The first comment alone racked up thousands of likes before the pile-on really got going.
“Wait, wasn’t Eliana supposed to be a musician?
Where are her hits, then?”
“No clue, but I do know she quit the industry the second she married Nathaniel Cole.
Heard she just sits at home living off him now.
Total trophy wife, zero actual skill.”
“Genuinely don’t get what Nathaniel sees in her when Vivian’s right there being amazing!”
“Right?
Such a waste of talent that Vivian only has six months left.
I’m actually crying.”
“Vivian really is the only pure white jasmine flower left in songwriting.”
“Someone drag Eliana out here already!”
“If Eliana had any sense she’d file for divorce herself and leave Nathaniel alone!”
“Team Nathaniel and Vivian, no notes!”
“Nathaniel belongs to Vivian.
Eliana, step off!”
…
The wave of praise for Vivian and abuse aimed at Eliana kept climbing.
Before she could fully process it, Jonathan called.
She let it ring a moment, then picked up.
“Vivian has no shame whatsoever!” Jonathan was practically shouting.
“Eliana, did you see her video?!
I am furious”
“We sold her a usage license for ten million.
Ten million bought her the right to use it, not the right to claim she wrote it!”
“Under our copyright law, authorship belongs to the person who created the work.
Full stop.
The song is legally yours.
Sue her!”
Eliana listened to his rage, and something in her chest warmed despite everything.
“Jonathan, slow down,” she said gently.
“How am I supposed to slow down?” His voice stayed sharp.
“Do yourself a favor and stay off social media for the next few days.
I just heard she’s actively fueling this attack on you on every platform she can reach!”
“Giving up her ‘pure white jasmine of songwriting’ crown?
Not a chance.
It’s disgusting.”
Hearing him defend her so fiercely settled something in her.
“Jonathan, listen to me for a second.”
She kept her voice level.
“Right now, all she’s said publicly is that it’s her original work.
If she actually uploads it credited under ‘N.’ or Foster Entertainment, that’s a real problem.
Until then, it’s just talk.”
“And if we sue, the plaintiffs would technically be Foster Entertainment and N.
which means my real identity comes into play.”
“I’m not ready for people to know who I am.
Not yet.”
Jonathan’s anger cooled as he processed that.
He had to admit, she had a point.
Until the song officially dropped, everything was still speculation.
And the way she’d said his first name so easily just now had done more to calm him down than any argument could have.
“What people are saying about you online is genuinely awful,” he said.
“She’s bullying you and getting praised for it.”
Eliana looked out at the city skyline sliding past the car window and let out a quiet laugh.
The world outside had no idea who she actually was.
Even Nathaniel had never fully grasped what she was capable of.
The eldest daughter of the Hart family did people really think she’d grown up doing nothing but being pampered?
No training, no ambition, no drive of her own?
The Hart family had fallen apart years ago.
Did anyone seriously believe she’d never once thought about rebuilding it?
Naive, all of them.
She didn’t say any of that out loud.
But her mind stayed perfectly clear on it.
Still the things being said about her online genuinely stung.
Even with all her patience, it was getting harder to shrug off.
And Nathaniel.
What was he thinking, watching Vivian do all this?
Or worse
Had this been his idea from the start?
…
Elsewhere.
Nathaniel was buried in company business.
Cole Group led globally in several core technologies, while also holding major positions in finance, hardware, design, and entertainment.
Some people still remembered that, generations back, the Cole family had run a fairly traditional operation.
Since Nathaniel took over, he’d rewritten the playbook entirely.
He drove every major decision personally, steering the company toward sharper, more forward-looking territory.
Over the years, that strategy had quietly outpaced nearly every competitor in the market.
His ability was something the entire industry had watched unfold in real time.
The Cole family had only one heir Nathaniel but his influence alone carried more weight than entire dynasties of rival families combined.
After back-to-back meetings, he finally sat down in his top-floor office, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Floor-to-ceiling windows framed a sweeping view of all of Ashford City below.
The Cole Group tower sat at the dead center of the city, the entire building under Cole ownership traffic streaming along the elevated roads outside, a landmark half the city looked up to.
His phone buzzed against the solid wood desk.
He picked it up.
A message from Vivian.
Vivian: Nathaniel, can I come by the office tonight?
Keep you company after work?
…
Across town, curled up on the sofa in her studio, Vivian scrolled through the online fallout with deep satisfaction.
“Good work,” she said into the phone.
“Keep the pressure on Eliana, push a few more trending tags.
By the time I go live in a few days, this’ll take me to a whole new level.”
She hung up and glanced at her nurse standing nearby.
“Something you want to say?” Vivian asked, direct as ever.
The nurse looked visibly conflicted.
“Ms.
Blake, is this really wise?” she asked.
“What if this becomes a copyright dispute?
Foster Entertainment could come after you legally.”
Vivian smiled, dismissive.
“Ten million wasn’t enough of a cushion?”
“But this is still” The nurse pressed on, clearly uneasy.
Vivian barely glanced up from her phone, waiting for Nathaniel’s reply.
“Foster Entertainment is one of the main investors behind Voice of Heaven,” she said.
“The more buzz I generate right now, the more it benefits them, more revenue, more eyeballs.
They’ll look the other way.”
“And if that’s not enough, I can always offer to cross-promote their other artists in exchange for staying quiet.”
The nurse looked genuinely stunned, clearly not expecting an answer like that.
Vivian savored the reaction that flicker of naivety always gave her a small thrill of superiority.
“There’s always room to negotiate.
Always,” she said, pleased with herself, offering the advice like a rare gift.
“Take my flower studio.
Care to guess how I actually built it into what it is today?”
The nurse shook her head, no idea.
Vivian’s smile turned sly, almost gleeful.
Rather than answer outright, she said, “Think it through yourself.
See how much you can piece together.”
The truth was simple enough: her viral rise had come entirely from her Luxury Villa Floral Showcase content and every single high-society order behind it had traced back to Nathaniel, one way or another.
His friends.
People angling to get in his good graces.
Which meant holding onto Nathaniel wasn’t optional.
It was the whole foundation.
The nurse still didn’t fully understand, but knew better than to keep asking.
Vivian went back to her phone.
Back to the comments piling up under her posts.
That one line in particular kept catching her eye “Eliana’s whole life’s work doesn’t even compare to Vivian’s twenty-five seconds.”
It made her glow with satisfaction.
“And here I thought you were something special,” she murmured to herself.
“Eliana Hart.
Turns out you’re nothing at all.”
Right then, her phone buzzed with a new message.
She glanced at it and her expression darkened instantly.
The message read:
[Found out why Eliana went to the hospital.
She’s already over a month pregnant.]