The Dark Side of Celebrity Love

n't a phone call or a whisper

e air smelled of drafting paper and fresh coffee. It was my world, a world of clea

om a gossip site, an alert I' d set up for Olivia' s name

felt d

splashy: "POP PRINCESS OLIVIA REED STU

er by sheer confidence. It wasn' t the dress that made my stomach clench. It was the man next to her. Liam Stone. I knew

inst her bare skin. Her head was tilted back, laughing at something he' d

small, intimate gesture almost lost in the flash of the p

. They were for a new cultural center, a legacy project. Sud

to sleep. She tossed her keys into the ceramic bowl by th

," she said. It

d, keeping my voice even. "I saw th

, Ethan. All smoke and mirrors." She walked past me toward the bed

new," I said,

ked it out. He said I ne

d, standing in the d

face me, her expression hardening. "Yes, Liam

im. You didn't tell me he was dress

don' t be so dramatic. He' s my manager. T

rt of the image?" The words we

d. "What are you

You' re all over him

, locked away in your office drawing your perfect little lines." She gave me a lo

my voice quiet. "I've alw

e pressure, the competition. Liam does. He gets it." She turned her ba

d it so. I stood in the doorway for a long

a direct message to my Instagram, an account I rarely used. The sender was a

e had only

ve to know

d booth at a dimly lit bar. His hand was on her thigh, high up, almost hidden by the tablecloth. Her hand was covering his, her red nails a stark contrast against h

avy, toxic in my hand. This wasn't smoke and mi

my screen. When she walked in, humming a tune from one of her new song

nd, I saw panic flash in her eyes. It was there and

s?" she demanded,

voice shaking with a mixture of

swer. Instead

this what you do? Sit at home and hav

! Just tell me the tru

t I'm suffocating. The truth is that I'm married to a man who is

air leave my lungs. "This has nothing to do w

There is me, and there is my career! Some

piece of furniture, was a memory. I remembered buying the ridiculously oversized sofa with her after her first single hit the charts, laughing as we tried to get it throug

Our quiet dinners were replaced by loud parties. Our conversations became her monologues a

I was the

" I whispered, more t

ver me, her arms crossed,

said, her voice dripping with contempt. "

age of our marriage. The photo on my phone was still glow

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