One Final Gamble

"... So you have planned this all along…"

He wiggled his wrist, loosening the cuff of his white inner sleeves, then smacked his forehead.

"That's what I wanted to write."

"Care to tell me why?" He then furrowed his eyebrows. "Didn't we talk about it yesterday not to meddle with this point of view? You could've made the Heroine's point of view, but you chose this!"

His tone went sharp and icy, but never did she flinch as she saw it coming. With that fiery gaze of hers, Tyler threw his head back to the swivel office chair with a deep groan.

"Do you want to push your way through this?"

"I'm confident."

Tyler scoffed, meandering his eyes quickly, then glared at her.

"You're playing a dangerous game, Nathalie. Not only is your reputation at stake, but so does the rest of this company. Let me remind you how much you would have to lose."

Upon hearing his words, it caused a slow wave of terror coursing through her body. She couldn't even gulp as to how her throat went dry and all.

Indeed, she has a lot to lose, but somewhere—a part of her mind—didn't want to register it, so she had to ask what it was then.

Nathalie mustered the remaining courage within her. "I'm not so sure what you're talking about."

"You know now what I'm capable of, Nathalie." Tyler was on his seat, and the room turned chilly; even the conditioned air couldn't beat its stifling atmosphere. Teal eyes continued to bore into her and made it a lot harder for her to breathe. "I'm sure you know what I'm thinking as well."

This time, she couldn't help but burst into a rage from the threat he went at her, and before she could even talk, he began to add his words.

"It's almost the time of the year where the grand annual meeting within 'The Hidden Royale' would be held."

To her, it looked like a credit card, with gold plating and embroidered with colorful traces of bars that slipped out and held between his fingertips. His hands moved so swiftly that it cut through the air, and she tried to catch it, fortunately.

Upon taking a closer look, her eyes widened once more.

'...This sole card belongs to the one who holds the title as the best author of the year, WhiteOppulence. Congratulations!'

Nathalie remembered how this hidden socialite group came up to them one time, inviting them. Both of them were skeptical but accepted it nonetheless as a form of proper gesture.

Tyler decided to try.

Since then, it was only him who joined.

To her, she could care less, but it was different for Tyler; his eyes would sparkle as if a goldmine appeared in front of him.

Overtime…

Somehow, fame changed him.

"This again?" Nathalie groaned, rolling her eyes. "I told you I don't want to join this."

Tyler only scoffed, even propping his hand on his lips; there was a glimpse of his grin that got seen. "As if you don't want this. Look at how you're living now compared to back then."

"I—No! It's different."

"Didn't you want this to keep it private and not let your family know and get a taste of the riches you possess? Quite selfish for a lady like you."

It was a hard blow to Nathalie, stumping her thought process for a rebuttal.

Indeed, this was a struggle and one of the secrets she planned to take to the grave. She couldn't help but tremble when her family, for instance, got to find out the truth.

"Right with that, you will come to the event. Don't worry, and the theme will be like the masquerade. So do me a favor, get yourself ready and work on the manuscript that I assigned you."

"What happened, Tyler?" Nathalie's voice cracked as her eyes seared from the heat within her.

As if no clue, he raised his eyebrows.

"Tyler, it's like… Definitely, you have changed. You're not like this."

There on, he scoffed again. "You must not know me at all, Nathalie. This is what I am. This is our goal; we've gotten this far; if we want to survive in this industry, we must do whatever we can. A lot of artists quickly rise to fame and power but fall so short."

"But I don't want it!"

As much as Nathalie didn't want to hear any of his sermons to prove his point, she couldn't help but frown from the truth behind it.

This wasn't the first time Tyler had imposed the idea to her, in every exhibit, fan meeting, she would always try to attend with her presence. However, she always set boundaries and ended up with him facing the public audience.

The two of them had an agreement for as long as it was a mutual benefit. Aside from monetary benefits, all she wanted was the novel's exposure in hopes of gathering more audiences.

Childhood memories, she was a very creative girl, and she wanted to explore so much of it, but the conflict had rooted so deep within her family that she opted not to continue what she so desired.

Surely, to her, what was the point of having such finesse in dancing when she would work in the engineering industry in the near future.

But that didn't last long when she got to college; to be able to explore on her terms and to learn in a process was an eye-opener for her, and the truths and beliefs that she carried when she was young had broken free from the shackles.

These creative works and crafts, known to her as extracurricular activities, don't uphold values when it comes to a career that would build her for the rest of her life.

"You leave me no choice." He shrugged.

It was as though she could read her mind from the intense exchange of glances.

That is compromising her identity.

"But why?!" she screamed on top of her lungs, after which her chest rising and falling rapidly.

"I told you. We have come this far and stood amongst the elites in this society. There's no way we could take such a risk and lose what we have built since."

"No—"

"I think this is a good opportunity. If we take our chances, then we have nothing to lose at this point. So, allow me to handle this like the usual."