But now, with a loud bang, he mmed his palm on the table in front of him. He fixed his gaze on the male reporter with the sses who had started the attacks, his eyes zing with fury. "Our writer is not here today because she was caught in an emergency and couldn''t make it."


    His voice was dangerously low. "She is a wonderful person, and there is


    absolutely nothing wrong with her appearance. I suggest you stop these baseless, malicious attacks immediately. Otherwise, my legal team will be in touch about a defamationwsuit."


    "..."<fnd39f> ?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ???????s, ????s? ??s?? FιndＮovel</fnd39f>


    In the entertainment industry, the golden rule was to never piss off the press. They could ruin a career with a few keystrokes. Even the biggest stars were unfailingly polite to reporters. Keith''s harsh, direct threat was a shocking breach of that unspoken rule. For a moment, the reporters were silent, looking at each other in stunned disbelief.


    Then, a spark of excitement lit up their eyes. The threat was irrelevant. What mattered was that Keith, one of the biggest stars in the country, was fiercely defending a rtively unknown writer. What was the story there?


    They hade for the gossip about Liliana, Finnian, and Amarise, but it seemed there was an even juicier story brewing between Keith and Amarise.


    Immediately, the questions started again. "Why did you have such a strong reaction? What is your rtionship with Amarise?"


    "Are you two close? Have you ever dated?"


    "Why are you defending her?"


    A part of Keith wanted to let them believe whatever they wanted, but he knew Amara would be angry if he created a scandal. He kept his expression cold. "We are very good friends. There is nothing more to it. Please do not spread false rumors." Cóntent


    Just friends? They had never heard that before. The reporters exchanged sly nces. They stopped asking about Amara, but in their minds, they were already writing their headlines.


    ***


    Back in the elevator, Amara and Finnian had been standing in silence for nearly half an hour. The initial


    terror had faded, and she had slowly


    grown ustomed to the situation.


    Being trappe


    with film no longer


    felt so suffocating.


    Noticing her rx, Finnian spoke, his voice tentative. "Can we talk about what happened yesterday?"


    Amara''s defenses shot back up. "What do you want to say?"


    Finnian hesitated. "I was drunk yesterday. I was talking nonsense. I wasn''t trying to lead you on. I swear, I was just making things up." His tone was so earnest he might as well have been swearing on a stack of Bibles.


    But Amara was still skeptical. The man was an enigma; she could never tell if he was lying. As for oaths and promises, they were both atheists. It was meaningless. She didn''t respond, simply standing there, lost in thought.


    Finnian took a careful step closer to her. He nced at her profile. "And what happened after... that was unforgivable. I was a bastard," he said, his voicelow. "Amara, can you please not be angry anymore? If you''re still mad, you can hit me again. I deserve it." He actually held out his arm, offering it to her.