You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 467

“You better start praying right now—pray that Ruby isn’t calling the shots at Skyline Entertainment. If she is, she might not let the whole Theo thing slide. You know she could come for you later.”

Amy’s manager shot her a look from the front seat, clearly exasperated.

Amy leaned her head against the window with a sigh. “Why don’t you help me find a lawyer to check the contract? Maybe there’s still a loophole or something.”

“In business, nobody ever profits by giving up territory or paying penalties. You only lose.”

Amy sighed again. Karma, she thought. This is what I get.

It wasn’t like she wanted things to get messy with Theo. If management hadn’t squeezed her dry and shoved her into obscurity, who would even bother faking a scandal with some rich brat? There were already plenty of cautionary tales in the industry—women who married into powerful families and ended up ruined. Like that one actress who got married and wound up billions in debt. Amy wasn’t stupid enough to make that mistake.

She turned to her manager, suddenly all seriousness. “Do you think I should try to explain it to Ruby? Let her know I had no choice back then?”

“Just stay away from her, trust me. Skyline just went from one train wreck to another.”

Amy sucked in a breath and shot her manager a look. “You said that, not me.”

Her manager rolled her eyes. “I thought you weren’t scared of anything.”

“I know better than to go up against the people with all the power. I know exactly where I stand. If I try to fight them head-on, it’ll only end badly for both of us. I’ve worked way too hard to get to this point, to have the life I have now. I’m not about to let anyone drag me back down.”

Her manager relaxed a little. At least Amy wasn’t about to do something reckless.

In this business, you had to keep the investors happy and the fans even happier. No one made it to the top by being clueless.

Amy followed her friend’s gaze and felt her heart skip a beat. There, right in the middle of the crowd, Tina was wearing the exact same dress, champagne in hand, laughing with the guests. Her smile never faltered.

Standing next to Tina, Amy suddenly felt like an awkward little duckling. There was just no competing—the confidence and elegance of a woman in her forties or fifties put her own early-thirties awkwardness to shame. She wasn’t young enough to be fresh and dewy like the twenty-somethings, but she couldn’t match Tina’s effortless grace either.

That’s showbiz for you—sometimes you just got unlucky with the dress code.

Her manager came over with a shawl, but even after Amy wrapped herself in it, it didn’t help much.

“There’s a cheongsam in the car—you want to change into that?” her manager suggested.

“Yeah, okay,” Amy said, resigned. What else could she do? Tina was the big boss here—the Martin family’s queen bee. Everyone knew you didn’t try to outshine the host at their own party. If you showed up wearing the same dress, you just changed and moved on. No big deal.