Free Web NovelChapter 39: A Newcomer’s Bet
The next morning I was already seated in Secret’s conference room by seven thirty, escorted in by the front desk staff. A full half hour before Iris and the others were even expected to show up.
Amara, I imagined, still thought I was asleep.
When they walked in and found me already sitting there, the look on Iris’s face told me everything. She’d planned for me to arrive at nine, late enough to get turned away at the door without ever realizing she’d handed me the wrong time. Instead I was there, composed and early, and it was obvious to both of us that I knew exactly what she’d tried to pull. She recovered fast though. She was still the one running this meeting, and she wasn’t about to let a small miscalculation show on her face for long.
"Valerie, why are you here so early?" Amara asked, frustration barely under wraps.
"A friend was passing by and dropped me off." I kept it simple.
"Enough. The meeting’s about to start." Iris cut us both off before it could go further.
The person in charge walked in shortly after, a woman in her forties with sharp eyes and no interest in wasting time, two assistants trailing behind her with a thick stack of documents. She sat, glanced at both of us briefly, and got straight to it.
"Iris, I’ve reviewed both models. I only want one." She didn’t bother softening it. "I’ll be direct since everyone’s time matters. I want Amara. Valerie doesn’t suit our theme."
She slid my portfolio back across the table without ceremony.
Iris didn’t miss a beat. "Perfectly fine. I have other models for you to consider." She pulled a neat stack of portfolios from her folder and laid them out with practiced ease. Everything had gone exactly the way she’d planned. She’d clearly been poisoning this woman’s opinion of me for a while now, and had used the opening not just to push me out, but to slide her own roster in right behind me. She’d wrung every last drop of use out of my name and was discarding me in one clean, efficient motion.
"Let me look these over before I decide." The woman signaled her assistants to gather the portfolios and started to rise.
"May I ask what theme you’re referring to, Miss Mina?" I said, my voice even.
She looked mildly surprised I’d spoken at all. "Oriental Trend. I’d assume someone as unremarkable as yourself wouldn’t suit it."
"Has Miss Mina actually seen any of my work? Attended any of my shows?" I asked, holding my smile steady.
She blinked, caught off guard. "Aren’t you a newcomer?" It was obvious she’d never heard of me before walking into that room.
"Was it Miss Iris who told you that?" I kept my voice calm, my tone light. I wasn’t trying to be aggressive. I just wanted the answer sitting out in the open.
"Valerie, don’t push this." Iris’s voice came out low and sharp, her eyes fixed on me. "This decision is between us. You don’t get a say."
"You used my name to bring Amara out here," I said, turning to face her. "Then you used my presence to introduce your other models. You’ve used me at every angle there is. Not even one question allowed?"
"Valerie, you really don’t know how to show restraint."
"My restraint isn’t for jerks, mistresses, and their wonderful relatives," I said, holding Iris’s gaze before turning back to Miss Mina. "Since you’ve never actually seen my work, let’s skip the theater. Here’s a bet. Before tomorrow morning, you’ll already regret today’s decision."
I picked up my bag, put my sunglasses on, and walked out with Nicole and Quinn right behind me.
Back at the manor, Nicole was still shaking with anger even though we’d all braced ourselves for exactly this outcome.
"I’ve never seen people this shameless. The Brooks family just keeps getting worse."
"Valerie, what do we do now?" Quinn asked, arms crossed, watching me carefully. "We’ve drawn a hard line with both of the Han siblings at this point."
"You think they’d have gone easy on me if I hadn’t?" I said with a quiet laugh, kicking off my shoes by the door. "Like I said before, Secret’s going to call me tomorrow. They might not even wait that long."
"Alright. Since you’ve already got this figured out, we’ll wait." Quinn was curious, I could tell, her eyes narrowing slightly like she was trying to piece it together on her own. But she knew me well enough by now to know I wouldn’t show my hand until I was completely sure of it. So they waited, and I let them.
Truth was, I already had a plan in motion before Caspian handed me an invitation to the American Photography Exhibition that morning. His intention was clear enough. Amara had Iris backing her, so why shouldn’t I lean on him just this once? He’d promised he wouldn’t step in directly or pull strings for me. He was only giving me a fair shot at standing on equal ground with her. In the end, I said yes.
The exhibition would draw famous photographers, top magazine editors, and major industry names, including people from Secret itself. Most importantly, the organizer was my mentor, the editor at Royal Magazine.
It was set for that evening. Once we got back to the manor I went straight into getting ready. The industry ran on rules and hierarchy, but that never meant those things couldn’t shift under the right pressure.
Iris thought she had everything under control. Tonight I was going to show her exactly how limited that control really was. Her arrogance had a ceiling, and that ceiling was B grade models like Amara.
I didn’t need to announce that I was Kira. Standing next to my mentor would be enough. Everyone in that room would know exactly where I stood without a single word from me.
A newcomer?
Says who?
