Silence fell heavy inside the changing room as the door clicked shut behind them.
The mask dropped imdiately.
"What are you doing here, Mom?" Anna asked, her tone calm but laced with quiet suspicion. She’d played the role of the polite daughter well enough outside, but now that they were alone, the façade was no longer needed.
She knew her mother too well. Rosiline Bennett didn’t "drop by" without reason — especially not on a film set.
Rosiline didn’t answer right away. Instead, she placed the glass of water she had been holding back onto the vanity table and slowly looked around the room, her sharp eyes scanning every corner.
"I hope you’ve had caras installed," she said finally, adjusting the fall of her scarf. "You’ll need them for security purposes."
Her gaze returned to Anna, cool and assessing.
Anna crossed her arms, watching her mother silently. The line between genuine concern and manipulation in Rosiline’s tone was always thin — and Anna had learned the hard way that it was safer to assu both existed at once.
The older woman smiled faintly, though there was little warmth behind it. "You’ve been ignoring your mother for quite so ti now," she said softly. "Do you really think it’s right to worry like this? All I do is care for you."
There was a hint of hurt in her voice — the kind that might have moved anyone else. But Anna knew better.
Rosiline could cloak her control in affection so seamlessly that most people wouldn’t even notice the difference.
Still, despite everything, Anna couldn’t entirely deny that her mother’s concern was real. Twisted, perhaps, but real. Rosiline wanted her daughter to have everything — power, influence, the recognition she believed Anna had been born to claim.
"I just wanted to check on you," Rosiline continued, her tone asured now. "Now that you’ve... cleared your path."
Anna didn’t respond. Her silence only deepened the tension, and for a brief mont, neither mother nor daughter looked away.
In truth, Rosiline hadn’t co here out of motherly affection. Her visit had been triggered by the call she’d received the night before — a call that still echoed in her mind.
Collin.
The man’s voice had been calm, but his words had carried an unmistakable edge. A warning. A threat.
It had been enough to send her instincts into overdrive.
And now, standing here in Anna’s changing room, Rosiline felt that sa unease crawling up her spine.
She’d expected chaos or at least signs of sothing amiss — but there was nothing. Everything appeared normal. Too normal.
’Was he bluffing?’ she wondered, her mind racing. Or is sothing still waiting to unfold?
Rosiline knew one thing for certain — Collin wasn’t the type to make idle threats.
And if he had hinted that Anna’s life was in danger... then she couldn’t afford to take that lightly.
"I purposely didn’t contact you," Anna said evenly, her voice carrying that quiet edge of restrained emotion. "After all, you always take your husband’s side and bla for everything. I didn’t want to... bother."
The word slipped out sharper than she intended, and the effect was imdiate.
Rosiline’s brows creased, genuine hurt flickering across her face. "Bother?" she echoed softly. "Who said you’ve ever been a bother to ?"
Her tone held confusion — even a hint of sorrow — but Anna only scoffed inwardly. If only she knew what being ignored felt like.
She still rembered the years of silence, the constant comparison to Kathrine, the way her mother’s love had always seed to weigh heavier on her sister’s side. Even at the ti of her death — that devastating day — Anna had reached out. And Rosiline had ignored the call.
She drew in a slow breath, pushing the bitterness away. "Anyway, let’s not talk about that," Anna said flatly, cutting through the emotion before it could linger. Her eyes lifted to et her mother’s. "Tell truthfully, Mom — why are you here? Are you keeping an eye on now?"
Rosiline’s lips twitched into a faint, knowing smile as she leaned back in her seat, crossing one leg over the other with practiced grace. "Nothing of that sort," she said coolly. "I just needed to check if Fiona’s been giving you a hard ti. After all, she and her family are the reason your father found out about your acting in the first place."
Anna blinked, arching a brow in mild surprise. That was... unexpected. She hadn’t thought her mother would hold a grudge over sothing like that.
"She does try," Anna admitted with a small smirk, "but your daughter knows how to handle her."
That earned her a sideways glance from Rosiline — half amusent, half pride.
Rosiline’s lips curved slightly. She didn’t mind seeing this side of Anna — the calm defiance, the confidence she’d never shown before. In fact, a small part of her admired it.
But another part — the one shaped by years of strategy and survival — couldn’t help but worry.
Confidence was a weapon, yes. But it also drew attention. And in a world full of people who would gladly exploit weakness, Rosiline knew all too well how quickly self-assurance could turn into vulnerability.
So while she smiled faintly at her daughter’s words, her eyes softened with sothing else entirely.
They talked for a while longer before Rosiline finally rose to leave. Part of her felt lighter — Anna genuinely seed... happy. Maybe the threat she’d fretted over all morning had been a false alarm.
Relief ward her chest. Then her phone buzzed.
’A new ssage from the sa unknown number.’
Rosiline’s smile froze as she opened it. The image that loaded knocked the breath out of her: Anna, in the very outfit she wore now, captured from sowhere close enough to show intimate detail. Worse — whoever had taken the photo was nearby, and Rosiline couldn’t see them.
Smart move, Rosiline, but I am one step ahead of you.
Her hands trembled as she typed, What do you want, Collin? and hit send. Her thumb hovered over the screen, every second stretching thin.
The reply arrived almost imdiately.
’Your destruction, Rosiline. Be ready — your downfall starts now.’
The words hit like cold rain. The room suddenly felt smaller, the air heavier. Rosiline clutched her phone, the pleasant color drained from her face. Whatever Collin was planning, it wasn’t an empty threat — and now, she knew for certain, no one in Anna’s circle was safe.
***
anwhile, inside the changing room, Anna remained seated where her mother had left her, still replaying Rosiline’s words in her head.
Sothing about them refused to settle.
Her mother’s sudden concern, the watchful glint in her eyes — it was all so... uncharacteristic.
Why does it feel so strange? Anna thought, her heart giving an uneasy twitch. She’s never looked at like that before.
If she rembered her mother at all, it was as a woman who oscillated between being pushy and distant — smothering when she wanted control, and coldly neglectful once Kathrine returned.
But today, not once had Rosiline ntioned Kathrine’s na. That alone unsettled her more than she cared to admit.
As her mind spun in quiet confusion, her phone suddenly buzzed across the vanity. She reached for it, pressing it to her ear with a sigh.
"You’re ignoring , wifey," ca Daniel’s deep voice — stoic, yet tinged with mock complaint. "And that makes sad."
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