I Quit, and the Plagiarist Fell Apart Chapter 05

I Quit, and the Plagiarist Fell Apart Chapter 05

Wendy had been my editor from day one. She knew me through and through—once I made up my mind, I never looked back.

So why fly all the way to Paris to pitch screenwriting? Unless… someone put her up to it?

“You’ve seen how busy I am with my dad’s business. There’s so much to learn—I’m passing out the second my head hits the pillow. No way I have energy for scripts.”

Wendy looked conflicted. So I tested the waters. “Wendy, be straight with me. Did someone send you here?”

She stared at the wall of custom gowns, clicked her tongue, and caved.

“Okay, no more beating around the bush.”

“You know Luna Vance, right?”

I nodded. She continued, “Her management is shopping for a custom film project. Luna’s gone on record saying she’ll only star in something based on your work. Whoever lands your script gets her signature.”

“The company’s sitting on a ton of IP—they’ve been dying to break into film. With this golden ticket, they made me come.”

And just like that, the scattered pieces clicked into place.

Luna was a former influencer, same MCN as Rowan and Ivy. She’d blown up after a reality acting competition and become a legit A-lister.

She’d always turned up her nose at my novels. So why was she suddenly dying to work with me?

Something stank.

“Maeve, just scribble something down. I need to bring something back.”

I thought it over for a long time. Eventually, I said yes.

Wendy flew back that night—she had a meeting with the Penguin reps the next morning.

I dropped everything and shut myself in my study.

The moment I cleared my head, all the bottled-up inspiration came flooding out.

Two weeks later, on deadline day, I emailed Wendy the 200,000-word draft and collapsed into bed.

I’d planted a few landmines in this one. Tomorrow would tell.

When I woke up, my phone was blowing up—ten missed calls from Wendy, plus a string of frantic texts.

“Maeve, Ivy just posted YOUR NEW STORY AGAIN!”

“WHAT THE HELL?! I only got the manuscript an hour ago, and she’s already got it online!”

I opened Twitter. #IvyBlake and #ProdigyAuthor were both trending in the top ten.

“Took a few months to get my health back on track, sorry for the wait!”

As an apology, here’s a brand-new story I wrote during my time off.”

The “new story” Ivy posted was the exact screenplay I’d written for Luna.

And not the version I sent Wendy—the polished, finalized version that only existed in my head.

Luna was definitely in cahoots with Ivy and Rowan. This screenwriting pitch was just a trap to make me keep writing!