Billionaire's Placeholder: Now Watch Me Shine

Chapter 2 No.2

Word Count: 862 | Released on: 20/01/2026

t in the back, watching the blurred lights of the tunnel whip by. H

he main theater. It was a side venue, small and intimate.

ll she handed over was money she had ea

of the rough cut faded to black. As she slipped into the back of the room, silence hung h

eyes. She saw a critic fro

her elbow. His

er arm. "They love it. You're not just a p

er arm away.

en room. Zack was scro

alling your performance 'haunting.' We nee

he asked.

ook good together. The press loves a

e NDA. Brittain will sue

don't you want to be famous for something other than being Austin's shadow?" The NDA was ironclad, but a public lawsuit would expose the very

didn't answer. She needed to do some

s narrow. A group of people was coming the other w

at cost more than Cara's father's house. Her eyes raked ov

s like syrup laced with arsenic. "The Muse. Did

jaw. She tried to

t that looked accidental but definitely wasn't, the cup tilted. Brown liquid sp

e didn't look sorry.

to scream. She wanted to grab Hali by her extensions and

a said. The word

d Caryn is back in town," she whispered, leaning clo

ducklings. Cara stood there, staring at the brown stain

ound booth. The direc

The scene where she finds out he's

vie. She thought about Hali's laugh. She thought about Brittain's cold eyes. S

tio

It was a primal, guttural roar that tore through her th

s dead silent. Her chest was

hrough the glass. Ho

She wiped a single tear from h

buzzed. It

hed it,

ain on her shoe. If she played by the rules, she got s

exted

about the pla

e in. It was Burrel,

o know if you are

eply. She stepped over the coffee stai

Chapter End

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Billionaire's Placeholder: Now Watch Me Shine

HOLLY HUNT Billionaires

“For two years, I was the perfect shadow of another woman. I wore the silk robes Brittain Austin bought, styled my hair exactly how he liked, and spoke in a voice pitched half an octave higher than my own. I was a placeholder, a living statue in a minimalist Manhattan penthouse, waiting for a man who looked at me but never actually saw me. Everything shattered when a news alert flashed on my phone: "Caryn Newman Spotted at JFK." The original was back. The woman I was hired to mimic had returned to claim her throne, and my secret two-year contract as her stand-in was set to expire in three days. Brittain didn't even give me the courtesy of a phone call. While he was supposed to be on a business trip, photos surfaced of him shielding Caryn from the paparazzi, his hand on her waist with a tenderness he never showed me. When I walked into his office to return his keys, he didn't look guilty; he just looked annoyed. He pulled out a checkbook and asked, "How much for the hurt feelings?" When I refused his money, he coldly ordered his assistant to freeze every one of my accounts before I even reached the elevator. I stood on the sidewalk with zero dollars, realizing that to him, I wasn't a partner-I was just an expired lease. I had spent two years erasing my soul to fit into his world, only to be tossed out like trash the moment the real thing came home. But Brittain forgot one thing: before I was his doll, I was an actress. I pulled my secret weapon from under the bed-a notebook and a raw film cut he never knew existed. I called my agent and launched a high-profile "showmance" with my co-star that set the internet on fire. As I blocked Brittain's number and moved into a dusty apartment in Queens, I realized the show wasn't over. For the first time, I was the leading lady.”