Samuel's words hit like a bucket of cold water, snuffing out the hope I had just managed to build.

Why couldn't I change anything, even after getting a second chance? Was I supposed to spend the rest of my life living under Bryan's shadow, unable to write a single thing of my own?

To avoid any unnecessary risks, I left my main phone out on the balcony and stayed off my computer entirely. So how was Bryan still getting his hands on my work?

On X, Bryan blew up overnight after dropping two mystery novels back to back.

Content farms pushed his stories everywhere. Readers flooded the comments, urging studios to buy the rights and turn them into films as soon as possible.

Someone asked him where his ideas came from.

He replied, [I haven't written in years, and the first book I start gets copied. That caught me off guard. Good thing I released mine early, or I would have no way to prove the truth. This story is a warning to plagiarists. What goes around comes around. My talent and ideas aren't something you can steal. Watch yourself.]

The statement spread like wildfire.

People traced the publisher's earlier teaser back to my X account and started spamming my comments.

[Bryan's talking about you, right? Weren't you supposed to release a new book? Where is it?]

[One of the top ten authors? Yeah, right! I bet your old books were ghostwritten, too. Can't believe I used to like you.]

This time, I was still branded a plagiarist even when I hadn't even published anything.

But without real proof, my readers weren't about to sit back and let people drag my name through the mud.

The comment section turned into a battlefield.

Bryan had been out of the scene for nearly ten years. Most of the attention he got was from casual nostalgia, so he didn't have much of a fanbase to begin with.

Instead of boosting his reputation, the backlash started to hurt it.

That was when Paige finally stepped in.

"Bryan's going live tomorrow. You're going to connect with him and clear this up."

Her tone left no room for discussion.

I let out a sharp laugh. "Why should I?"

"You seriously have to ask? Your fans have been harassing him nonstop. He hasn't been eating or sleeping right these past few days. You owe him for that! Kobi, if you still want to be with me, you'll go on tomorrow and apologize to Bryan."

Bryan stole my work, and I was supposed to apologize?

The anger sat in my chest like a stone, but I forced it down.

I still needed answers.

On the day of the livestream, Paige and Bryan acted close enough to make it obvious. The comments flew by, full of people shipping them.

[I read Bryan's new book. It blew my mind. When's the print version coming out? I can't wait!]

[You could already tell from the video scripts that he had real talent, but his mystery writing just fried my brain.]

The stream hit 100 thousand viewers.

I figured the timing was right and sent a request to join. Paige accepted almost immediately. The moment she spoke, her tone turned sharp.

"Some people can't write anything decent, so they pull cheap tricks instead. Don't you agree, Kobi?"

I lowered my gaze and smiled faintly. "Bryan's definitely a rare talent. In that case, could you explain something to us? In your first novel, the killer wipes out everyone on the 13th floor, but leaves one old woman alive. Why?"

Bryan didn't answer right away. He glanced at Paige, and her expression shifted instantly.

"Kobi, are you here to apologize or to stir trouble?"

In that moment, it all clicked.

Paige was defending him this hard because she knew something.

"I'm asking on behalf of the readers. Isn't it normal for an author to explain the clues in their own story?"

The chat picked up on it and started echoing my question.

Bryan reached over and patted Paige's hand, calming her.

"Careful readers might have noticed a small detail. That old woman wasn't actually deaf or mute. That's right, she was protecting the killer because she was his mother. That's also the real reason he chose to take his own life in the end. And don't forget, the story is told from the killer's point of view. Which means… He could have been lying the whole time."

My heart slammed against my ribs.

Everything he said went beyond what I had written. How did he know the parts I never even included?

The screen in front of me blurred.

Not long after the stream ended, Paige showed up at my door.

"What the hell was that? You were trying to trip him up so he'd embarrass himself in front of everyone, weren't you?"

Whatever I had felt for her was already gone. This time, I wasn't going to get tangled up with her again.

"Let's break up. I'm quitting writing and going back home. I hope things work out for you and Bryan," I said.

She looked at me with open mockery.

"Don't act as if I'll always be the one smoothing things over for you. What are you even going to do back home? Help your dad with his little tailor shop, stitching up clothes? What about the penalty for canceling your book? Can your family even afford that?"

I smiled, unconcerned, and shut the door in her face.

What she didn't know was that I came from money.

My father might be a tailor, but he trained under a master craftsman whose work was practically legendary.

Our custom pieces were nearly impossible to get, even if you had the cash.

The penalties from the publisher and the platform meant nothing to me. They didn't even cost as much as a single suit.

If I stopped writing, I could just go home and take over the family business.

I wanted to see what Bryan would do once I stopped creating anything at all.