After the divorce, he begged

Chapter 299

Karen and Mark turned to Rebecca in perfect sync.

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Watching Mr. Sutton’s car disappear, Rebecca leaned over to Mark. “Get two guys to act like his enemies. Sneak

up on him late one night and teach him a lesson.”

Mark gaped at her, speechless.

Mark said seriously, “Boss, you've changed.”

Rebecca glanced up. “Changed how?”

“Back in the day, you'd just throw down if somebody ticked you off,” Mark commented, tracing her recent shift.

“Now you've learned how to lay low.”

“I'm not in Jelasburg much,” Rebecca said, handling things much smoother than before. “If | go head-to-head

with him and then bounce, what's to stop him from coming after Karen once I’m gone?”

That was exactly why she'd kept her cool earlier.

Mr. Sutton might not mess withbecause of who's backing me, but Karen was basically left to fend for herself

here.

Rebecca paused, ‘Wait a minute.”

“Isn't Karen seeing Stephen Hanson?"

Thanks,” Karen said, her gratitude genuine.

“It's nothing, just lending a hand,” Rebecca replied easily, then got straight to the point. “So, how'd you end up

on Mr. Sutton’s radar?”

“My agent set up a dinner, tellingthere was a supporting female role in a TV looking for the right

actress. She thought | should cozy up to the producer and investors,” Karen said honestly, since Rebecca had

really cthrough for her. “Didn’t expect things to blow up like this.”

The unspoken rules are pretty common in the entertainment world.

But most of the time, if things didn’t work out, people just moved on. It was rare for anyone to actually get

aggressive or physical about it.

“Wait, are you... Rebecca paused, trying to recall. “An actress?”

“Yeah, Karen nodded, her mood noticeably brighter. “But honestly, nothing I've done has ever actually had my

nin the credits.”

So far, all my screen time's been as an extra with zero lines, and sometimes you couldn't even see my face on

camera.

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Chapter 299

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Whenever there was a part with real scenes or dialogue, Stephen stepped in and made sure it got cut.

“Still in production?” Rebecca asked.

“No,” Karen replied, her mood sinking. “It got buried. Chances are, it'll never get released.”

Rebecca's brow furrowed.

Just as she was about to ask something else, Karen's phone rang-it was her agent calling.

“So, how did things go with Mr. Sutton?” her agent immediately asked.

“It was a mess,” Karen admitted, straight up telling her. “He got all touchy at dinner, even started trying to pull

at my clothes.”

Her agent pressed, “And then?”

Karen answered, “I got out of there.”

“Why can’t you ever make things easier for me?” her agent snapped, sounding completely frustrated. “Forget

about him just tugging at your clothes-if he wanted you to spend the night, that would've been your big break!”

Karen's grip on her phone tightened.

Her agent kept ranting, “It’s not like you don’t know what's happening-every show you take never even airs, and

now word is you're totally jinxed. Directors won't cast you, actors won't go near you, and you still wanna pick

and choose roles?”

Karen felt that old frustration building up inside her.

She wasn't jinxed-it was all because of Stephen.

Nobody realized Stephen was the one sabotaging her career. To everyone else, she was just bad luck-any show

with her in it was doomed from the start.

TII find the right tto get Mr. Sutton to meet with you,” her agent continued coldly. “You need to show up and

really make amends. The company doesn’t pay people to sit around-if you can’t book any jobs soon, be ready to

cough up the breach fee.”

Beep,

The call ended.

Karen's fingers grew icy around her phone, the chill sinking right into her heart.

“Need a hand?” Rebecca asked.

“No need,” Karen managed a gentle expression, not wanting to drag Rebecca into her problems. “Sorry for the

. Didn't mean for you to get caught up in it.”

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Chapter 299

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“Why haven't any of your shows ever aired?” Rebecca asked with real concern in her eyes. She wasn’t prying;

the agent's voice was loud enough for anyone to hear. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay.”

Karen fell silent for a moment.

Then, after finally steeling herself, she admitted, “Stephen never lets any of them go public.”

“Wait, what?” Rebecca blurted out, caught totally off guard.

“It was Stephen who buried your projects?” Rebecca asked, her tone laced with disbelief.

Karen murmured a barely-there “Yeah.”

Rebecca scrunched up her brows. Never in a million years did she think Stephen was this domineering-just

pulling the plug like that, ignoring everything Karen and the whole crew went through, all because of his own

selfish reasons.

Seriously, these Hanson brothers must have skind of major issues,’ Rebecca thought, shaking her head.

“Boss,” Mark suddenly piped up, “where does Karen live? Should we drop her off first?”

Rebecca glanced over at Karen.

Karen's hand on her lap slowly clenched tighter.

She looked like the last thing she wanted was to go

back.

“Why don’t you crash at my place tonight?” Rebecca suggested, keeping her tone gentle so she wouldn't

pressure Karen. “I've got plenty of empty rooms.”

Rebecca honestly had no idea just what the deal was between Karen and Stephen.

From what Jeffrey had mentioned before, they’d been together for years, but Stephen had never officially called

Karen his girlfriend. Still, he kept interfering with her career every chance he got. Karen obviously had issues

with it, yet she stayed by his side.

That relationship was seriously tangled-no question about it.

Rebecca nudged her with a gentle, “So...?” when Karen stayed quiet.

Karen almost agreed, but then Stephen's temper flashed through her mind and she hesitated. ‘If he finds out 1

didn’t go straight home, he'll flip! She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. Just dropoff at East Street Metro

Station.”

Just as she finished speaking, her phone buzzed.

This time, the ringtone was different from the last call.

Out of the corner of her eye, Rebecca caught a glimpse of the caller ID: HI.

Rebecca’s mind paused. ‘H? Wait-Hanson? Stephen Hanson?‘ she thought, suspicion flickering in her eyes.

Chapter 299

Karen stared at the screen, her hand hovering over the phone, fingers trembling ever so slightly as she struggled

to decide whether to answer.

“Stephen Hanson?” Rebecca asked, keeping her voice gentle.

Karen gave a small nod. “Yeah.”

Rebecca hesitated, wanting to ask more but worried she'd be crossing a line into Karen's personal business, so

she kept quiet.

After a few seconds, Karen looked over, resolve in her eyes. “Could you askthat question again?”

“Mark, let's head back to Rebecca’s Manor,” Rebecca said, giving her the answer straight up.

Karen let out a quiet sigh of relief.

But now, staring at her phone, she still had no clue what to do next.

If she picked up, what was she supposed to tell Stephen? He was insanely sharp-any lie would get torn apart in

seconds. And once he figured out the truth, she’d be in way over her head.

If she ignored the call, he'd definitely want an explanation. And not having a good answer would only make

things worse.

“Wantto take the call for you?” Rebecca offered, picking up on Karen's unease. “I'll just tell him yo weren't

feeling well, so | brought you back to Rebecca’s Manor.”

After thinking it over, Karen gave a nod.

Rebecca took the phone, swiped to answer, and put it on speaker.

Before she could get a word out, Stephen’s voice cthrough cold as ever. “Took you long enough to pick up.

What were you even up to?”

“Stephen Hanson?” Rebecca chimed in, sounding all innocent on purpose.

Stephen paused, confused.

Stephen's brows knitted together.

He glanced at the screen to make sure he hadn’t messed up the number. “Rebecca?”

“Yeah,” Rebecca replied.

Stephen's voice was calm, with just a trace of warmth. “Where's Karen?”

“She’s right here with me,” Rebecca answered smoothly, not giving anything away. “She wasn’t feeling well and

fainted, so I'm taking her back to Rebecca’s Manor.”

“Just keep an eye on her for now. I'll be over in a bit,” Stephen said, his tone still steady and unhurried.

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Chapter 299

Rebecca almost blurted out that there was no need for him to cover.

But Stephen had already hung up.

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