looking out for you, that’s double the attention. Your popularity’s bound to skyrocket.”

He added with a smirk, “Alicia will be stuck watching from the sidelines, totally green with envy. What a perfect contrast.”

Nicole’s face broke into a smile. “You’re right. Not being in the same group isn’t so bad after all.”

Having Maxwell as Nicolas’s pick actually worked out even better for her.

What Nicole really wanted was to show everyone she was way better than Alicia and make Alicia look totally second–rate next to her.

Nicole knew this reality show was going to be live.

With Maxwell and Nicolas on her side, she could totally use them to mess with Alicia and maybe even push Alicia to snap and cause a scene right on live TV.

That would be some real drama worth watching.

She smiled and asked, “Who do you think I should bring along?”

Liam replied, “How about bringing someone from LUMIA? That’ll really make things interesting.”

Nicole’s smile grew even wider. “Alright, I’ll go with your suggestion.”

Honestly, that was exactly what she’d been thinking too.

She also decided not to bring Bianca, even though they were pretty close off–camera.

Instead, she chose Felicity, the one with the boldest personality, who absolutely couldn’t stand Alicia and made sure everyone knew it.

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Once Nicolas had locked in his four guest spots, the production team immediately let Jason know.

Jason was thrilled with the result. With this lineup, the show was guaranteed to be packed with drama.

And honestly, having those four join was actually a win for Alicia.

After all, every bit of dirt on her was connected to those four in one way or another.

Most of the celebs in the scene already knew Nicolas and the other three were joining the show.

Even if the show didn’t go viral, everyone was sure it’d be trending and packed with drama. No way it was going to flop.

With just two spots left, all the other entertainment companies were fighting tooth and nail to snag them.

Meanwhile, Alexandra was in full panic mode lately when she heard Nicole was joining the show.

Not only was she getting sued by Alicia and probably about to get hit with a defamation case, but Starlight Entertainment had already put out word that they were going to blacklist her.

Her company wasn’t exactly a big deal, and they couldn’t afford to mess with Starlight, so the higher–ups basically decided to leave her to fend for herself.

If she managed to pull off a comeback, they wouldn’t drop her just yet.

But if she couldn’t, they’d just pass all her gigs and resources to someone else.

Thus, Alexandra called Nicole herself, desperate to get herself a spot on the show with her.

If Nicole would just take her along and put in a good word with Nicolas, Alexandra might just dodge the blacklist bullet.

Plus, riding the show’s hype could help her score a comeback and revive her career.

Nicole knew perfectly well that Nicolas was taking out his anger on Alexandra because of Alicia, and had even made it clear he was going to blacklist her.

But she had zero intention of helping Alexandra out.

For one thing, it would totally mess up Nicolas’s impression of her.

And honestly, Alexandra was just a useless sidekick who always screwed things up. She was basically dead weight now.

Thus, Nicole politely brushed Alexandra off, saying it was all up to the company and she could do nothing.

But she wasn’t about to throw Alexandra under the bus. Instead, she promised to say something nice and encouraged her not to give up just yet.

Nicole was always careful not to leave any dirt for others to use against her and never openly offended anyone, even if she was ditching someone she saw as beneath her.

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After all, even a cornered dog would bite.

Just as expected, Nicole managed to calm Alexandra down.

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Meanwhile, news broke online that Alicia, Darren, Nicolas, and Maxwell were all set to join Setting Off with Friends.

It instantly grabbed the attention of fans and viewers. Everyone knew there was going to be some real drama.