"It's just licking a shoe. It's not going to kill you. The whole reason I let you be my assistant was so you could take care of me and the people around me."
"Besides, Bianca's not wrong. That temper of yours does need training. The last thing I need is you causing problems for me down the road."
"Viv, be a good girl. Just help Bianca land that role, and I'll treat you better from now on."
My heart turned to still, dead water.
Back then, Anthony had been nothing. A nameless extra without so much as an agency to his name. Every day he'd squeeze in with hundreds of others outside the studio lots, desperate for even a few seconds of screen time. I was the one who pulled strings. Called in every favor I had. Got him signed to my family's own company, Starlight Media. I asked industry veterans to coach him under every pretense imaginable, teaching him technique and craft. Then I quietly funneled endorsements and prime roles his way, propping him up from the shadows. I never told him who I really was because I was afraid of bruising his pride.