The Heir's True Leading Lady

I was the industry’s Best Supporting Actress, and also its favorite laughingstock—the ultimate desperate simp. Everyone mocked me for failing to win over Julian Zhou, while secretly laughing that I dared to set my sights on an untouchable billionaire heir like Julian Shea. Just when everyone was waiting for my absolute downfall, the untouchable heir broke the internet. "She is the only leading lady of my life." The second I walked through the doors of Star Entertainment, sympathetic stares from the staff followed me everywhere. I already knew why: Julian Zhou wasn’t alone in his office. Lydia Lan was draped in a custom haute-couture dress, her face painted in flawless "no-makeup" makeup. She carried herself like an ethereal goddess beyond mortal reach. Julian’s childhood sweetheart. His ultimate muse. All over Ins, the comments said the same cruel thing: "Chloe Jiang spent seven years begging on her knees, but it couldn't beat a single day of Lydia Lan coming home." Seeing me come in, Lydia tapped her slender cigarette. The burning ash drifted down, instantly melting a hole into the leather couch. Lydia stood up in mild fluster. "I'm so sorry, Julian! It was an accident." Julian barely knit his brows. "It’s fine. Cheap junk is easy to replace." That sofa had cost every single dime of my very first paycheck. An indie Swedish designer piece. It never matched his sleek, modern office. It really wasn't worth anything. Just like me. Julian threw a sour glare my way, his voice laced with annoyance. "You didn't even show up to the wrap party for "Sweet Blue". Who do you think you are, throwing a diva fit?" "Sweet Blue" was the blockbuster film Julian had poured a fortune into creating—just for Lydia. I was just a side character. Did it ever matter if I showed up? The night of the wrap, Julian Shea had come to pick me up, claiming he had a little surprise. It wasn't until we pulled up to the Shea family estate that I realized the Shea family had thrown a private celebration for my Best Supporting Actress win. Julian Shea's mother looked at me with endless tenderness: "Chloe, you are going to take home Best Actress one day." "Slap." A thick stack of scripts hit my chest, the sting radiating down my arm and snapping me out of my daze. "Chloe Jiang, you win one petty supporting award and suddenly forget your place?" Forget my place? The night I won that trophy, Julian Zhou was away on a business trip. Bursting with joy and dying to share the moment with him first, I took a red-eye flight to his city. What welcomed me were invisible daggers that carved right through my chest. In that dimly lit VIP lounge, his arm was wrapped around Lydia. She was laughing, radiant in his embrace. Someone in the room teased, "Mr. Zhou, why aren't you by your little starlet's side while she accepts her award? She won Best Supporting Actress, after all." Before Julian could answer, Lydia scoffed softly from his lap. "What good is Best Supporting Actress? She’s an orphan. She could live a thousand lives and still never be good enough to cross the Zhou family's threshold." "An orphan? Like, an actual street rat, Mr. Zhou?" Julian’s hand paused on his whiskey glass. "Pretty much." In that exact second, the sharp edge of the trophy sliced deep into my palm. But I couldn't feel it over the agonizing tear in my heart. The very man who had once shielded my vulnerable pride from the world was now tearing my scabs open for everyone to gawk at. In just a few careless words, he had turned my deepest trauma into cheap dinner-table gossip. I pulled my mind back to the present and stared right into Julian Zhou's face. "I know my place. Perfectly." Julian shifted under my unblinking gaze, clearly uncomfortable. He opened his mouth to scold me, but I cut him off. "Julian Zhou, I want to terminate my contract." "Fine!" he snapped automatically, and then froze. A few seconds ticked by. His eyes turned arctic. "What did you just say?" "I said, I want out. I'm terminating my contract." In two swift strides, Julian crossed the floor and clamped his hand around my wrist, his gaze a turbulent mess of confusion and anger. His grip was brutal, sending a sharp throb up my arm. Even when he saw me wince, he didn't ease up. Instead, a venomous smirk spread across his lips. "Threatening me with a contract buyout? Chloe, there's a limit to how pathetic your little jealous tantrums can be!" "You snagged one tiny award and suddenly you think you're an A-list queen?" "Who was the one begging on their knees to join my agency in the first place?!" He actually thought I was just throwing a fit over Lydia. Ignoring his sneer, I gathered every ounce of strength I had and ripped my arm out of his grasp. I met his eyes with absolute calmness. "Julian, whether I begged you back then, or you desperately needed me—deep down, you know the truth better than anyone."Julian's face darkened instantly. He looked down, his thumb nervously rubbing against his index finger. That was his tell whenever he panicked. My words actually made him nervous? A few seconds later, he looked up with a derisive snort, his voice colder than ice. "Can you even afford the buyout fee?" "That's none of your concern, Mr. Zhou." "Julian," Lydia chimed in, having drifted over to the floor-to-ceiling window at some point. "It looks like Chloe already found herself a new sponsor. If you force her to stay, you'll only keep an empty shell." Julian followed her gaze down to the street. A sleek black Mercedes was idling by the side entrance. Julian's expression twisted into an ugly scowl. "Chloe Jiang, you're sleeping around behind my back? You've degraded yourself to guys who drive basic rides like that?" Julian Shea was the one who drove me, under strict orders from his mother. Earlier, I had stared at his custom Maybach—the only one in the entire city—and pleaded with a sigh: "Young Master, have mercy. I don't want to blow up the trending feeds." In the end, the billionaire heir humbled himself and took the family driver's modest Mercedes just to drop me off safely. Seeing my silence, Julian took it as a confession. He stepped closer, forcefully catching my chin and yanking my face upward. His voice cracked with a frantic edge: "Chloe, make me happy today, and I'll pretend none of this ever happened." "My next project—I'll make you the lead." I froze for a split second. I had waited ten agonizing years to hear those words. And yet, he was offering them right in front of Lydia Lan. Instinctively, I glanced at Lydia. The smug, triumphant smile had completely vanished from her face. Snapping back to reality as Julian leaned down toward me, disgust hit me like a bucket of ice water. I shoved him away with everything I had. "Mr. Zhou, I'm married. Have some respect." Julian’s face went pale with disbelief, instantly overtaken by pure fury. "Married? Who the hell did you marry?!" "Can't a boss just congratulate an employee on tying the knot?" I offered a cool, detached smile. "Though I should probably congratulate you on your engagement first." His mother had personally delivered the news of his impending engagement to Lydia. Julian stared at me, dumbfounded. "Who told you I was getting engaged?" Did it even matter? Whether he was getting married or not had nothing to do with me anymore. I pulled out the signed buyout agreement along with a cashier's check and laid them flat on his desk. "Julian Zhou, after today, our slate is wiped clean." I turned on my heel to walk out. Suddenly, Julian snatched the heavy crystal ashtray off his desk and hurled it straight at my head. I dodged to the side just in time. The ashtray shattered violently against the wall. A rogue shard of glass flew across the room and sliced the top of my foot. Blood welled up instantly, staining my skin. "Chloe Jiang, you think you can survive in this town without me?!" "Wiped clean?! You owe me your damn life! You'll never pay that back!" Yes, Julian Zhou had once saved my life. He had protected my fragile dignity back when I had nothing. But when he crossed the wrong people, I had shielded him with my own body, taking a blow from a rebar pipe that shattered my wrist into pieces. When his startup was desperate for cash, I threw away all my shame, playing the clown at sleazy banquet tables just to secure his funding. Whenever he was broken and defeated, I was the first one by his side, even when his heart longed for someone else. He was wrong. Every debt of gratitude I owed him had been paid in full, long ago.I wasn't surprised by Julian's explosive rage. After all, I had spent ten years walking on eggshells just to please him. Back in college, he was the golden-boy film directing student, proud and haughty as a peacock. Back then, it was true—I practically begged to be in his indie projects, even for a non-speaking background role. Even when there was no part for me, I'd still show up on set, doing grueling manual labor as a crew hand. His classmates used to tease him: "Chloe is drop-dead gorgeous, Julian. Why don't you ever give her a shot at leading lady?" Julian would only sneer dismissively. "She looks too seductive. She doesn't fit my artistic vision." After graduation, a massive fallout with his father over his career choice led to his funds being cut off. He was kicked out of the family mansion. Julian’s avant-garde style had zero commercial appeal. Stripped of his family fortune, his so-called friends vanished overnight. Back then, I took a role in a trashy low-budget web drama—the kind of project he looked down on the most. I brought every penny of my paycheck to his feet, telling him I would always stand by him. I escorted him to shady investor dinners, drinking until my stomach was bleeding just to buy him his very first shot. In the hospital room, Julian held me in his arms for the first time, whispering that I was the only one who truly understood him. Thrilled and overwhelmed, I hugged him tighter. "I'm the one who should thank you. If you hadn't saved my life, there wouldn't be a Chloe Jiang today." The very next second, Julian shoved me away. The look in his eyes was so cold it chilled me to the bone. I thought he was just overwhelmed in the moment. I never expected that "moment" to drag on for seven whole years. Pushing down the tidal wave of memories, I composed myself and pulled open the car door. Julian Shea set down his iPad and turned his head. "Is everything settled?" Before I could answer, his face darkened slightly, and he leaned in close. "What's wrong...?" Julian didn't say a word. He gently took my chin between his fingers, tilting my face upward, his thumb lightly brushing the bruised skin. Unused to such intimacy, I instinctively pulled back, but stopped dead when I caught sight of the driver in the rearview mirror. His mother's personal driver. In front of the elders, Julian Shea and I were a quick courthouse wedding, but it wasn't supposed to be fake. "It's bruised." His warm breath brushed against my cheeks, sending an involuntary shiver down my spine. His tone was calm, yet I could sense a subtle, simmering frustration radiating from him. He was probably worried about how to explain the mark to his family at the estate. "I'll cover it with some concealer. Grandpa won't notice a thing." Julian froze, slowly pulling his hand back. "That's not why." His voice dropped an octave, colder than before. I could never figure out this young billionaire's moods. The rest of the drive to the estate was wrapped in thick silence. I couldn't help sneaking a glance at him. An impossibly striking face, a razor-sharp jawline, beautifully sculpted lips. No wonder the media labeled him the country's most eligible bachelor. And this very man had tracked me down holding a diamond ring. He had found me in a foreign city where I had no one, carefully bandaging the bloody cuts the trophy had left on my hands. The heir to the Shea empire had literally walked into my life just to propose. Shock had drowned out any excitement; I had dumbly asked him if I had accidentally offended him in a past life. Grandpa Shea was on his deathbed. His final wish was to locate the granddaughter of his late best friend, Chloe Shen, and fulfill an old arranged marriage promise made between their families. I had tried to piece his logic together: "So... you want me to pretend to be Chloe Shen?" Julian had looked at me with helpless exasperation, dropping a bombshell that shook my entire world: "You are Chloe Shen."