Chapter 4

Danielle's POV

What Robert never knew was that I'd been carrying a massive debt.

Back then, because of an altercation, our agency had intended to shelve him indefinitely. I was the one who signed an ironclad contract—one that was practically indentured servitude—in exchange for letting him continue working.

That job offer was my ticket to freedom. It had offered my agency's CEO, Noah Hewitt, a buyout price he simply couldn't refuse.

The only catch was that if I accepted the job, I'd have to return to Meridia and work there for two years. And so I'd hesitated.

But before I could even discuss it with Robert, he began pulling away from me. And ultimately, he told me that he needed to take responsibility for another woman.

After hanging up, I went home. I didn't concern myself with how Robert would guide Hayley through the storm after the live broadcast. Perhaps his success over the past few years had made him immune to public opinion, but, unfortunately, not everyone around him felt the same.

When Noah's nonstop calls shifted from frantic pleading to outright threats, I finally made an appearance at the office.

"So, that's why you came asking to terminate your contract before yesterday's award ceremony even started! You were just planning to escape so you could save your own skin!" he bellowed.

"Tell me! Did you already know that Robert and Hayley were going to pull this stunt? Did you intentionally stand by and watch it happen because you wanted to ruin me and ruin this company?"

I looked at the furious man in front of me and smiled.

"Mr. Hewitt, don't paint yourself as the victim here. You've made plenty of money off me over the years. And you accepted the bank card I gave you yesterday with a big smile."

I tossed the folder in my hand onto his desk.

"I've already handed over all my work responsibilities prior to the contract termination. Whatever mess comes after that has absolutely nothing to do with me."

With that, I turned to leave. But the moment I opened the door, I ran straight into a puffy-eyed Hayley.

"Danielle, please help Robert. So many fans are attacking him online. The boss is absolutely furious. If he keeps losing his fans, he'll lose a bunch of his endorsements and projects."

Frowning, I pushed her hand away.

"What's that got to do with me?"

Seeing that I remained unmoved, Hayley grew so frantic that she moved to drop to her knees right in front of me. Before I could even stop her, Robert rushed over to us.

"Danielle! Haven't I already warned you? If you have a problem, take it out on me!" he barked angrily. "Don't make things difficult for Hayley!"

I instinctively wanted to explain, but when I saw the clear irritation in his eyes, I realized there was no point.

As I brushed past him, his expression turned even darker.

"Even without your help, Danielle, I can still handle the situation just fine!"

I had no idea why he'd suddenly say that, so I just ignored him and kept walking.

That same day, however, a hashtag titled "HayleyMessersSixYearCrush" shot to the top of the trending list.

Only then did I learn that Robert and Hayley had crossed paths long before I even signed her.

Back then, Hayley had dropped out of school to help her family pay off their debts. She'd worked on film sets as a low-level production assistant, running errands for the crew.

When the movie's male lead bullied her, it was the then-still-unknown Robert who had stood up for her.

My fingers slowly curled into my palms.

It had been precisely because of that altercation that Robert had been maliciously painted as an arrogant diva by the media, causing rumors and bad press to flood the internet.

The director decided to replace him, and the agency wanted to shelve him.

I had tried to track down the young woman Robert had protected, but he'd stopped me.

"Forget it," he'd said. "Let's not drag an innocent person into this mess."

Who would've thought that after everything, that young woman had been Hayley all along?

Which meant that from the very moment they crossed paths again, Robert had already been keeping things from me.

And that day, he'd taken leave from the film set and secretly flown back to Valenport? It'd been because Hayley's mother had been rushed into emergency surgery, so he'd gone to comfort Hayley.

I pressed a hand against my chest. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would.

I scrolled through the top comments.

"I knew our Best Actor had a heart of gold. Please tell that toxic male actor from back then to leave the entertainment industry!"

"Goodness! I can't believe these two have this kind of history! They're absolutely meant to be together!"

"You're such a shill! Even if that's true, Hayley still isn't good enough for our Robert!"