"Would you believe me if I said I''m here to make you a star?"


    Sophie ripped up the old contract andid out a much sweeter deal. Her eyes were full of determination and sincerity. I''ve seen plenty of eyes in my time, but none quite like hers.


    I had already mapped out my departure from Russell Entertainment; everything was ready, just waiting for one phone call to set things in motion. But Sophie''s offer was way more tempting. And honestly, it sounded like a lot more fun.


    After mulling it over for a bit, I gave Sophie my final answer, "I''m in." She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.


    As soon as Sophie left, another agency tried to woo me, but I turned them down. I couldn''t help but wonder how Sophie nned to make me famous.


    Days went by, and sure enough, she blew me away with surprises I never sawing. When Corin hit a rough patch, thepany threw everything they had into making me a star.


    The Russell Entertainment I returned to seemed like a whole new ce. This young woman was incredible; she dealt with the pests in Russell Entertainment like it was nothing. It was like she had a crystal ball or something, which made me curious to dig into her background. But her history was squeaky clean.


    In the end, even I stopped trying to figure her out. Maybe she was just that smart. It was odd though, she was younger than me, yet she often looked at me like I was the kid.


    My whole identity was a sham; my college credentials were fake, and even my age on paper was a lie. In reality, I''m a year older than Adler. But Sophie didn''t know any of this, and I had no intention of letting her find out.


    Every day at Russell Entertainment, Sophie was hustling to get me out there, sometimes without a care for the costs. Her approach made me chuckle-any boss would be all about the bottom line, but she was throwing everything into me without a second thought.


    I asked her why. She looked at me with a touch of guilt and said, "Because I owe someone a lot, and I need to pay it back in this lifetime."


    The way she looked at me, it was like she was saying the person she owed was me. But I couldn''t remember her owing me anything.


    True to her promise, Sophie turned me into a household name in just six months. I became a superstar, and within a year, I was crowned Best Actor.


    This path was one that Sophie paved just for me. She said I was destined to be


    an international star. In anyone''s hands, this star would never dim.


    My acting was spot-on; Sophie couldn''t find a single w. And ying Reece, the Best Actor, for so long, I started to forget who I really was. wasn''t some Best Actor with a tragic past. I wasn''t the perfect Reece everyone thought I was.


    I had a reason for bing the Best Actor, had my own path to walk. But somewhere along the line, my path started to veer off course. Even though I kept moving forward, Sophie was like a butterfly leading me, soaring ahead, and I just found myself following her.


    And slowly, I lost my own way. Ahead was a light, a path I''d never seen before.


    She promised to take me international. It echoed what my father used to say. But one path led to the light, the other to darkness.