Chapter 1

After I hit one million followers as a fashion influencer, my boyfriend made me style his side piece.

During a live stream, right in front of all my viewers, she threw the clothes in my face one by one.

"You expect me to wear this basic, tacky garbage?"

Her voice was dripping with faux innocence. "No wonder Christian says your analytics are tanking lately. Guess your talent finally dried up."

The fabric hit my face. It didn't hurt physically, but the humiliation was excruciating.

I knew what they were doing. They wanted to bully me into giving up my one-million-follower account.

Christian knit his brows and barked at me, stepping casually behind Chloe.

He slid his fingers around the back of her neck and, right before the eyes of thousands of viewers, slowly and intimately adjusted her bra strap without a care in the world.

The live comments rolled by at breakneck speed:

"Chloe's body is unreal! Christian is a lucky man!"

"Hey Lauren, maybe look in a mirror? You're literally blocking the real power couple!"

I couldn't stand watching it anymore. I walked into the restroom, splashed cold water on my face, and texted him without hesitation:

"You can have the account. But only if you go on live, in front of all our followers, and admit exactly how you've been cheating on me."

What he didn't know was that a month ago, the very first night he didn't come home, I started a brand-new account.

My new corporate chic page had already broken one million followers in under thirty days.

After sending that text, I walked straight out of the studio and drove home.

Home was a luxury downtown penthouse Christian had leased when my followers hit seven figures, claiming it would give us a "better creative environment."

I pulled out a suitcase and began packing my things with practiced efficiency.

When the doorbell rang, I didn't even need to look back to know Christian was home.

Faster than I expected.

A look of frantic urgency was plastered across his face, and he even managed to squeeze out what he thought looked like deeply heartbroken concern.

"Lauren, let me explain!"

He rushed forward, trying to grab my hands as I folded a sweater, but I smoothly stepped aside.

"Explain what?"

I didn't bother looking up, my voice dead flat.

"Explain how you adjusted your mistress's bra strap in front of three hundred thousand viewers? Or explain why Chloe gets to throw clothes in my face?"

"It was all for the stream! It's just a script!"

His voice was desperate, thick with the agony of being misunderstood.

"Do you have any idea how cutthroat the industry is right now? We need buzz! We need controversy! You and I are too stable, the followers are bored! Chloe and I were just generating drama to drive traffic to the brand!"

He really thought he was an Oscar winner.

I looked up at him. The face that had once seemed brilliant and charming now looked entirely hollow, filled with nothing but deceit and calculation.

"Driving traffic by cheating on me? Christian, do you think I'm still that naive girl from three years ago who bought every lie you sold?"

Seeing that I wasn't buying it, the panic melted from his face, replaced by a cold, menacing sneer.

"Lauren, stop throwing a tantrum. Be realistic. Without me, where would you be today? A million followers? Brand sponsorships? Who planned and managed all of that for you?"

"Leave me, and you're nothing in this business!"

He took a menacing step closer, his voice laced with venom.

"Just hand over the account, and we can put this behind us."

"Why burn bridges and end up ruined, left with nothing?"

Right. He had no clue that multiple major talent agencies had already reached out to sign my secret account.

Every single one of them was massive compared to his tiny boutique firm!

I took a deep breath and dragged my suitcase to the front door, unfazed.

"I hit a million followers because of my personal taste and my content, not your management. If you could build me up, I can easily do it on my own."

"You want the main account? Take it. On one condition: you go live and tell my followers the absolute truth about you and Chloe."

The last shred of Christian's fake patience vanished, leaving pure, raw malice.

"Go live and confess? Lauren, you're out of your mind!"

He practically growled, "You think you can destroy me? You? Let me tell you something: you're handing over that account whether you like it or not! Don't do this the hard way!"

He tried to tower over me, just like he had so many times before to force me into submission.

I just looked at him calmly, finding the whole display utterly pathetic.

"Did you forget? When we signed the paperwork, it explicitly stated that ownership of the handle belongs entirely to the creator. That's me."

"It's in black and white. Legally binding. You want it? Be my guest. Take me to court and let's see whose side the judge takes."

His face drained of color.

He probably thought I was still that pushover who trusted him blindly, someone he could easily manipulate with a few sweet words.

"You..."

I had zero interest in continuing this pointless fight.

I gripped the handle of my suitcase, turned around, and opened the door without looking back.

The next morning, however, when I sat down to log into the main account to back up my files and organize my content, the password failed.

After several attempts, an error popped up stating the account was locked due to suspicious activity.

It hit me instantly.

Christian had stayed up all night and hijacked the account!