Chapter 31: Good Press
Valerie’s POV
The comments kept pouring in from every direction.
What kind of useless agency is Xova? Forcing Valerie into an event like that? Whoever runs that place needs a serious reality check.
Seriously, if Xova can’t manage their own artists, let the fans do it. A ten year old could come up with a better plan.
Valerie, what should we buy next? Just say the word.
Leave Xova, Valerie. You deserve so much better than this.
I’m actually emotional right now. You’re so cool it physically hurts.
I scrolled through them from bed, and for the first time in longer than I wanted to admit, none of it felt like it was happening to someone else.
I hadn’t even finished reading through the latest comments when Quinn called. The second I picked up, she let out a disbelieving laugh.
"You’re going to love this. Amara just threw the TV remote across Liam’s office."
I smiled despite myself. "That bad?"
"You should’ve seen her." Quinn still sounded like she was processing it. "The comments were still rolling in after your speech, every single one on your side, and she completely lost it. Kept saying this wasn’t how it was supposed to go, that she couldn’t understand how you turned the whole thing around in under two minutes." She dropped her voice, doing a decent impression. "’She’s getting harder to control every day.’ Her exact words."
I wasn’t surprised. Amara had expected me to become the face of a disaster. Instead she’d watched me expose the agency, distance myself from the product, and announce my comeback in front of a live audience.
"Then she started in on the comeback," Quinn went on, half laughing. "Called you an outdated model, said she’d never let it happen as long as you’re still under Xova."
"Sounds like she’s worried."
"She’s terrified. And then Liam walked in, looking like the event aged him ten years, and she didn’t even give him a chance to take his jacket off before she started yelling. Why hasn’t the company put out a statement yet, you made Xova look like the villain, they need to hit back right now."
"And?"
"She told him to blame everything on you. Claim you took the collaboration for the money, that the agency never forced you into anything. Basically paint you as a liar."
"So Liam agreed."
"Didn’t even argue." Quinn sighed. "Within the hour he had PR drafting a statement saying the event was your idea, that you lied on stage, that they’re coming after you for the maximum penalty under your contract. Then they lined up interviews. One employee said you’re not who people think you are. Another swore everyone inside already knew you were lying. They got some industry name to publicly back Xova and imply models will do anything to get ahead." Her voice went flat with disgust. "It’s coordinated, Valerie. They’re trying to bury you before you get a chance to fight back."
"I know."
I said nothing. I didn’t step out to defend myself, didn’t respond to a single word of it. I let them say whatever they wanted.
It didn’t matter.
Liam had badly underestimated what that stage moment had already done. Some people bought his statement, sure, but my standing with the public had already climbed past anything I’d hit before. I felt like something rising steadily out of the ground, solid, unhurried, using every rock they threw at me as another step up.
While Xova was busy pushing their version of events, I let go of everything I’d been holding back. It was time. A reputable outlet published a series of voice recordings, and the second people started listening, the whole story flipped.
The recordings showed exactly how calculated Xova’s treatment of me had been. Freezing my bookings on purpose was bad enough, but arranging for me to get shoved into a low-quality event, forcing me into a role I never agreed to, letting me absorb all the public backlash while they watched from a safe distance, none of it had been an accident. And the voice giving the orders to make sure I got no work at all was one everyone recognized immediately.
Amara.
Everything clicked into place after that. A handful of people questioned where the recordings had come from, but that conversation didn’t last long. Within the hour, Quinn’s inbox was flooded with companies wanting to work with me. She turned them all down for now, but I could tell she was still sitting with what the day had exposed. Amara had spent years propped up by Liam’s favoritism, using that position to crush other artists and quietly rot the agency from the inside. All of it was public now.
This was the scandal I’d promised the day I announced my comeback. Unlike Xova’s denials, I’d brought proof.
I can’t believe Liam would sink this low.
He’s already cornered and he’s still trying to make Valerie the scapegoat.
Xova Entertainment is shameless. They used her and then tried to throw her away. Never seen an agency turn on their own artist like this.
What about those staff members who gave interviews this morning defending the company? They must be dying of embarrassment right now. A whole company ganging up on one woman.
Xova Entertainment should just leave the industry.
After the recordings went public, I didn’t need to say another word. The truth did the talking.
Xova and Amara had taken a significant step closer to collapse. My own standing, after everything that unfolded that day, multiplied in a way that was hard to even measure. Advertisers started reaching out to Xova to pull their contracts. Other models signed to the agency were already feeling it too, with endorsement deals quietly put on hold across the board.
By evening, my phone rang. Liam.
"Valerie, do you really want to destroy me? Will nothing satisfy you except me having absolutely nothing left?"
I was at home, comfortable, entirely at peace with how the day had gone.
"My lawyer’s already on his way, Liam. Time to go through that contract properly."
"You can’t do this. If you go through with it, Xova is finished." His voice had finally cracked into something closer to panic than anger.
"Compared to everything you and Amara put me through, this is barely one percent of what I could give back." I kept my voice even. "Liam, if you cut Amara loose from Xova Entertainment, I might consider going a little easier on you."
"Is that what this is about?" He sounded like he was coming apart at the seams. "I’m warning you, I will fight this to the end."
"Go ahead and try." I hung up.
Even with the momentum finally on my side, I wasn’t foolish enough to think Amara was done. The real performance was only just getting started.
