Aria posed for a few quick, obligatory photos with a strained-looking Savannah, maintaining her flawless, sweet smile for the studio cameras. As soon as the flashes stopped, she made her escape. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Damien had already stepped out. His phone had buzzed the second the broadcast ended, and he had pressed a quick kiss to her temple before stepping into the hallway to take a call.

Aria immediately headed backstage, shedding her public persona like a second skin.

Zoe and Coco were waiting for her with proud and excited smiles on their faces.

"Hydrate, Meryl Streep," Zoe commanded, tossing a chilled bottle of coconut water across the room. "You devoured that interview."

Aria caught the bottle effortlessly, twisting the cap off. She chuckled, "Thank you, thank you."

"The internet is in shambles right now," Coco cackled.

Zoe eagerly whipped out her iPad. "People are literally calling Damien a ’submissive wife guy.’ They are convinced he’s a total pillow princess because you bossed him around in a hallway."

Aria took a long, refreshing gulp of her coconut water, raising an amused eyebrow.

"They are generating art. The AI girlies work fast, Aria. Look at this." Zoe grinned, swiping her screen.

Zoe spun the iPad around, shoving the screen directly into Aria’s face.

Aria choked.

She inhaled a lungful of coconut water. She hunched over, coughing and wheezing, aggressively thumping her own chest as she stared at the screen with wide eyes.

In the image, a fictionalized, leather-clad Aria was standing over Damien. He was kneeling on the floor, looking up at her with submission, while she held him by a chain collar.

"Why are my boobs the size of watermelons?!" Aria wheezed, pointing a shaking finger at the screen.

"I know, right?!" Zoe cackled, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye. "The AI gave you triple-D cups! You look like an anime villainess who moonlights as an exotic dancer!"

"NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Aria and Zoe jumped.

Coco was standing in the doorway, pointing a trembling finger down the hallway. A production assistant was currently trying to cram Coco’s super expensive, custom-made sable-hair makeup brushes into a tight plastic bag.

"DON’T BEND THE BRISTLES, YOU UNCULTURED BARBARIAN!" Coco shrieked, his voice reaching a pitch only dogs could hear. "THOSE ARE SABLE! THEY COST MORE THAN YOUR LIFE!"

Coco didn’t even look back at Aria and Zoe as he rushed the clueless assistant. The space was beginning to empty around them.

"By the way," Zoe said, her voice dropping into a quiet whisper. "Are you really giving up on Vale Entertainment?"

"Follow me," Aria murmured. She grabbed Zoe by the wrist and dragged her out a side door that led to the studio’s loading dock.

The metal exit doors slammed shut behind them.

They were standing in a narrow, shadowed alleyway lined with massive blue dumpsters. The air smelled faintly of stale trash and exhaust fumes, but more importantly, it was completely isolated. The distant hum of Manhattan traffic masked their voices perfectly.

Aria let go of Zoe’s wrist and turned to face her.

"Of course I’m not giving it up," Aria stated flatly. "I would rather die than let anyone else own what my mother built."

Zoe blinked, confused. "But... you just said on live television that you wanted nothing to do with it."

"I said that for the public," Aria explained, pacing a short line on the cracked asphalt. "And I said it for Damien. If Damien thought I wanted it back, he would get it for me. But I can’t let him do that. I am going to go undercover. I am going to buy the remaining fifty percent of Vale Entertainment myself."

Zoe’s jaw unhinged. She stared at Aria as if she had just grown a second head.

"You are going to buy it?" Zoe choked out. "You want to work with your husband’s millionaire ex-girlfriend?!"

"She won’t know it’s me, so it won’t be that awkward," Aria rationalized, her hands moving as she mapped out the heist in her head. "We’ll set up a shell company. We’ll use proxies. We-."

"Aria, you are insane," Zoe panicked, cutting Aria off while grabbing her own hair. "You cannot be serious! What happens if Vittoria demands an in-person meeting with the mysterious buyer? Are you going to pull a Mrs. Doubtfire? Are you going to be running back and forth to the bathroom, ripping off prosthetic noses and switching accents to be two people at once?!"

Zoe threw her hands in the air, exasperated.

"It sounds exhausting!" Zoe reasoned loudly. "And frankly, it’s stupid! You are married to a literal billionaire! Why don’t you just let Damien buy the shares? He would buy it, wrap it in a bow, and hand it to you on a silver platter."

"No," Aria said, her voice trembling with fierce emotion. "I am not using Damien’s money."

Aria looked down at the dirty asphalt. She wrapped her arms tightly around her own waist, her shoulders slumping.

"My acting career is already compromised, Zoe," Aria confessed, her voice stripped of its usual bravado. "I love acting, but..."

Aria swallowed hard.

"Nothing is ever going to feel earned anymore," Aria whispered. "No matter how hard I work, no matter how many hours I put in on set... I will always know the truth. Any award I win, any role I land, any contract I sign... people will whisper that I only got it because I’m Damien Sinclair’s wife. They won’t cast me because I’m talented. They’ll cast me because they’re terrified to offend him."

Zoe’s heart ached. She stared at her best friend, finally understanding the suffocating weight of the imposter syndrome Aria was carrying.

"Aria..."

"I just want one thing," Aria pleaded, looking up at Zoe with wide, desperate eyes. "Just one thing that is undeniably mine. That I worked for. That I outsmarted the system to get. I want to know that I rebuilt my mother’s legacy without using his black card or his influence to pave the way."

Aria took a step forward, closing the distance between them. She widened her bright green eyes, pushing her lower lip out into a pitiful puppy-dog pout.

"If I could do this heist by myself, I would," Aria whispered. "But I really, really need my best friend’s help this time. Will you please help me, Zoe?"

Zoe let out a dramatic sigh. "The things I do for you," she grumbled.

Aria let out a delighted squeal. She threw her arms around Zoe’s neck, hugging her tightly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Aria cheered against her shoulder. "You are the best! I don’t have the whole plan sorted out yet, but it’s working in my head and it is definitely going to be flawless!"

Zoe hugged her back, patting Aria’s back affectionately.

"Okay, mastermind," Zoe murmured, pulling back just enough to look Aria in the eyes. "I’m in, but I have one question."

Aria hummed, motioning her to go on.

"If you’re not going to use Damien’s money, where are you going to get the money from?"