Chapter 3

“So you still think of coming home? I thought you’d already decided to flee with whoever you had sex with,” Rona said as soon as Liza opened the door of her home.

Liza was no longer surprised to see Rona inside her house. It has already been over a month since she decided to give Rona a spare key because she trusted her, and she comes to her house almost every day to pick her up after the shootings and take her home. Since then, Rona has practically lived in her house, and Liza hasn’t cared.

Liza walked into her house, exhausted. “Can you save the nagging for later, Rona? I’m tired,” she said as she walked to the kitchen to get a water bottle to quench her thirst.

“Wow! Really, Liza? Is that all you’ll say to me after everything you’ve put me through? Do you even know what time it is? Or do you even remember that you were supposed to be in a photoshoot with Mr. Herrera three hours ago?” Rona exclaimed, frustrated.

Liza knew she had made a huge mistake. Mr. Herrera is a well-known photographer who has worked with several celebrities. Most of Mr. Herrera’s celebrity collaborators are famous A-listers, whereas the others were all starlets at first but rose to fame after working with Mr. Herrera and are now all A-listers. A photoshoot with Mr. Herrera was her best chance to gain popularity, but it’s now gone, and she can only blame herself. Of course, she could also blame Hunter for fucking her all night.

Hunter meant it when he said Liza needed to tire him out if she didn’t want him to fuck her from night to dawn. Hunter told her to tire him out, but his manhood appeared not to be the only monster in him. His endurance seems to be a beast as well. Liza even forgot how many times she orgasmed. She had already lost count by the fourth time she came. She even began to wonder if Hunter was a human being. Because she has never met a man who could keep her up all night, cumming. Hunter was rough on her, which added to his monstrous stamina, and Liza was okay with it while they were having sex. But now that she is tasting the effects of their rough sex, she just wants to kick herself for letting Hunter do whatever he wants with her body.

When Liza realized in the morning that she was already three hours late for her photoshoot with Mr. Herrera and could barely walk, she silently cursed Hunter. Her body was also riddled with hickeys and bite marks, making Mr. Herrera’s photoshoot even more impossible.

She stormed out of the club’s private room without even waking Hunter, who was sound asleep because she was unhappy with her body and frustrated with the situation with Mr. Herrera. But simply leaving without saying anything was not enough for her, so she took a few bills from Hunter’s wallet for her taxi fare because she had left her bag with Rona.

But although her entire body was in pain, Liza couldn’t deny how good Hunter was at satisfying her worldly desires. She had even forgotten everything except his cock and how much pleasure it gave her.

“You just blew a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and you have nothing to say?”

Liza placed the empty bottle of water on the table and exited the kitchen, making her way to the stairs leading to the second floor of her house. “What do you want me to say? I messed up, Rona. I know I did. But whatever I say and whatever I do will not change anything. Nothing will change, even if I cry blood and kneel on the floor. What happened has happened,” she said.

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you,” Rona snapped back. “How many times must I clean up your mess, Liza? How long must I put up with all your schemes and insensitive actions? When will you grow up and learn to be considerate of others?”

“I’m tired, Rona; I’ll listen to all your nagging and whining later, but I need to rest right now, please.”

“You’re tired? If you’re tired, then so am I! I am tired of you, Liza. I am tired of you being selfish and inconsiderate. You keep saying you want to rise to the top, but you keep doing things that impede your rise! Did you even consider my feelings? Did you even try to put yourself in my shoes? Do you even know how Mr. Herrera humiliated me all because of you? You didn’t, right?”

“That’s it!” Liza exclaimed as she dashed down the steps toward Rona. Her expression is filled with anger. “You’ve crossed the line, Rona; I made a huge mistake and am already sorry.”

“Oh, yeah? Do you feel bad about it? Do you? I already told you to stop your nasty habit, but what did you do? You fucked some random guy, and now you’ve lost one of your best opportunities to establish your reputation! You know what? I’m done. I’m done with this, and I’m done with you. If you still refuse to accept responsibility for your actions, suit yourself, but I cannot. I can’t work with someone who is only concerned with herself.” And before Liza could respond, Rona had already walked away from her, grabbed her bag from the couch, and exited, slamming the door shut with a thud.

As Liza stared at the closed door of the house, her face flushed with surprise and disbelief. She still can’t believe what just happened.

“She’s done with me? She doesn’t want to work for me anymore?” she asked herself, her voice shaking with disbelief.

Aside from being a friend and manager, Rona acts as a mother figure to her, warning, stopping, or scolding her anytime she does something that could harm or ruin her career. It isn’t the first time Rona has grown upset with her and walked away from her because she has done something she believes is wrong, but this is the first time Rona has told her she’s done with her, and she finds that hard to believe.

Liza sighed as she walked over to the couch and sat down, her palms covering her face. “Will she truly abandon me?” Liza quickly regretted what she had done and said. “I should have apologized to her first,” she said after realizing she hadn’t even apologized to Rona for causing her trouble. She has no idea what Mr. Herrera said or did to Rona, but she is confident that what happened with Mr. Herrera was what caused Rona to become so enraged. “She probably felt extremely humiliated.”

Liza was still contemplating what had happened between her and Rona when she heard a cell phone ringtone. It’s the ringtone on her phone.

The noise source pulled her attention to the other side of the couch. And then she saw the cause of the noise: her shoulder bag. She opened the bag to retrieve her phone. The name and phone number of Sahara Dela Fuente, the head of talent at M&D Talent Agency, where she is now signed, appeared on the screen of her phone.

“How could I have forgotten Sahara?” She sighed deeply. Sahara is probably already aware of her failure to appear for the photoshoot with Mr. Herrera, and she is sure that Sahara is now furious with her.

Before responding to Sahara’s call, Liza took another deep breath to prepare her heart, mind, and ears for the harsh words Sahara was hurling at her. She only picked up the phone when she was ready. “What happened, Liza?” Sahara demanded angrily, not allowing her to speak. “Do you know how surprised and embarrassed I was when I got a call from Mr. Herrera because of your unprofessionalism? Do you know how much I must apologize and promise to make it up to him to alleviate his anger?”

“I’m sorry.” That was all Liza could manage to say.

“Do you think a simple apology will suffice for the trouble you’ve caused?” Liza couldn’t respond to Sahara’s question. Because she already knew it wasn’t the case. A simple apology will not suffice to compensate for the harm she caused in the agency’s name. She could hear Sahara sigh in frustration on the other end of the line. “Just tell me what happened to you,” Sahara said, trying to calm her voice. “Just give me a fucking reason why you didn’t go to the photo shoot and tarnished our agency’s name; give me a fucking reason why you lost your chance to rise to the top and make your name well-known in the industry; just give me a fucking reason, Liza!”

“I… I… Sahara, I...”

“I what? Can’t you say it? Don’t tell me you’re embarrassed now, Liza! We both know you don’t know that word; everyone in this agency knows you don’t know that word, especially me and Rona.” Sahara said, which made Liza sigh exasperatedly. How will she explain to Sahara, their head of talent, that she did not make it to the photoshoot because she was fucked so hard by a stranger named Hunter all night until dawn and that her body is now full of hickeys, making it even more difficult for her to do her job? “If you can’t say it, can you answer my question?” Liza remained silent, so Sahara posed another question. “Did you go to another club?”

Liza’s eyes widened in surprise. “How did you...” She kept her frequent club visits hidden from Sahara because she knew she’d be outraged. Only Rona knew about it, and she had already asked her not to tell Sahara. So how could Sahara possibly have known?

“Do you think you can keep it from me forever, Liza? I have eyes and ears everywhere. Wherever you go, I will know, and I will always know; I was aware of your frequent club visits, but I didn’t say anything because it wasn’t causing me or the agency any problems, and you weren’t slacking off at work either. I thought giving you some leeway would motivate you to work harder, but I was wrong.

“No, that’s not the case.”

“Then what?” Sahara asked again, and Liza remained silent. “Forget it. Forget your reason; it won’t matter much anyway.”

Liza’s forehead knotted. “What do you mean?” For some reason, she became nervous. She’s unsure but knew something was wrong when Sahara said her reasoning would be meaningless. “What do you mean it won’t mean much?” Sahara didn’t immediately respond. It’s as if Sahara is undecided about telling her, which makes Liza even more nervous. “What’s the matter, Sahara?” Her heart beats faster with every second, but Sahara remains silent.

“Sahara!”

“We decided to let you go,” Sahara said, making Liza feel like a bomb had gone off in her ear. She was at a loss for words. She couldn’t even blink, and her mouth was drooping. It was as if something was stuck in her throat, making it impossible for her to speak. Liza also felt like her heart had stopped beating for a moment. She was so shocked that she couldn’t move an inch. “Mr. Herrera was so angry at us, but especially at you, that he threatened us that if we don’t let go of you, none of our artists will be able to work with him anymore, and you know how important he is to the media and some of the biggest companies in the country. We can’t let him go, and we can’t sacrifice our agency and our other artists for your sake either.”

Liza couldn’t hear what Sahara said after that. She couldn’t speak or move until Sahara finally ended the phone call. She just sat on the couch, holding her phone, as the sentence ‘we decided to let you go’ played in her head repeatedly. Those were the only words that stuck with Liza out of everything Sahara said.

“They’re letting me go,” she managed to say after a few minutes, still stunned. “They’re letting me go; they don’t want me anymore,” she said quietly again. And before she knew it, her eyes were already welling up with tears.

She feels like her world is collapsing around her. Rona, her job, and her dream of becoming a successful celebrity were all taken away. All because she ignored Rona’s advice and went on a one-night stand with a stranger. It was all because of the night she spent with Hunter.

Liza’s tears kept falling. She couldn’t believe she’d lose everything she had worked for instantly. To begin with, she is not particularly well-known. So how will she survive in the entertainment industry now that the agency no longer wants her? How can she, a no-name celebrity, survive? Is there even an agency interested in taking her and managing a starlet like her?

Liza was still sobbing uncontrollably, and her mind was so preoccupied with worry and regret that she didn’t notice her doorbell ringing. She didn’t realize anyone was looking for her until someone forcibly opened the front door.

Liza jumped up from her couch, startled. The front door caught her attention, and she noticed a man wearing a black suit and sunglasses. Her brow furrowed, and her emotions shifted from worry to nervousness. “Who are you? What do you want?” she asked, trying to sound brave despite her slightly trembling voice. She couldn’t see the two people behind the man who she thought opened, no, broke her door. The man’s bulk was enough to conceal the two people behind him. The man in the black suit remained deafeningly silent. Instead of responding to her question, another man in a black suit of the same build appeared. Liza became even more nervous. She took a few steps back, holding her phone tightly. Her mind has begun to fill with various worst-case scenarios. “Look, if you want money, I’ll give you some; just don’t hurt me,” she pleaded as she took another step back.

“No one is going to hurt you,” says the man standing behind the first man in the black suit, causing Liza to pause before taking a few steps back. “We’re not going to hurt you,” someone says again from behind the two men in the black suit, widening Liza’s eyes and leaving her mouth open again. “That is unless you refuse to cooperate with me.”

Surprise illuminated Liza’s face. What she was seeing was unbelievable. The man who fucked her so hard all night until dawn that she missed the photo shoot is now standing right in front of her. And so she exclaimed in disbelief, “Hunter?”