“Hi, Aaliyah. Fancy meeting you here. Your leg is looking so much better. It must be a miracle.”

Aaliyah was dressed in a classy off shoulder peach dress. Her hair was curled in loose ringlets, and she had on white-heeled sandals that matched the white designer trunk purse in her hand, which was decorated with delicate gold jewelry.

Valentina gave her a knowing smile as she intentionally glanced down at Aaliyah’s completely uninjured legs. Wasn’t she on crutches a couple of days ago and claiming her legs were injured? Funny girl.

“You know how medicine is these days. It is very effective if you have money, and I can’t present such an ugly look to my fans and parents, who have been praying for my quick healing. .” Aaliyah bragged with a prideful expression.

“Wow. Amazing. Your dedication to your fans is really unmatched and whatever god you pray to sure delivers healing in a timely manner. Some would believe it was so timely you weren’t even injured in the first place.” Valentina clapped her hands as if she were really amazed.

“I could say the same to you. You look surprisingly well for somebody who fell down three flights of stairs. I guess you really fabricated the medical report. Probably the same way you fabricated that video. You know, Daddy scoured all the hospitals and yelled at the doctors and nurses to give me the best treatment. I wonder if he bothered to check in on you?” Aaliyah sneered at her.

“Whether or not the video is fabricated. You know the truth in your heart. And why would an unrelated man check in on me? Your father is not mine.” Valentina peacefully smiled, not all phased.

“Tsk. So, what are you doing here, Valentina?” Aaliyah suddenly changed the question.

“I didn’t realize you were the doorman, and I had to check in with you each time I visited my own apartment. Wouldn’t the better question be what are you doing here? You don’t even live near here.”

“According to leasing, you haven’t been here in weeks. I wonder where you’ve been and who you’ve been with? And I see you’ve finally upgraded your closet. Could it be you found a man to support you? He doesn’t look too bad.” Aaliyah replied snidely as she glanced suggestively between Duncan and Valentina.

“Wow, I didn’t know that the building openly shared details regarding residents. That’s a serious violation of privacy. I’ll have to report it. And I could say the same about you. I wonder what unrelated man is providing you with the expensive life you’re living right now. Could it be the person you call ‘daddy’?” Valentina murmured quietly as she completely ignored whatever Aaliyah was implying with Duncan while firing back that Antonio Salazar was her sugar daddy.

“You-”

“Yes? Am I wrong? Are you not calling a man completely unrelated to you ‘daddy,’ and isn’t he providing for your lifestyle? Should we show our birth certificates to the press? I’ll show mine if you show yours.” Valentina widened her eyes innocently even as she snickered internally. Since Aaliyah dared to rub her loving family unit in her face, she couldn’t blame her for twisting her situation with Antonio Salazar into something that sounded sketchy. Since you dare to call that sperm donor daddy in my face while mocking me? Good. Bring out your birth certificate, and let’s see.

Ooh, you can’t? Then shut up.

As the two women stared at each other silently, Aaliyah glared angrily while Valentina curved mockingly; tension filled the air before Aaliyah broke it once again.

“Hmph. You’ve sure learned to talk back. I see you’ve seen what happened to your apartment. It’s really unfortunate that it was only you that was hit. You should be careful who you offend. After all, you don’t know the powers and capabilities of the people around you. What if you had been in the apartment when something like this happened? You could have been seriously hurt. Or worse.” The last part was whispered as Aaliyah smirked at her.

Unperturbed, Valentina shrugged while keeping her face calm.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Thank you for your concern, Aaliyah. I don’t know why I was targeted, but I plan to find out after all the person has been captured and is still in police custody.” As Aaliyah’s eyes widened with shock, Valentina took note of it while continuing with a relaxed smile.

“I’ve hired a very good private investigator to look into the background of the person who did this. I’ve told them money is not a concern, so properly dig into who he is, who he knows, who he talks to, and how he gained access to my place. I want to know. Every. Little. Detail. Concerning him. And when I do?” Valentina slid her hand across her throat in a subtle gesture.

Aaliyah stumbled backward before catching herself and forcing a smile on her face.

“Great! Just great! Well, it seems that things aren’t going too well for you. I heard that you got hit with a fine and can’t work anymore. That’s unfortunate. You had such good gigs lined up with the Fallen Angels and the film. I heard you had to give me a public apology as well? I just want you to know that none of this is my intention. I’ve tried to speak with the executives, and they just don’t want to listen to me.”

“Oh. How interesting.”

“I know you’re short on money, sister, and you’re fighting with your father, and he cut you off. If you want, we can come to a deal, just you and I, and I can help you resolve somethings. If you properly beg me while kneeling down both in private and public, I can do the same and ask the executives to give you some leeway. Despite all the emotional and financial damage you’ve caused me, I’m still willing to maintain our sisterhood.”

As Aaliyah pretended to wipe her tears while acting sad, Valentina simply looked at the one-person play being performed in front of her before rolling her eyes.

Since she didn’t want to say anything that would mess up Kaiser’s plan, she just turned to Duncan.

“I’m ready to go now.”

“Of course, Valentina. Let me take that for you.” Duncan immediately grabbed the empty soda bottle from her hand before putting himself between her and Aaliyah. With no hesitation, she turned around and began walking away.

“Hey! Where are you going? Are you ignoring me?” Aaliyah stopped mid-sentence and ran up to grab her.

Before she got close, Duncan immediately stiff-armed her away, causing Aaliyah to stumble and almost fall. As Valentina stopped in the doorway of the stairwell, she looked back at Aaliyah and gave her a subtle smirk.

“You- this is assault!”

“I apologize for the actions of my bodyguard, but he’s a bit nervous, especially around stairwells. You understand, don’t you?”

“You. Tch.” Aaliyah gritted her teeth before forcing the words out of her mouth.“let’s talk. Just you and me. Sister to sister. I have something important to say to you, so send your brutish little boy toy away.”

“Say it here. And I have no sister, so please watch your words.”

“I said I have something important to say to you, Valentina! You dare to talk back to me? Do you know who I am? Who my family is?”

“Obviously.” Valentina glanced at her as if she were watching a clown jumping around. “If you have something to say, it here. I have no plans of being alone with you if I can help it. Spit out what you want. Otherwise, I’m leaving. You might have a lot of free time, but some of us are busy and have work to do.”

“You’ve gotten really cocky since you did that Fallen Angels music video. Did you really think that you can now match up to me because you got a little popular. Just know that if I say the word, your whole life and career will be crushed.”

“Aaliyah.” Valentina called her name solemnly, “Instead of jumping around in front of me, screaming this and that while trying to threaten me, why don’t you go and do some work in preparation for filming? You wouldn’t want me to act better than you, right? All that money invested in you and you can't even match up? How disappointing.”

Seeing Valentina’s cocky smile and the familiar green eyes and gorgeous face that looked so much like her mother, Aaliyah, gritted her teeth before calming herself down.

Valentina was bluffing. She had to be. And clearly, she was putting up a tough front because she had backup and had found a supporter. Probably some stinky old man to whom she sold her body for the roles he had gotten. After all, there was no way Valentina would be able to get anything good when she had made sure she was suppressed at Black Rock.

At the thought of Valentina being used and discarded both by whatever man she made a deal with and by the agency, Aaliyah broke out into a wide smile.

“Heh. Bold of you to assume you can retain that role. You broke social climber. Who knows what you did to seduce Roman Grayson to get him to protect you and give you all the roles you’ve gotten so far? And who knows if it’s just him you’ve been making deals with. Dirty slut! All you have going for you is that vixen-like face of yours. I can’t wait until the truth about you is exposed, until you’re fully prosecuted by the agency and your family, and you fall back into the gutter where you belong.”

At Aaliyah’s crude words, Valentina blinked before bursting out laughing.

“You think I- what sold my body to Roman? Roman Grayson? That Roman Grayson? For what, a couple of roles?” at the ridiculous thought of the man who screamed ‘sister-in-law’ each time he saw her who was mercilessly dragged around by his elder brother, Valentina began laughing again, tears actually coming out of her eyes.

Aaliyah: “……” she didn’t get it. What was so funny?

“Haha, I’m weak. You are too funny, Aaliyah. You really should become a comedian.” Valentina wiped the tears away before continuing, “Please don’t worry about my pockets or how I get my roles or who I associate with, and I’m glad you think my face is pretty. Anyway, I have to go since I’m quite busy. See you soon.”

Waving at Aaliyah, she continued down the stairs, laughing every once in a while at the thought of being in a relationship with Roman. To start with, he was completely not her type. And with her relationship with Kaiser, she felt as if she told him this: Roman would suffer a lot. If she told Roman, he might have a heart attack and directly kneel down and begin begging for forgiveness.

Lips curving at the thought, she peacefully got into the car.

“Where to miss Valentina?” the driver asked her.

“Back to Paradise Cove. Let’s go get Luca before heading to Kaiser’s office.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

As the driver peeled away, Valentina laid her head on the window, chuckling every once in a while at Aaliyah’s silly words.

Pulling up the recording she had taken, she immediately forwarded it to Kaiser.

As the smooth car ride continued, her tiredness caught up with her, and she soon dosed off.

****

“Follow them,” Aaliyah ordered through gritted teeth as she watched Valentina get into a black car.