Edward's POV

“Edward!” Liana suddenly raised her voice, her gaze sharp and unfamiliar. “Know your place!”

But her words stunned even her.

I froze, disbelief tightening in my chest. “My place? Are you saying I don’t know my role as a senior in this industry? Or that I don’t know my place as your boyfriend of ten years?”

“Edward, I…”

For a second, she seemed to realize she had said too much.

But slips like that cut the deepest because they revealed what someone truly thought.

“Relax, Edward,” Samuel cut in, chin lifted, arrogance radiating from him. “Don’t treat me like some homewrecker you need to compete with. I don’t play those childish dominance games. We’re men, not gossiping women.”

He gave a short laugh, then added bluntly, “Let me be straight. Miss Carrington is my type. And I happen to be someone who loves boldly and hates openly. That’s all.”

He then waved the black card in front of my face and said, “This is the card she tried to give me earlier, but I didn’t take it. It's because I go after what I want on my own. Unlike you, I don’t care about her money. Rich or broke, it doesn’t matter to me. I like her herself.”

After that, the card slapped against my face before dropping to the floor, and he turned to leave.

But Liana’s eyes flicked toward her men, and they immediately blocked his path.

“How could I let you just walk out?” she said softly, rising to wrap her arms around his waist.

Then she suddenly ordered her men. “Take Edward’s nomination off the list. Give it to Samuel.”

“Liana!” I snapped.

“And another thing,” she cut me off, tilting her face up to Samuel, her eyes full of affection. “The money I spend is my business. It has nothing to do with you. You’ll never be a kept man to me.”

“Tsk.” He clicked his tongue, pretending to struggle before finally giving in. As he pulled her into his arms, his eyes flicked toward me.

Just for a moment, I caught the smug triumph flashing there.

By the time I got into my car, rage was boiling through me. I slammed my fist into the steering wheel.

I never even cared about becoming Best Actor. At the start, I only entered the entertainment industry to earn enough money for Liana and me to get by.

I’d always been too proud to flatter anyone, but for the sake of even a minor role, I forced myself to bow and scrape.

Somewhere along the way, though, I fell in love with the work. Even after Liana rebuilt her empire and tossed tens of millions at me to keep me from “wasting my time,” I refused to quit. That was when she should have realized that I had already become an actor in my own right. From then on, I wanted support, not chains.

But when I stumbled home that night, still reeling, I found strangers moving around inside.

“Take this. And that. All of it, move it out,” Samuel ordered a team of movers, pointing at my crystal figures and pure gold miniatures.

“Put those down! Who gave you permission to break into my home?” I barked.

Caught off guard by my sudden shout, Samuel actually jumped back a couple of steps before his face twisted in annoyance. “What are you yelling for? Miss Carrington personally registered my fingerprints here in this house, so I can come and go as I please."

"Hey! Take that one too. Move everything to the new place she got me!” His finger pointed toward a small gold chain sitting on my desk.

It weighed less than five grams, worthless compared to the watches I now owned that cost eight figures. But it was priceless to me. Back then, when we were broke, Liana had eaten instant noodles for three straight months just to buy me that chain. She swore she’d give us a better life, even if she had to fight the world as a woman alone.

With that, I slammed my hand down, stopping the mover mid-reach. My lips curled into a bitter smile as I asked, “Mr. Reid, weren’t you just preaching about how money doesn’t matter to you?”

Edward's POV

“What’s wrong now? Can’t even let go of something worth less than five hundred?” I sneered.

Samuel’s face instantly darkened. “It’s not about the money. It’s about what the money represents. Wherever the money goes, the love goes too. Edward, if you want something, you should fight for it yourself.”

I gave a cold laugh. “That’s the first time I’ve heard someone dress up greed and call it noble.”

“No need to be jealous, Edward.” He stepped closer, voice low and cocky. “In the end, it still depends on who Miss Carrington chooses. As for these things, I’ll gladly accept them.”

He then pointed toward the top shelf of the cabinet and instructed, “That trophy looks nice. Take it down. We’ll bring that too.”

My breath caught.

That was my father’s trophy.

“Stop!”

I shoved past the movers, clutching it to my chest. But in the process, Samuel nearly got knocked over.

His face twisted with rage as he barked, “Edward! Over a stupid trophy, really? Do you really have to? It’s not like an actor like you would ever deserve one anyway! What does it matter if I take something Miss Carrington gave you? Take it from him!”

“Don’t you dare!” I gritted and raised my fist high.

Samuel’s face immediately went pale, and he threw his arms over his head. “Ah!”

“Edward!”

My wrist was suddenly seized in a firm grip. As I turned, I met Liana’s cold, disapproving stare.

A second later, her bodyguard flung me back, slamming me against the wardrobe.

“Miss Carrington!” Samuel cried out dramatically, throwing himself into her arms, shoulders trembling as if he’d been traumatized. She hugged him tight as well as if comforting him.

Then she glared at me and snapped, “Edward, it’s just a trophy! Why go this far?”

I looked up at her in disbelief. “Liana… what did you just say?”

Only then did her gaze drop to what I was holding, the last symbol of my father’s glory. The last gift he left me.

Back in those days when I couldn’t even afford a proper meal, I’d sold every watch and suit I owned. But not this. Never this.

Right then, her expression wavered, and she looked away from me. Her voice was now softer but still dismissive as she reasoned, “Samuel is your junior. He can’t really hurt you. There’s no need to be so extreme."

“Can’t hurt me?” I let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “You mean, coming into my home and clearing out everything valuable, that doesn’t count as hurting me?”

Samuel blanched.

Finally, Liana seemed to notice. Nearly everything of value in the room had already been carried out under Samuel’s instructions.

“Liana,” I said, my voice like ice, “this man who won’t even spare a chain weighing less than five grams, you really believe he doesn’t care about your money?”

“Miss Carrington!” Samuel suddenly shouted. “If you believe him, then fine. I’ll put everything back right now. I’ll return every single thing you’ve given me!”

He then spun around as if to leave. But she grabbed his arm, stopping him.

His voice cracked with righteous indignation. “I wanted that gold chain because I know you gave it to him before! I’m not some saint. When the person I love gives another man something, even if it’s just a worthless scrap of paper, I get jealous! That's why I want it! But if you’re really going to believe him, if you think I’m just here to bleed you dry, then I have nothing else to say!”

I laughed, the sound cutting through the air like a blade. “So, you want to be both the whore and the saint. How convenient.”

“And you’re any better?” Liana suddenly whipped her head toward me, shouting the words like a slap across my face.

I froze.

Samuel finally stopped struggling. He leaned into her, letting her hold him.

She tightened her arms around him, her voice gentling. “Don’t argue with him. Please.”

I stared at her, my gaze burning.

Edward's POV

“So, in your eyes, I'm both a joke and a show?” I asked.

Liana hesitated, then let out a cold laugh. “Edward, be honest with yourself. When you tore up that Harvard acceptance letter, weren’t you counting on me to come back on top? Weren’t you gambling that I’d make an even bigger comeback than before?”

I stared at her, stunned.

She folded herself closer around Samuel and firmly continued, “Samuel only met me after I’d rebuilt everything, and yet he won’t take a penny of what I give him. I didn’t force anything on him because his pride is no less than the act you put on back then.”

My voice shook as I asked, “Liana… you think I was putting it on back then?”

She sighed and answered, “Maybe only you know the truth. I’m giving you face by not tearing off that thin veil. But don’t make a scene from now on.”

“Liana, I hope you rot!” I screamed, overturning the table.

Reflexively, she used her back to shield Samuel from the flying mess.

But he raged, practically foaming. “Edward, are you out of your mind? Is Miss Carrington wrong? You want me to admit that I'm just some social-climbing phoenix man, that’s what would make you happy, right?”

He was about to come at me, but Liana held him back in time. Then she left with him and the others, leaving the room in pieces and me sitting on the floor among the wreckage.

I was breathing hard, and my eyes stung.

She didn’t know that if I hadn’t stood by her back then, I would be successful than her right now.

I picked up the scattered mess and clutched my father’s trophy tight.

If that was the case, once the new film was locked in, I’d split everything and be done—no more ties.

Just as I finished cleaning, my assistant called, breathless. “Bad news, Edward. The role we just secured has been reassigned to Samuel.”

My phone nearly slipped out of my hand.

I stormed into Liana’s office and slammed the files down on her desk.

“You gave my father’s role to that pretty boy?” I demanded.

She took the papers without so much as a tremor in her manicured hand. Calm as ever, she said, “Samuel has potential. You don’t need to worry.”

“Liana.” I grabbed her by the collar. “My father was a hero in the research world. He was organizing data until the end. And yet, you want someone who can’t even remember lines to play him? Is Samuel fit for that?!”

“How can you know unless you give him the chance?” she countered.

“That’s my father. No one knows him better than I do.” My eyes burned red. “If you cast him as my father, I will ruin that man. I’ll give up being an actor if I have to just to make sure he’s finished.”

Her expression flickered with surprise.

Even as the respected Miss Carrington, she could see the edge in me. If I wanted a total collapse, it was possible.

She stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray and exhaled. “You really want to do that?”

“Absolutely,” I said through gritted teeth.

She nodded, picked up the phone, and gave an order. “Cancel Samuel’s parachute plan. Yes, Edward will play as his father.”

The tension in my body eased slightly. I forced out a sarcastic, “Thanks, Miss Carrington,” then turned and left without meeting her eyes.

By the plan, I was supposed to have a costume fitting the next day. But instead of a call confirming that, what waited for me was worse: a wave of private photos of me leaked all over the internet, one after another, relentless.

Pages and pages. Every image was spreading like wildfire.

I tumbled off the bed.

Seeing the angles in those photos, my hand shook as I frantically dialed Liana.

But Samuel picked up instead.

“I was the one who told Miss Carrington to leak them,” he said casually. “What’s the matter? You said you’d ruin me to protect that role of yours? Now you’re ruined. How’s it feels? Gotta admit, Edward, every time you look so proper in public, you’re wild in bed.”

My teeth felt like they’d break from grinding.

“Samuel!” I screamed, but the phone was snatched away from him.

This time, Liana’s voice came through the line. “You can still play as your father. As long as you can stand that whenever the audience sees your father on screen, the first image they’ll think of is you losing yourself in bed.”

The phone slipped from my hand and hit the floor. I sank to my knees, staring at the trending topics crowding my screen and tears pouring down my face.

Just then, my phone vibrated, and a familiar, tired voice spoke on the other end as I answered it.

“Edward? I heard… your father’s production is starting? When’s the premiere? We're coming back for your first show.”

My hands trembled so badly I could barely answer, but I still managed. “Someone put my private photos online… I can’t act now.”

“What?!” The voice went from gentle to furious in an instant.

He scanned the news I’d forwarded, and his voice shook as he snarled, “Unbelievable… Has she forgotten that your father's old comrades are still alive, so she let a pretty boy treat you like this? Don't worry, Edward. All your father’s old teammates are flying home now. We’ll back you up.”