The air in my small apartment felt heavy, stale. Two weeks after the gas station incident, the industry blacklist was complete. My agent had dropped me, unable to get a single studio to even take a call. My phone remained silent except for automated bill reminders.
Studio head Arthur Danforth, a man who once called me his “military authenticity guru,” sent a terse email. My contract as a lead actress and military advisor for the upcoming “Desert Thunder” franchise was terminated, effective immediately. The reason cited: “damage to brand integrity and public trust.”
A private military investigator I’d managed to hire with my dwindling savings, a gruff ex-MP named Miller, sat across from me, his tablet glowing with financial spreadsheets. He didn’t look up from the screen.
“Chloe Bennett’s fingerprints are all over this, Maya,” Miller said, his voice a low rumble. “She leaned on Danforth hard. Threatened to pull her production company and all her talent from any project he touched if he didn’t cut you loose.”
I swallowed, the news a bitter pill. “I knew she’d try to hurt me, but to this extent…”
“It’s more than just a smear campaign,” Miller continued, tapping the screen. “She’s been funneling production funds for ‘Desert Thunder’ through a shell company in the Cayman Islands. Small amounts at first, then larger. Looks like she was setting up to seize full control anyway, your presence just complicated things.”
Then Miller looked up, his expression hardening. “And there’s something else. Officer Ruiz. The one who arrested you.”
My breath hitched. “What about him?”
“He’s been asking questions,” Miller said, a glint in his eye. “He’s been calling around, trying to verify your service. Turns out, Chloe didn’t just ‘tip off’ the police. She presented a fabricated complaint, claiming you’d been discharged for insubordination and were impersonating an active Major. Said she had ‘intel’ from a mutual military friend.”
A cold dread seeped into my bones. “She lied to the police? About my discharge?”
“Flat out lied,” Miller confirmed. “Ruiz is apparently a stickler for protocol. He’s been quietly retracing his steps. Seems he realized he was weaponized in her personal vendetta.”
The twist of it, the bitter irony, made my head spin. The man who had put the handcuffs on me, the man I felt such burning resentment towards, had been as much a victim of Chloe’s manipulation as I was. It wasn’t just my reputation she destroyed; she’d leveraged the integrity of law enforcement to do it.
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