Too Late to Hold Me Back novel Chapter 317

Solflare Entertainment Tower.

Owen glanced at the glowing screen of his tablet, reading the rival company's frantic press release. "My brother. Completely devoid of loyalty, as always."

Lawrence had been the one to invite Mara into their ranks, and she had genuinely done everything in her power to help him destroy Mira.

Yet the absolute second her reputation became a liability, Lawrence didn't just throw her to the wolves—he actively stepped on her throat to save himself.

The accusation of "deceptive practices" was entirely laughable. Mara hadn't deceived Lawrence about anything.

Lawrence's intelligence team had investigated her thoroughly. They knew exactly how vile and talentless she was from day one. They had only brought her in to use her toxic hatred against Mira.

Mira leaned back in her chair, skimming the same statement. "He didn't have a choice. If he hadn't thrown her under the bus, the masses would have initiated a catastrophic, full-scale refund. His concert would be dead in the water."

Across town, the single happiest person on earth was Quinn Montgomery. "Hmph. I knew the moment I laid eyes on her that she was nothing but a manipulative, social-climbing snake."

She could finally breathe again.

For the past few days, Quinn had been pacing her room, sick with anxiety watching Mara get closer and closer to Lawrence. She was terrified she was about to be permanently replaced.

But because of her humiliating arrest outside the hotel, she had been too scared of Lawrence's wrath to intervene.

She had even desperately considered calling Mira to form a truce and take Mara down together, but the fear of Lawrence finding out had paralyzed her.

The moment the press release dropped, Quinn rushed straight to Lawrence's private villa.

As she strutted into the foyer, she immediately heard the pathetic sound of Mara sobbing in the living room. "Lawrence, please! Just give me one more chance. Just let me do one song. Just one appearance!"

But her theatrical tears were completely useless here.

"Impossible," Lawrence snapped, his voice like cracking ice.

He didn't even bother to look up from his tablet, his expression dark and murderous. He refused to waste another syllable on her.

Just yesterday, they had been laughing together like close friends, intimately plotting their mutual destruction of Mira and Solflare Entertainment.

"You... you can't just do this to me!" Mara wailed. "How am I supposed to show my face back home after this?"

"You had absolutely no idea how things worked in Aethelgard. I warned you not to come, but you just had to be stubborn. Look where that got you," Norman remarked dryly, opening the car door for her.

He slid into the driver's seat of the rental car. The second Mara lost her strategic value, Lawrence had viciously cut all their funding. He wasn't even willing to cover their hotel bill for another night.

Mara had actually believed she could use her looks to seduce Lawrence. But a billionaire like him had supermodels throwing themselves at his feet daily. He wasn't about to risk his empire for a disgraced, talentless girl reeking of scandal.

As they merged onto the highway, Norman glanced at her through the rearview mirror. "Call the Quinns."

The Quinn family was one of the four most powerful lineages in Aethelgard. Perhaps they could leverage their massive influence to salvage whatever was left of her shattered reputation.

He had advised her to visit them the moment they arrived in the city, but she had been entirely too obsessed with helping Lawrence destroy Mira. She had brushed off the Quinns as unnecessary.

Trembling, Mara pulled out her phone and dialed the private number Lacey had given her.

The call connected almost instantly. But the moment the voice on the other end heard the name "Mara," the line went dead.

"Why... why would they just hang up on me?" Mara asked, staring at the screen in pure bewilderment.