Chapter 10: Burn the Script10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaz8HUXLAuE
The script called for a girl to cry.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEV8Qe53gFA
The scene was about betrayal. About heartbreak. About being left after being used.
Mia didn’t need to act.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB9QyV16vhD
She just let a memory surface—Reeve, his breath sour with drugs… Direk Leonard telling her she looked better when she didn’t talk. The raw, twisted truth of her days and nights.
The camera rolled.
Tears fell. Real.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7OW3P4BT9
And every man behind that lens called it brilliant.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhMWoiENXY
“She’s gold,” they said.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAwhi37SCID
“She feels real,” they whispered.
None of them knew—they were watching a eulogy for the girl they destroyed.
But someone was watching differently.
His name was Clark Monteverde.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuaAfZy2rU3
The quiet guy who joined the crew as assistant producer last month. A former indie filmmaker, known for experimental scripts and off-grid projects. Rumor was, he didn’t even want to be here—forced by debts, pulled in by a contract he regretted.
He noticed things others missed.
The way Mia always checked the corners of a room before undressing.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk9ksd7JTe1
The way her gaze flickered not with fear—but with calculation.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjlO8DbIc3L
How one by one, the abusers were falling into chaos—and she remained untouched.
“You don’t belong here,” he told her one night, after shoot.
Mia didn’t flinch.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBHKeMSe3Cr
She was smoking outside the set, barefoot, in a hoodie and men’s joggers. Makeup washed off. She looked younger. Softer. Like she hadn’t yet been turned into a product.
“I’m exactly where I need to be,” she said, not meeting his gaze.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEInowJBeCc
“You’re playing them,” Clark muttered. “This whole place—it’s a chessboard to you.”
Mia exhaled smoke. Slowly. Calmly.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3GFwg18cEd
Then turned to him with a smile.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCupECCghK
“Do you think that makes me the villain?”
Clark looked at her too long.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3yWwlHJ4AU
“No. I think it makes you the only honest one here.”
He didn’t report her.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYDVpxEMDH
But Mia didn’t trust that kindness.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtt9iMURSfS
She never did.
So she began watching him too.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDCwZBzr53
Following him after set. Reading his background.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡni9VWa6JSS
He lived modestly. Rented a bare apartment. Ate cheap takeout. Wrote scripts at night, alone. His laptop was full of unproduced stories—some about sex workers, trauma, survival.
One script had a character named "Maui."10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSEnIFSFSU
The woman in the story... she kills her rapist and buries him under the set.
That night, Mia knocked on Clark’s door.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFOCAz6muP
No makeup. No armor.
He opened it, surprised.
“You think you know me?” she asked.
“No,” he said honestly. “But I want to.”
That made her pause.
Because for the first time… she didn’t know whether to ruin him or trust him.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiscd2s3mNQ
And trust? That felt more dangerous than any director’s hands.
Back at the studio, tension thickened.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBSdmoRVrx
Neil was gone. Reeve was under rehab. Direk Leonard stopped showing up altogether.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtRR2SPLaO
Everyone started whispering that something was off.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GWWvOQlw4
That the universe was punishing them.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcut871cZd4
No one mentioned Mia.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR9t32kYu9O
But they started avoiding her gaze.
One day, an envelope was slipped under her dressing room door.
Inside:10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuf27L84WF1
A still image from a security cam.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwHc6I2p9RZ
Mia.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyc1TPb2M0Y
Kissing a passed-out Reeve in the hallway.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOYeoFuPPHp
The angle… the lighting… twisted enough to make her look guilty.
Below it, a note.
“You think we don’t see you?”
She burned the photo.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuXpbCsY5t4
But she kept the ashes.
She folded them into a paper flower and placed it in front of the studio’s Virgin Mary statue.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡov4LYHRQGU
And whispered,
“Forgive me for what I’ll do next.”
Because now, it wasn’t just revenge.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXzEBE5fEu5
It was war.
And Mia had no more tears left—only matches.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2C7VY1P42r
And a list.
10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFq85f3g7C
