Chapter 173

Vanessa Kalmien's face darkened instantly.

She had never been good at hiding her emotions. Without hesitation, she pulled out her phone and dialed Scarlett Ashcroft's number.

Scarlett had just wrapped up a scene. Seeing the caller ID, she frowned slightly.

She knew ignoring this call wouldn't end things easily.

The moment she answered, Vanessa's sickly sweet voice oozed through the line.

"Scarlett, are you still mad at me?"

Scarlett's gaze remained steady as she surveyed the film set.

"If you're sick, go to a hospital. Don't waste my time."

"I know what happened between me and Julian hurt you, but we never meant to—"

Vanessa deliberately pitched her voice higher. "Blame me if you must. Julian is innocent. Can't you just let him go?"

Scarlett let out a cold laugh.

"So you're saying you forced him?"

Vanessa's expression twisted.

Suppressing her anger, she pressed on. "After all these years together, Julian still cares about you. What we had was just a fling—"

"Shut up." Scarlett's voice was icy. "You disgust me."

Vanessa took a sharp breath. "Scarlett, do you really want to take this public? What good will that do you?"

Scarlett paused.

She had been fully immersed in filming and hadn't checked social media lately.

But she quickly realized—this must be Melanie's doing.

She swiftly switched screens to check the news.

Hearing her silence, Vanessa's tone turned threatening. "Given mine and Julian's status, the company will protect us. Do you really think you'll keep your lead role in 'Empress'?"

Scarlett continued scrolling through trending topics, ignoring her.

"Tell Sophia Laurent to back off. Otherwise, none of you will come out of this unscathed!"

A spark lit in Scarlett's eyes. "Sophia is the one posting?"

Hearing the delight in her voice, Vanessa gritted her teeth. "Stop pretending! Sophia may be a Lowell, but if this blows up, no one wins—"

Scarlett chuckled. "Tell Julian Lombardi to wake up from his delusions."

"Whatever Sophia does, I stand with her!"