Chapter 10: Burn the Script8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpw59xRI2fR
The script called for a girl to cry.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4aZZBvyXGG
The scene was about betrayal. About heartbreak. About being left after being used.
Mia didn’t need to act.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQvsKBKn5X
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsnhxfKQbPQ
And every man behind that lens called it brilliant.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3KG2uti3NV
“She’s gold,” they said.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9dssq3Elnn
“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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcjlqFzrad
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡut7xOSD4QU
The way her gaze flickered not with fear—but with calculation.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHOEOA9h4Y
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofXHJ774zb
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7WKByuuY7x
“You’re playing them,” Clark muttered. “This whole place—it’s a chessboard to you.”
Mia exhaled smoke. Slowly. Calmly.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ9cy3qEiza
Then turned to him with a smile.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwfKlMsaauo
“Do you think that makes me the villain?”
Clark looked at her too long.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjoobyffWM
“No. I think it makes you the only honest one here.”
He didn’t report her.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh1tEAJuiCT
But Mia didn’t trust that kindness.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pXQPAPun4
She never did.
So she began watching him too.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNJYhNaLe4
Following him after set. Reading his background.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEP9gX9Wbuc
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."8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfWWrYyaNmd
The woman in the story... she kills her rapist and buries him under the set.
That night, Mia knocked on Clark’s door.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWoth39hFt
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEDtcFqLTeZ
And trust? That felt more dangerous than any director’s hands.
Back at the studio, tension thickened.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFGQoklMWh2
Neil was gone. Reeve was under rehab. Direk Leonard stopped showing up altogether.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nQG9wMsn0
Everyone started whispering that something was off.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewbwlAUUuz
That the universe was punishing them.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEyBlt8ZY8A
No one mentioned Mia.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7IzPkyDqj
But they started avoiding her gaze.
One day, an envelope was slipped under her dressing room door.
Inside:8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcJVFX6mJKh
A still image from a security cam.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsqtrEh8g3Y
Mia.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLXCCf52mdC
Kissing a passed-out Reeve in the hallway.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkewceud11R
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.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxoeu8B86N
But she kept the ashes.
She folded them into a paper flower and placed it in front of the studio’s Virgin Mary statue.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvS3zglcgQJ
And whispered,
“Forgive me for what I’ll do next.”
Because now, it wasn’t just revenge.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡboVHO9LDhj
It was war.
And Mia had no more tears left—only matches.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyTaTBYtinh
And a list.
8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxbbMTJyJZi
