“We’ll see about that. Until then, leave unless you want me to start screaming.” She ordered and after cursing at her one more time, he basically ran out the door. As she watched the man scrabbling away in fear, Valentina couldn’t help but snort. He had previously been acting tough but clearly, he didn’t expect her to fight back against him.

Chuckling to herself, she held her throbbing cheek and withheld her tears. Honestly, if this was the true face of her ‘supposed parents’, she could understand why the original Valentina was depressed and wanted to end it all. The harsh words coming out of Antonio Salazar's mouth, the obvious bias from Evelynn Salazar, and the constant harassment and bullying from Aaliyah. Nobody truly loved and cared for her. Not her birth parents. Not even the adopted parents who she had never seen or spoken to before. Nobody. Not a single person was on her side.

Sighing to herself, she pulled out her phone and checked her reflection in the camera.

Yikes.

Although the slap hadn’t hit her eye, her cheek was swelling and was currently a bright red while her lip had a slight cut on the side. She honestly looked as if she had gotten into a fight and lost. She couldn’t rejoin the party like this. People would ask what happened and she didn’t want to deal with the controversy.

Mentally cursing out Antonio Salazar and hoping he tripped down the stairs, she shot a quick text to Lia for pickup and began making her way back to leave. As she approached the stairwell, she saw Aaliyah stomping toward her, a fierce look on her face and couldn’t help but roll her eyes. The bigger one had finally left after harassing her and now the small one had showed up.

Restraining her annoyance, she put on a fake smile and meant to walk past Aaliyah, but the other girl grabbed her hand and yanked her backward, almost throwing her to the ground.

“What do you want?” Valentina coldly asked her.

“You fucking bitch! What the hell did you do to father that he left in a hurry.” Aaliyah yelled while grabbing the collar of her jacket and shaking her.

“Nothing. In fact, I'm on my way to report him to the director since he decided to assault me. Let’s see if he can bribe his way out of trouble with more presents.” Valentina pointed to her swollen face and gave her a cold smile.

“Valentina, don’t you dare.”

As Aaliyah spotted Valentina’s swollen cheeks she gritted her teeth in anger. Although she was happy that her father had taught Valentina a lesson, she didn’t want Valentina to get her father in trouble and possibly ruin their family's reputation for hitting an actress. Although it could all be managed if her father came out to say Valentina was his daughter and he was disciplining her, she didn’t want to share the limelight as the Salazar's only daughter and allow people to question her parentage. As indecision warred on her face, she ended up standing still, her hands twitching as she held the lapels of Valentina’s coat.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Valentina coldly laughed as she watched Aaliyah mentally struggle before wrenching her body away from her grip. Although she didn’t plan on reporting Antonio Salazar to the director, it was still nice to watch Aaliyah squirm.

She almost walked away but seeing multiple people including Kaiser and the director begin walking into the bottom area of the stairs, she got an idea to fulfill one of her mission conditions.

Turning to Aaliyah, she smirked and began egging her on.

“Why are you upset? Could it be that you thought you and your father could force me out of my role? It’s very unfortunate for you that things are not going your way. Platinum Entertainment bought the rights to the film and your dearest father decided to assault me at the opening premier. If I report this to the director, shall we make a bet on whether or not you’ll be allowed to keep your role?” Valentina slowly approached Aaliyah suddenly swapping their positions, so she was closer to the stairs.

“You wouldn’t dare! If you do, people will wonder why you were alone with an older man who is an executive at black rock. Your career will be over once the rumor of you sleeping your way to the top starts!”

“Won’t that be cleared up once I request a DNA test and claim him as my father? For a little razzle-dazzle, we can throw you into the mix as well and you can explain to the public why you call an unrelated man daddy. You can explain how you’ve been getting all those benefits at Black Rock. Doesn’t that sound fun? Shall I go tell the director?” Valentina mocked her before continuing to back toward the stairwell. As Aaliyah followed her, she saw that there was a small gathering of people at the bottom of the grand staircase.

Shooting a smug smile at Valentina, she quickly pinched and slapped her own face before she slammed into Valentina and pretended to trip while yelling.

“Oh no! Valentina! Stop! Stop hitting me, I’m sorry. I'm sorry!” Aaliyah yelled as she continued slapping her face and pinching her body. Valentina could only watch blankly at the self-abuse play Aaliyah was putting on. Fine! If she wanted to pretend, two could play at that game!

“Hey, what’s going on there?” a voice yelled out and Valentina snuck a glance down and saw somebody starting to climb up the stairs.

Gritting her teeth, Valentina used all of her strength to grab Aaliyah’s hands and hold them down. As they struggled, she continued holding on to the girl and dragging her backward toward the stairs. After giving Aaliyah a smug smile, she threw her body back while clutching Aaliyah's dress and pulling the girl along with her. As she fell, she didn’t forget to let out a blood-curdling scream while bracing her body for impact.

Maybe it was because of the angle that she was falling, but her back slammed into the wooden banister, knocking the air out of her, and loosening her grip on Aaliyah. As she bounced off it and continued rolling down, each time her body slammed into the ground, it felt like somebody was attacking her body with a hammer.

Right before she was about to slam into the ground, her body collided with a firm figure that tried to hold her up.

As she felt her body immediately try to begin coughing up blood, she made sure she looked up at Aaliyah who had slid down and landed on the bottom stairwell. The girl looked shocked as if she didn’t know what was happening.

Putting a shocked expression on her face, Valentina pointed a shaking finger at Aaliyah while speaking.

“Aaliyah. What have I ever done to you? Why would you hit me and then push me down the stairs? Is it because your friend didn’t get my role?”

“What?! No! you were the one who hit me and pushed me. Now you're pretending! My ankle hurts because of you!” Aaliyah shouted out as she glared at Valentina. this faker! She had fallen on her own and now she was pretending!

“I’m sorry for taking your friend's role, but violence is not the answer and I have a right to defend myself from your attacks,” Valentina spoke out, making sure her words came out clearly.

Smiling softly at the girl, Valentina stopped holding herself back as her body heaved once more.

Cough.

Cough.

After the third soft cough, blood spurted from her mouth staining her clothes and the ground around her. A bit of it even splashed on Aaliyah's blue ball gown, staining the skirt portion of it bright red.

As her body began heaving as blood kept coming out, she finally heard the sound she was waiting for.

[Ding!]

[Act Like an Angel: 1/3]

Hearing the system acknowledge her efforts and feeling the aches and pain all over her body, she immediately lost consciousness.

That’s why she didn’t see the chaos that ensued once her body went limp.