She took a step toward Emily. Her usual cheery self was nowhere to be seen. Whenever they had meetings together or ran into each other at the office, Stella was nice…respectful even.
Now she was glaring at Emily with darts in her eyes.
Huh.Zariahwas right—again—when she said people could only pretend for so long.
“What do you mean?” Emily played dumb.
Her eyes transitioned to knives. “What Imeanis did Jake give you permission to show up here?”
“Do I need his permission to come to an event I’ve been invited to?” Emily asked. “That I’vealwaysbeen invited to? If anything, Stella, I should be asking how you’re here.”
The woman’s shoulders squared. “Mr. Hall invited me.”
“Oh really? Because I spoke with Jeremiah and he said he never had any intentions of inviting you. That you and Jake stole my invitation. Why ever would you do something like that, Stella?”
Her expression flickered with guilt then it hardened. “You’re on a hiatus so why does it matter anyway? Mr. Hall is my ticket to being nominated for this year’s awards. So what if I take an invite from you? Are you that selfish that you can’t help a friend out?”
“Friend?” Emily’s laugh was poised.
“Yes,friend!” Stella snapped. “I’ve always been a good friend to you, so why would you come here? Don’t you know people are gonna talk about why both of us are at this event when we said you wouldn’t show up?!”
Emily wanted to speak her mind. She wanted to interrogate her, ask Stella what the big deal was about them being here at the same time, and why it bothered her so much. Was Stella supposed to be the only one from their agency tonight? The one everyone was meant to talk about? Emily guessed as much, since no other talents from Starz were here.
She’d thought it would take more than this to get Stella to spill the beans. But here she was, getting it all out.
It must have been exhausting convincing herself she isn’t at fault.
She made sure her voice was controlled when she replied, “Maybe you shouldn’t have stolen my invitation in the first place.”
A nerve in Stella’s left eye twitched again.
Oh, how that was quickly becoming her favorite form of entertainment.
Stella scoffed, folding her arms. “I had no choice?—”
“You did.” The words cut out sharply from Emily. Stella jerked back. She moved closer, fire rising in her throat. “You could’ve earned your way here like everyone else. I didn’t spend years groveling just for people like you to treat it like a joke. My hiatus? That’s not yours to belittle either. At theend of the day, I’m still me and it’d be wise not to forget that.”
Stella’s slim figure shook at the reminder.
Emily’s eyes zoned in on her flat stomach, wondering how far along she was.
A month? Maybe two?
“And come on, it’s not like it’s the first time you’ve done this.” Her tone was terrifyingly light. “Prada. That jog your memory?”
Stella’s face grew hot.
“Emily,” she ground out through clenched teeth. “You’ve lived your entire life getting everything you wanted. And everything you’ve wanted has never been anything you’ve needed. Ineedthis.” Seven words left her, lodging the final nail in her coffin. “So you better keep your mouth shut.”
All this time, she hadn’t noticed the faint hum overhead. A microphone dangled from the light rig. The AV technician Talia had been working with feigned a break, leaving the feed live and linked to the massive projector screens in the ballroom.
Everyone had heard them.
Collective gasps resonated across tables. The guests’ attention were fixed on the stage where, instead of the themed slideshow, the screen displayed the two actresses, completely unaware that everyone was watching them.
Well, one of them was.
By the time security rushed backstage it was too late.
