Chapter 2

Bianca tapped my shoulder, adopting a patronizing tone. "Chase, wrong is wrong. I'm not going to cover for you."

I searched her eyes, desperate to find even a flicker of hesitation or pity.

There was only cold mockery.

She shoved me forward. "You had the nerve to plagiarize, but you don't have the guts to apologize to Julian?"

Taking a deep, shaky breath, I pulled my phone from my pocket and played the track demo for everyone to hear.

"This is the master recording for *Loving Bianca*. The creation metadata proves I'm the original composer."

Snapping out of her daze, Bianca knocked the phone straight out of my hand. Her heel came down hard, shattering the screen.

She didn't even care about keeping up appearances as she shoved me back with all her strength.

I stumbled, nearly losing my footing.

Confronted with the audio evidence, Julian’s calm demeanor vanished. His face went pale, his breath turning shallow and rapid.

The fans who had just been screaming insults fell dead silent.

The red carpet turned completely quiet.

I stood in front of Bianca, naively hoping she would be relieved that my name was cleared.

Back when we first started collaborating, Bianca insisted that as a musician, she had zero tolerance for intellectual theft. She claimed to despise copycats more than anything.

Whenever she wanted to cover another artist's track, she always begged me to secure the proper licensing rights.

I used to love that artistic integrity about her.

Just yesterday, when she accused me of plagiarism and demanded I apologize to Julian, I booked a red-eye flight back home just to retrieve the original master track to prove my innocence to her.

This song carried all my love for her. It was the proposal song I had planned to perform live for her tonight.

Then I saw her pull an inhaler from her designer clutch, and I knew I had already lost.

Even on the red carpet, her only priority was Julian’s health.

Bianca glared at me, her voice dripping with venom. "Chase, I never realized you were so petty. Did you think giving Julian an asthma attack would make you number one?"

"Everyone knows I hate art thieves. Just to beat Julian, you stole the demo he shared with me and reworked it. You've completely disgusted me."

"I might be your girlfriend, but I'm an artist first. I won't turn a blind eye to your theft."

Her self-righteous accusations pierced my heart like nails, leaving me numb with pain.

The crowd erupted again.

"And here I thought there was a plot twist! His own girlfriend exposed him! Girl, dump him, he doesn't deserve you!"

"Talentless fraud! Who knows how many other songs he stole?"

"Seriously! His family is loaded—they probably just bought other people's work and put his name on it!"

With a few sentences, Bianca erased years of my blood, sweat, and tears.

Standing in the center of the storm, targeted by a smear campaign orchestrated by my own girlfriend, I finally understood what true helplessness felt like.

To prevent a scene, event security quickly escorted us to the VIP lounge.

Right in front of me, Bianca fussed over Julian, supporting his weight with intimate care.

Julian gently patted her hand and gestured toward me. "Bianca, please don't fight over me. Just talk it out with Chase."

Only then did Bianca walk over, clearly annoyed.

She looked at me with open condescension. "Chase, you're an adult. Stop acting like a spoiled brat expecting your family to clean up your messes. I know you're jealous of Julian, but making false claims is pathetic."

I stepped back, feeling as though an invisible hand were crushing my heart.

"Bianca, do you have any idea how long I spent on that song? You know how hard I work. Why won't you believe me?"