“Mr. Thorne,” Chloe Green, my assistant, spoke, her voice hoarse, as she handed me a tablet. “You… you should really see this.”The screen was inundated with news about last night’s concert.This proposal was supposed to be the ultimate triumph for both our careers and our love.I’d poured in hundreds of millions, partnered with dozens of brands. All Sera had to do was propose to me in front of tens of thousands of fans, and the commercial value of our power couple image would have been limitless.All the pieces were in place, everything was meticulously planned and ready to go.
But now, photos of Sera and Liam Reed embracing on stage were being magnified endlessly, with blindingly harsh headlines screaming: A-Lister Defies the Corporate Machine for Love.And my own bewildered retreat from the stage had been turned into countless mocking memes.My company’s stock plummeted by three billion dollars.I calmly scrolled through the headlines, page after page.Until I saw Sera Hayes’ latest personal statement.In the statement, she thanked everyone.
Everyone, except me. She dismissed me, dismissed the company, as merely “an unpleasant past collaboration,” and declared she would seek her freedom at any cost.Freedom.I stared at those two words and suddenly, I laughed.“Notify PR: No comment, no explanations. Notify Legal: Prepare to activate the most severe breach of contract recovery clauses.”My assistant froze. “Mr. Thorne, shouldn’t we… shouldn’t we issue a statement to clarify things first? Public opinion is incredibly unfavorable right now.”“Clarify?” I walked up to him, pointing at Sera’s sugary-sweet face on the screen.
“There’s nothing to clarify with a liar.”I rubbed my temples, then slumped into the sofa.The five years with Sera flashed before my eyes, frame by agonizing frame.Five years ago, she clutched a worn-out guitar, singing an obscure folk song that no one cared about.There were only a sparse handful of people in the audience. Only I heard a spark of raw talent in her music and decided to give her a chance.I signed her, set up a small studio.Back then, we had nothing. To save money, we slept on the floor in this cramped three-hundred-square-foot office, surviving on instant ramen and dreaming the most distant dreams.She said, “Alex, when I make it big, the first thing I’ll do is marry you!”I laughed back, “When you make it big, first, pay back the company’s startup funds.”
