Chapter 149

Chapter 149:

With a storm of frustration in her eyes, Teresa whipped out her phone and vented to Jenna as soon as she settled back into her seat.

“Jenna, Madisyn is such a snake. She badmouthed me in front of the director! I’m so mad!”

Jenna replied, “Didn’t you say that if Evie didn’t make it into the top three, Madisyn should resign? Don’t worry. Their days are numbered.”

“That’s right,” Teresa agreed, her voice dripping with satisfaction. “I’ll be counting down the days until she’s gone.”

The conversation between Teresa and Jenna was mostly about their shared disdain for Madisyn, revealing how close they had become in their mutual resentment. Meanwhile, Madisyn was blissfully unaware of this. She was busy training Evie on songwriting.

Two days later, the final competition kicked off in Ansport. Competitors arrived early and checked into their designated hotel.

Evie was assigned to a double room, and Madisyn helped her settle in. To Evie’s surprise, she ran into a friend in the room.

“Evie, is that you?” Erica exclaimed in delight.

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“Erica!” Evie replied with equal enthusiasm.

“What a coincidence! I was actually worried about not getting along with my roommate. Let me help you with your things, Evie,” Erica offered, assisting Evie with her luggage.

Seeing their friendly interaction, Madisyn felt reassured. After giving Evie some final advice, she decided to leave.

“By the way, have you finished writing your song?” Erica asked.

“Yep, I still need to practice tonight. I’m a bit nervous. How about you?” Evie replied.

“I’m nervous too, but I’m not stressing too much. You and Giana are amazing. I doubt I’ll snag the top spot.”

Evie quickly reassured her, “Don’t say that. You’re great too. If you give it your all, you have a shot.”

“Thanks, Evie,” Erica said gratefully.

They chatted for a while, and as the night grew late, they each focused on their practice. After some time, Evie set aside her iPad and went to bed.

Erica, however, remained wide awake, her gaze fixed on Evie’s iPad.

At that very moment, Giana arrived at the hotel. Unlike others, she had a single room. Given her high status, she wasn’t accustomed to sharing her space with anyone else.

Giana skimmed through her song and found herself agitated. Though it was written by a professional, she thought the song paled in comparison to Madisyn’s work. The thought of possibly losing to Evie made her cringe.

Everyone believed she had entered the competition again to chase her old dream and clinch the championship. Indeed, that was her intention. But if she was defeated by a new singer… Why had she joined the competition at all? Frustrated, Giana bit her lip.

Suddenly her phone rang.

“Do you want the song Madisyn wrote? I can give you that.” The voice on the other end was mechanical, clearly altered to disguise the caller’s identity.

“Who are you?” Giana demanded, her guard up.

“Who I am isn’t important. What matters is whether you want the song or not,” the caller replied.

Giana frowned.

“How can I trust you if I don’t know who you are?”

“The key issue isn’t who I am, but that you’re likely to lose to Evie. Winning the championship is crucial to you, isn’t it?” The voice continued in a low, menacing tone, “Do you want to risk losing to Evie and being ridiculed?”

Of course not!

Giana clenched her fists, seething with frustration. She loathed the feeling that the caller knew so much about her while she had no idea who they were.

“Tell me who you are, or I’m hanging up,” Giana said coldly.

“You don’t need to know who I am…” the caller replied before Giana abruptly ended the call. She sensed that the caller was too dangerous.

Giana resumed reading the song in her hand, but her phone soon began vibrating with notifications. She picked it up to find her fans in a frenzy, flooding their group chat with the latest news.

“Is this true?”

“It can’t be. Giana claimed she wrote it herself. Someone’s trying to get attention. Report them to the police.”

Giana clicked on the news, which claimed that she hadn’t written her most acclaimed piece but had taken all the credit for it. Netizens were questioning her and demanding an explanation.

Her eyes narrowed. How could this be happening?

Who had leaked this information? Was it Madisyn? Madisyn was the only one who knew about it. Suddenly, she recalled the call she had just answered.

Panic set in as she realized the caller might be connected to the leak. She quickly dialed the number back.

“I knew you’d call,” the voice answered, seemingly prepared for Giana’s call.

“Did you leak that information online?” Giana demanded, her voice strained.

“Me? Why would I do that? I wouldn’t risk offending you. From my perspective, this smells like Madisyn’s doing,” the caller said calmly.

“How did you know Madisyn wrote the song for me?” Giana asked, confused.

“That’s not your concern. What matters is that you need to pay me to change your song and secure your win,” the caller replied.

Giana’s anger flared.

With things having escalated so far, she had no choice but to give in. Besides, she suspected that Madisyn must have leaked information about her songwriting. Otherwise, no one else would know about it.

“Fine,” Giana agreed.

“One million,” the caller stated.

“One million? How dare you ask for that much?” Giana was taken aback.

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