In the capital, inside the top-floor suite of the Four Seasons Hotel.

Wrapped in a bathrobe, Jade Sinclair sat on the sofa with a script spread open in her hands. Pale moonlight slipped through the floor-to-ceiling windows and landed across her calves, making her skin look even whiter, smooth as fine porcelain.

Two more months of prep, then the shoot would start.

Whether she could make a comeback or not, it all came down to this film.

As she flipped through the pages full of notes and marks, Jade reached for the coffee on the table, took a small sip, then set the cup back down.

She read a while longer before someone knocked on the hotel door.

Dragging her slippers across the carpet, Jade walked over and pulled it open. She’d thought it was the room service she’d just called for.

Instead, standing outside in a full designer outfit, was Arabella Moreton.

Jade instinctively shifted sideways and blocked the entrance.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you."

Arabella looked relaxed on the surface, but the fingers of her right hand were clenched tight. Her polished nails dug into her palm, the tips of her fingers turning pale from the force.

Jade looked at the woman who had once been her best friend for years, and her mind, totally against her will, flashed back to what she had seen when she came home from work last month.

A best friend she’d kept close for so many years.

Tangling herself up with Jade’s husband.

Those ugly images flickered through Jade’s head again. Now, all she felt was disgust.

"There’s nothing for me to talk about with you."

Jade’s voice went ice-cold in an instant, and she moved to shut the door.

"Wait!"

Arabella hurriedly reached out and braced a hand against it. She glanced toward the elevator at the far end of the hallway.

"Jade Sinclair, with your level of fame, you probably don’t want people seeing me here, right? Though honestly, even if they do, that’s not the worst part. If the paparazzi spot us, they’ll definitely dig deeper and find out you and Damian Sutherland actually divorced half a month ago. And when that happens..." She gave a faint smile. "I don’t think I need to spell it out for you."

Jade’s body stiffened.

She leaned out slightly and looked down the empty corridor.

And, like the universe was messing with her on purpose, the suite next door suddenly made a noise.

The guest inside was about to come out...

Jade Sinclair didn’t have time to think. She could only step aside and let Arabella Moreton in.

It wasn’t that she was scared fans would find out she and Damian Sutherland had secretly divorced half a month ago.

The real problem was, she and Damian were still tied to several brand deals. They still had couple endorsements running.

Half a month ago, Jade had given up everything and walked away with nothing.

She had taken every last cent she had and rented the top-floor suite at the Four Seasons Hotel for a full year.

To put it bluntly, the former idol-drama queen Jade Sinclair was now flat broke. There was no way she could afford the penalty fees if the advertisers came after her for breach of contract.

Arabella walked in on her heels. Her eyes were sharp. In one glance, she spotted the script lying on the bedside table.

Dreams of Bygone Years.

It was the new film director Jasper Glenwood was currently preparing.

The second female lead in it was a seriously tricky role, layered, emotional, and demanding real acting chops. If someone nailed it, it could absolutely become an awards-season dark horse by the end of the year.

Arabella had had her eye on that role for ages, and had even pulled in quite a bit of investment for the project.

Director Glenwood’s attitude had already softened a lot. It had looked like that second female lead was basically about to land in her hands.

But who would’ve thought Jasper Glenwood somehow got in touch with Jade instead, and locked Jade in for the part on the spot.

The moment Arabella heard that news, she nearly exploded.

Thinking of that, Arabella reached out, picked up the script without asking, and flipped through it casually. Then she saw the pages covered in dense notes.

“Jade Sinclair, your acting is famously awful. Doesn’t matter how much homework you do, it’s still useless.”

Jade snatched the script back without a shred of politeness. She couldn’t even be bothered to explain.

Since her debut five years ago, Jade had starred in over thirty dramas and films.

That averaged out to six projects a year.

Almost every two months, she had to finish one project, and every single time she was the lead. Jade simply never had the time to really digest a role or let her acting settle and grow.

Worse, she never turned jobs down. She didn’t care what the role was. If the money was there, she took it.

She had worked herself that hard for only one reason: the Jinghua Entertainment company she and Damian Sutherland had built together, and Damian’s dream of becoming Best Actor.

Even when her projects averaged a miserable four on Douban, even when countless netizens mocked her as the “queen of trashy flops,” Jade had swallowed it all willingly. All so Damian wouldn’t have to worry about money and could focus entirely on honing his craft.

And yet, who could’ve guessed that Jinghua Entertainment would rise in one leap into a well-known entertainment company in the country, and that Damian Sutherland would win Best Actor at only twenty-four.

But the one enjoying the results of all that work wasn’t Jade, the person who had bled for it for years.

It was Arabella Moreton.