"I DON'T UNDERSTAND," Mallory said.

Her voice was like rain to the parched deserts of William's hope. It resuscitated the deprived soil and turned dead, drooping weeds into exuberant, vibrant flowers. He hadn't realised how much he'd been craving her voice until he heard it now, a graceful cadence that asserted her musical prowess.

"It's always been your dream, hasn't it?" William leaned against the edge of his desk. "To be a Starlight star?"

The gap of silence Mallory left after his question challenged William's belief in her dogged tenacity to be a Starlight Star. He'd seen her passion, that repressed, unarticulated desire that expressed itself in her music whenever she played the violin. He'd seen that she truly wanted what he was offering her now. And like most people who grasped at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when it came by knocking on their door, Mallory would definitely not miss this chance. But her deafening silence was saying otherwise.

"You're not saying anything," William remarked, pushing himself off his desk and wandering around his office. Anxiety was trying to break through the surface, but William pushed it back, knowing Mallory Trent wouldn't be so stupid as to refuse him. "Are you having some form of internal conflict?"

Michael groaned the moment William said that abominable word, 'conflict'. He knocked his head on the desk in utter desolation, as though the utterance of that one word had stripped away all their shots at success.

William averted his attention to Mallory, who was now finally breaking the silence

"Of course, I want to be a star, sir. I'm just kind of confused." She paused. "I thought Diana Gilbert was the Starlight star, already?"

He'd seen this coming.

William nudged his head at Michael. Michael got the cue and slipped into the next room to prepare their golden ticket to heaven.

"She stepped down," William said. He searched through his drawers for a cigarette. Finding it, he lit it with a lighter and then blew into it, a whiff of grey mist blurring his sight.

Mallory sighed. "I'm sorry sir, but you're not making sense."

William choked on smoke. It wasn't every day someone of his calibre was told that they were being insensible. And that Mallory outrightly said that rankled him to his core. But he regained his composure and pressed her harder. "Oh," William said, placing an exaggerated edge of disappointment on his tone. "Maybe I wasn't being clear enough, then. Diana came up to my office today to step down. She didn't think she was ready to take on the responsibilities of being a Starlight star. If you're in doubt, I could put her on the phone right now. Would you prefer that?"

"That's what he said," Mallory spoke. Then it dawned on William that Mallory didn't say that in response to him. With how intentionally hushed her tone was, he guessed she was speaking to someone else in the background. He wished he could grow mega ears to listen in on their conversation so that he could hear if anyone was saying anything to dissuade her from taking his offer so that he could break through the boundaries of communication and stretch a hand through the phone to give that moronic person a wide-palmed slap.

But luckily Mallory came back to him. "Yes sir, I would like to speak with Diana."

"Hang on." William smiled. "She'll be right over."

He placed her on mute.

"Stay put, girl!" Michael yelled from the other room. By the sounds of the tussling and haggling, Michael was having a hard time in there with Diana. He'd known she'd be an issue, Diana Gilbert and her stubborn ways. Maybe he'd been illogical to send Michael to handle her alone, his gentle nature being insufficient to subdue Diana's ferocity. William was about to go in there to handle things himself when Michael emerged from it, his shirts wrinkled and face sheeny with sweat.

"Here she is." Michael pulled Diana out of the room. She was roped to a chair, her arms tightly secured to the rest by thick chains. She tossed and turned and jumped. And though she tried to call for help, her screams were silenced to futile, muffled moans by the gag Michael had placed over her mouth.

William shot Michael a look that said 'well-done'. Handling a girl like Diana wasn't an easy task. She was unusually aggressive, her aggression so peculiar, it almost marked her as a creature of a different species. William bent to her and met with her wild eyes. There was visible fear in them, that and a searing element that epitomised hatred, an intense desire for vengeance. She wasn't to type to resign to fate, William knew. She accepted nothing that wasn't in alignment with what she wanted. She would fight and fight to no ends, but some fights, Willam thought, were better unfought because they'd been lost from the very beginning.

"I know you're mad," William said, forcing compassion into his voice. He stroked her face. She quickly jerked it away. "But this is how it's mean to be, Gilbert. You can't fight what was always meant to be. You can't fight fate."

Shaking vigorously, Diana mumbled something. William couldn't make out what she said beneath the gag, but he guessed it was something along the lines of, "I don't believe in fate, you douchebag. You're not going to get away with this!"

He touched her face. "It's a lost cause, Diana. You know that. Now, all you have to do is to be a good little girl and act out all we've practised. You remember? Everything we said you would say to Mallory?"

Diana shook her head firmly. No.

"Okay listen," William yelled. He was done playing nice with her. Sometimes, it wasn't spraying water, but striking a match, that extinguished a fire, "I don't have for games. This is business we're talking about here. This is negotiation. It's either you do what I told you to do or end up in a place you don't want to be. You hear me? Now take the phone"—he threw it onto her legs—"and do as I told you."

Diana winced at him, obviously incredulous that he could speak in a tone that wasn't his normal formal, civilised one. When Michael untied her hands, she brought her trembling fingers to her lap and drew the phone to her ears. She looked at William as though to ask him how she was supposed to speak with a gag over her mouth. Sighing, William yanked it off.

"Hey," Diana spoke into the phone, her eyes set on William. He could make out the strings of insults swirling in those green irises. "Is this Mallory?... Oh good... Yeah, he wanted me to speak with you so you could believe it. It's true, Mal. I-I chose to quit. I never knew what being a starlight entailed. It's stressful and burdensome. I can't—I just can't handle it anymore...Yes, that's what I am saying. I want you to... take the role of being Starlight star from me."

William smiled at her. Her execution was perfect. She would've had more success if she'd opted to be an actress, rather than a musician.

"Done deal." Diana cut the call.

"What did she say?" Michael asked.

Diana narrowed her eyes at him. "None of your business, douchebag."

"Watch it," William warned."But what did she really say?"

"What else would she say?" Diana cocked her at him in a question. "Mallory's a pathetic weakling. Of course, she said yes."

William and Michael jumped off their feet in exhilaration at that. They hopped all over the place as if they'd just gotten a shot of adrenaline. William's ecstasy was so unrestrained that he didn't realise when he got himself into a long embrace with Michael. But then self-consciousness came, and he pushed Michael away. He turned to Diana, whose face was a mask of disgust.

"Alright then," William said, clearing his throat. "I guess we're going to let you go now, Diana."

Michael looked at him, shocked. "But—"

"Untie me!" Diana yelled. "Now!"

William nudged for Michael to do as she asked. He hesitantly untied her, all the while giving William a questioning look. He ignored him.

"Thank you, Diana," William said.

Even though Michael had untied Diana, she still shook herself free of the invisible ropes that coiled around her. She shrugged and met with William's gaze, her face contorting into an ugly symbol of hostility. "When I first saw you, I thought you were something, William Orlando. I looked up to you. I adored you. Hell, I wanted to be like you. But now you disgust me, you and this cracked up man standing here. You promised me fame, William. You promised me bliss. But all I got, in the end, was captivity, to be tied all in ropes like an animal!" She paused. "But I sure as hell am grateful for it. Because it showed me how crazy this whole goddamn place is. This organisation is nothing but a hellhole of bias and incompetence! And I'm glad, I'm glad to be up and out of here! It's just too bad Mallory wouldn't know the trap she's falling into..."

William narrowed her eyes at her. "She wouldn't know if you don't tell her."

She touched his shoulder with patently mocking assurance. "Oh, you don't have to worry about me running my mouth. You know what they say, snitches get stitches and all that. But that's not even the thing. I hate Mallory Trent with every nerve on my body. I would practically sell my soul to see her in hell."

"That doesn't make any—" Micheal began.

"Nobody asked for your opinion you scumbag," Diana spat

Michael backed away, as though she'd shot a bullet his way. She waved at them and headed for the door. 

"I should've never come here in the first place," she said as she walked out.

Michael turned to William the moment she was out of their sight. "You realise what you've done, right? We could go to jail if she tells someone!"

"I'm not stupid, Mike. I'm aware of that."

"So, what now?"

William smiled at the trail Diana left. "Follow her."