Chapter 4
Reeve’s expression flickered, and he attempted to play it off. “Take a backseat. I pretend chahat say that.” Phoebe rolled her eyes at his arrogance. This initiated a negotiation.
Were do Her toe knocked him sideways. Phoebe didn’t hold back. “Reeve, you’ve hung up on Siena—so go after her. Don’t waste my time; I’ve pined for you this whole year. Just stand aside. That kind of crap makes me sick.”
Had he been honest from the start about his feelings for Sienna, maybe Phoebe could have bet on her own feelings. But he hadn’t. He’d dragged her along and, in the end, wrecked her trust so thoroughly.
“Don’t contact me again.” With that, she hung up and immediately blocked him on everything. The finality of the call snapped him out of it. Reece never thought Phoebe would prove so together, but now that she’d cut him loose so easily, he didn’t know how to handle it.
Desperate, he immediately dialed her number again, but it went straight to voicemail—Blocked. He tried video calling; it was the same. He was nothing. Reece sat there in shock, an emptiness creeping in. He quickly dialed Leon, looking for answers.
Chapter 4
When he found out that Phoebe wasn’t just done with him, but was cutting off the Jenkins family completely—leaving home and everything because she refused to give up her place for Sienna—Reece was floored. He was at a total loss for words.
Phoebe quietly sorted through the few things she’d taken from the Jenkins family home. She finally pulled out an old adoption document from her bag, letting her fingers linger on it for a second.
Years ago, when her mentor, Percival Burgess, officially adopted her, he’d gone out of his way to set her up with a fresh identity, complete with adoption papers under a family name that’d faded from memory. Percival figured that a blank slate might help her stand on her own, avoid any headaches tied to her past. The document bore only her name—clean, independent, and exactly as he’d intended.
When she’d returned to the Jenkins family, they hadn’t bothered touching it, not the surname, nothing. Everything stayed as it was.
Tracing her fingers over the paper now, Phoebe felt an odd sense of calm. It was almost as if Percival had known that if she ever ended up with them, they’d probably treat her like a stranger, maybe even worse. The idea of family had always been flimsy to her, more of an empty title than anything real. To her, family ties were just empty promises, bringing nothing but disappointment.
With that thought, Phoebe made a decision. This time, she’d be the person Percival wanted her to be—independent, standing on her own. Alone or not, she’d make it work.
Just as she finished packing, her phone rang. It was a friend from the industry, giving her a heads-up that she’d been blacklisted. Apparently, the president of Jenkins Entertainment and one of their top agents had put the word out: no one was supposed to work with her. Phoebe scoffed. This was exactly the kind of petty crap her brothers would pull—blacklisting her to try to make her crawl back to them.
Her chest tightened, but there was no heartbreak, just a strange mix of anger and amusement. These people—family in name only—couldn’t care less about her and were throwing her to the wolves for a complete stranger. Lucky for her, she’d already learned to expect nothing from them. Any scrap of “family” love she’d once clung to had been crushed before her time travel, leaving her with only a wry smile now.
Without wasting time, she called the director of the variety show she was scheduled for, just to confirm her spot. He didn’t hesitate to reassure her she was still on. After hanging up, she jumped online, researching how to set up her own artist studio.
Jenkins Entertainment was one of the biggest players in the country, and with Ollie and Leon determined to blacklist her, she knew no one else would want to risk upsetting them without a good reason.
But Phoebe wasn’t fazed. If nobody else would sign her, she’d do it herself. She’d start her own studio, take charge of her career, and, down the line, bring in other artists who deserved better. As they rose to fame, she’d build up her influence, turning it into the kind of power she could wield on her terms.
Within a week, after a quick consult with a lawyer she trusted, Phoebe had her studio registered. Sure, she still needed a location and a team, but that could all wait until after she wrapped up her work on the variety show.
Phoebe headed over to the production team to sign her contract. Just as she stepped outside, she nearly collided with Leon, Jamar, and Sienna. They were all laughing, but the second they saw her, the mood shifted.
Sienna couldn’t help herself; she flashed Phoebe a smug grin. “Oh, Phoebe, here to sign your contract too?”
Phoebe instantly picked up on Sienna’s taunting tone. She raised an eyebrow and replied, “What are you guys here to sign contracts for?”
Sienna nodded, her tone dripping with fake sweetness. “Oh, totally! I was dying to be part of this whole thing, so Leon had a word with the director, and Jamar tagged along for backup. The director’s already on board.”
Leon shot Phoebe a self-satisfied look. “You’re not ready to give up your spot? Doesn’t matter; we’ve got plenty of ways to make sure Sienna gets what she wants.”
Phoebe met his gaze with a cold smile. “So you had the pull to get her a spot all along, but instead, you went out of your way to make me give up mine? Gotta love family, huh?”
The Jenkins boys were all legends in the industry: Ollie, the big-shot mogul behind the entertainment empire; Leon, the star-making agent; Joshua, the singer everyone loved; Cain, the hotshot new director; and finally, Jamar, the idol topping every chart.
When Jamar, one of the biggest names out there, offered to join a variety show, the director couldn’t believe his luck. Having Jamar on board guaranteed sky-high ratings and major favor with the Jenkins family. They hadn’t outright demanded the director step aside; they just kept pressuring Phoebe to voluntarily give her spot to Sienna. And, of course, Sienna was all too happy to stir things up behind the scenes.
The irony was Sienna had stolen Phoebe’s entire life—her name, her family, everything—and yet, the Jenkins family still treated Sienna like she was their own flesh and blood, while Phoebe was just “the one they took in.” Somehow, in their messed-up logic, Phoebe still owed Sienna for taking her life. Even though Phoebe was back in the family now and high society knew about her, the Jenkins had never officially recognized her. To them, Sienna would always be their cherished little princess, and the world just followed their lead. The absurdity of it all made Phoebe sick.
As their fake smiles dropped and turned to scowls, Phoebe’s eyes filled with disdain. She looked at them coldly. “Lucky for me, I cut ties with all of you. Otherwise, I’d be fighting the urge to throw up right now.”
Leon looked taken aback. “What the hell—”
Jamar’s face darkened, and he snapped, “Watch it, Phoebe. Don’t push your damn luck.” The more she stood her ground, the closer he was to losing it.
Phoebe shot him a look filled with contempt. “Push my luck! Just thinking about the time I wasted faking this family crap makes me want to puke.”
With that, she walked past them without a second glance, leaving Leon and Jamar glaring after her and Sienna quietly enjoying the whole show on the sidelines.