Chapter 10: Burn the Script9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCPRF7mqgU
The script called for a girl to cry.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzQP69NjYNT
The scene was about betrayal. About heartbreak. About being left after being used.
Mia didn’t need to act.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3KFDOtCiqN
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2vmPME8vM
And every man behind that lens called it brilliant.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEamUs992Zi
“She’s gold,” they said.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQIjQNAEhZe
“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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDB2NDLjsSs
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3cAavMjTcD
The way her gaze flickered not with fear—but with calculation.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVeRTrVAdtr
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IjBRRmaDM
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0EBlf1Wtlr
“You’re playing them,” Clark muttered. “This whole place—it’s a chessboard to you.”
Mia exhaled smoke. Slowly. Calmly.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6qwrD43oF
Then turned to him with a smile.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIPUWxQ6tiX
“Do you think that makes me the villain?”
Clark looked at her too long.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWFD1h5sYl
“No. I think it makes you the only honest one here.”
He didn’t report her.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd9MY6rEzGH
But Mia didn’t trust that kindness.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QiW0btGjR
She never did.
So she began watching him too.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlInnizTLb9
Following him after set. Reading his background.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3WIrCKuVp
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."9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgvNKdUS1QX
The woman in the story... she kills her rapist and buries him under the set.
That night, Mia knocked on Clark’s door.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeuNHPuYRRk
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ83cxPF3kRA
And trust? That felt more dangerous than any director’s hands.
Back at the studio, tension thickened.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfASioNeCPq
Neil was gone. Reeve was under rehab. Direk Leonard stopped showing up altogether.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK9oyQJ7Wi0
Everyone started whispering that something was off.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0wRLqbmLrT
That the universe was punishing them.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoR8F2IC6Mg
No one mentioned Mia.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7fx5VoKd3I
But they started avoiding her gaze.
One day, an envelope was slipped under her dressing room door.
Inside:9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ55RXiSlPX4
A still image from a security cam.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXLFyjycjuT
Mia.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmZquCn72ke
Kissing a passed-out Reeve in the hallway.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBtuZ2vW1t
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.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkPSGbW9wjL
But she kept the ashes.
She folded them into a paper flower and placed it in front of the studio’s Virgin Mary statue.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNj7Sr9jia
And whispered,
“Forgive me for what I’ll do next.”
Because now, it wasn’t just revenge.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3QLtUGusO
It was war.
And Mia had no more tears left—only matches.9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbzmZUjHM4o
And a list.
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsxDR1c6Am
