Chapter 11: Smoke Doesn’t Lie
They found the first body a week later.
Not dead—just ruined.
Direk Leonard, found in a motel bathroom, pants around his ankles, bruises across his ribs. His mouth was duct-taped shut, and carved across his chest with a dull cutter:
“SHE WASN’T ACTING.”
The police called it a targeted assault.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5FsbVoGwhq
The tabloids spun it as a scandal.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyoXZ8xNNJH
The studio? Silent.
Mia didn’t flinch.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIuM5xQOjuo
She was already on her next scene. The one she wrote herself.
Clark watched from a distance. He didn’t ask questions.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfTKMo3a2l7
But he did something far worse.
He started writing again.
A script titled “The Girl in the Frame.”10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzqMKMSRE3
The story of an actress who became her own director. Who used the system that broke her to build a quiet empire of vengeance—bloodless, but never clean.
He never named Mia.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡODd15OWV9t
But the script bled with her fingerprints.
And one night, she found it.
His laptop left open, blinking on a desk beside an unfinished beer.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlznBQ35IjL
Mia scrolled in silence.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfMmQY6lAF
By page thirty-four, she knew:
He knew too much.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLpJAcLwmG
And worse… he saw her.
Not the product.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvpG8eUn0mX
Not the whore.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyi77cycBJ9
Not even the mastermind.
He saw the girl before it all began.
That was more terrifying than exposure.
So she left one of her earrings on his keyboard.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7C05Aff2Gu
A silent warning.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmNWPpGB7R
Or maybe a question.
Would he sell her?
Or protect her?
Back on set, tension crackled.
A new director came in—young, female, “progressive.”10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0EPOQNntkn
Touted as fresh blood.
Mia saw through her in five seconds.
Just another one playing a different game. Same stakes, softer lipstick.
The crew was uneasy around Mia now.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1NifGkbOl
They called her "The Eyes."10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofKBf0udgo
Because anyone she looked at too long either disappeared… or got demoted.
But Clark? He stayed.
Watched. Wrote. Waited.
One day, during a break, Mia cornered him by the props truck.
“You gonna shoot it?” she asked. “Your script.”
Clark lit a cigarette, refusing to meet her gaze.
“Would you let me?”
“No.”10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVVD40iQQZv
(She didn’t hesitate.)
He nodded, like he already knew.
“I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written,” he said quietly.
Mia tilted her head.
“You always write about women like me?”
“No,” he admitted. “There’s only one of you.”
That silenced her.
Not flattery.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkL4p333dG
Not lust.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFeoSkDneHW
Just truth.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJ8v2Pjx7q
And truth… was rare.
That night, she got the second envelope.
This time: A USB.
Inside:
A voice recording of her, post-scene, mocking Leonard’s limp.
A photo of her talking to Clark, labeled “Asset or Threat?”
A list of dates. A timeline of the downfall. All pointing back to her.
Whoever sent it knew.
But they hadn’t gone to the cops.
Which meant:10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEIWjyFUJLz
This was leverage.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePo3uXMvtw
Or foreplay.
She printed the list.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75mrOqnkKd
Burned half.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZdOnsbA2h
Kept the other.
Then she called Clark.
“Come to my place,” she said. No sweetness. Just command.
He arrived an hour later.
Mia opened the door in silence.
Hair wet. No makeup. No games.
“Before you see this,” she warned, handing him the files, “ask yourself—how far are you willing to fall with me?”
Clark read in silence.
The longer he stared, the more his expression broke into something between horror and awe.
He looked at her.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJPRkCr3nu
Really looked.
“You’re not just burning the script,” he whispered.10Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSjmGbgUP40
“You’re rewriting the whole genre.”
Mia leaned closer.
“I’m erasing the men who wrote it.”
And that night, for the first time, she didn’t sleep with someone to survive.
She slept beside Clark—fully clothed, lights off, a blade under her pillow.
Just in case.
Because trust wasn’t given.
It was tested.
And tomorrow, someone else on the list would burn.
ns216.73.216.203da2
