Chapter 478

Chapter 478

Sandra's words were like a curse, and they came true just a month later.

On the first day that The Fire Lovers went online, the ratings were flooded with one-star reviews, and the comment section was filled with mindless hate like "plagiarism" and "terrible show."

Estella hid in the dressing room crying all morning, and even Malcolm, who was usually emotionally stable, couldn't quite handle it.

Only Amelia was surprisingly calm.

"Ms. Tudor, aren't you angry?" Hatty asked, confused.

Amelia looked at the data report: "Real audience reviews take time to settle. These people can only affect the first few days."

The series was only about ninety-something episodes, so people could finish it in two days. By then, the audience would give their honest opinions.

But just then, Sandra called again, her tone gloating, "Amelia, you lost. Time to keep your promise."

"What's your rush?" Amelia rolled her eyes internally. "We'll see in three days."

With that, she hung up.

She was right.

Three days later, The Fire Lovers started to turn things around.

Real audience reviews surfaced, and the rating climbed from 4.3 all the way to 8.7.

Major entertainment bloggers voluntarily made comparison videos, analyzing how The Fire Lovers crushed Love Like Fire in script depth and character development.

By the second week, The Fire Lovers' viewership surpassed Love Like Fire and topped the platform's trending chart.

Sandra was completely silenced.

Amelia wasn't going to let her off the hook. She called her, but Sandra didn't answer, so Amelia called Galaxy Entertainment Headquarters directly. An internal staff member transferred the call to Louis.

Louis would do.

"Mr. Murphy, your fiancée lost the bet. She owes me ten million dollars. Will you pay for her or what?" Amelia got straight to the point.

Sandra's furious voice came through the phone, "Amelia, you're shameless! Are you a beggar, going around begging? You care about a measly ten million dollars!"

"If you don't care about it, give it to me then. A bet's a bet, Ms. King. Don't make people look down on you." Amelia laughed happily.

"Enough." Louis said in a deep voice, "Ms. Tudor, we'll honor the bet."

"I'll be waiting then." Amelia chuckled.

Two days later, she indeed received a check from Louis.

Amelia didn't keep it all for herself. She had the money cashed and distributed as project bonuses to The Fire Lovers' creative team. Everyone got several hundred thousand dollars in bonuses, and they were all thrilled.

Amelia was pretty happy too. The feeling of achieving success through hard work made her happier than anything else.

But unexpectedly, something happened that day.

Amelia's phone rang at around 3 a.m. She was deep in sleep, fumbling to press the answer button with her eyes still stuck together.

"Hello?"

"Amelia!" It was actually Sandra.

Her voice was so sharp it nearly broke, with the roar of a car engine in the background. "Mom's in trouble! When she called me, her tone was really off, like she was saying her last words. Come with me!"

Amelia woke up instantly.

She instinctively checked her phone. Sure enough, Evelyn had called her too, but it hadn't go through. She'd sent her a message.

"Amelia, I'm a failure. I'm sorry to you and Greta, and sorry to Sandra too. Watching you two sisters at each other's throats breaks my heart. Let me atone with my own life."

Amelia's blood froze instantly.

She shot up from bed, threw on some clothes, and was about to run out.

Chris caught up with her, brought her proper clothes, and drove her there himself.

The streets at dawn were empty.

Chris ran three red lights in a row, and fifteen minutes later they screeched to a halt downstairs at Evelyn's apartment building.

Sandra's red Porsche was already parked crookedly downstairs, the door still open.

The elevator was too slow. Amelia headed straight for the stairs.

When she burst through Evelyn's door, gasping for breath, the scene before her made her legs go weak.

Sandra was kneeling by the sofa, holding a deathly pale Evelyn in her arms.

Evelyn's nightgown was covered in vomit, with several empty pill packets scattered around her.

She'd taken sleeping pills?

"Where's the ambulance?" Amelia's head buzzed as she rushed over urgently, her fingers trembling as she reached for Evelyn's carotid artery.

"On the way!" Sandra looked up, her makeup smeared into a mess. "I... I don't know what to do. She's still breathing but..."

Amelia grabbed Evelyn and started checking her pupils: "When did she take the pills?"

"I don't know. When she called me, something was already wrong..." Sandra was shaking.

Amelia's heart contracted violently, like being stabbed.

She crouched down and gently patted Evelyn's cheeks: "Mom? Mom! Wake up!"

Evelyn had no reaction, her breathing so weak it was almost gone.

They could only wait, until the ambulance siren grew from distant to near.

Only then did Amelia and Sandra both breathe a sigh of relief.

The paramedics quickly lifted Evelyn onto a stretcher.

The two got into Amelia's car, with Chris driving—he was the calmest one at the moment.

The car was filled with a faint woody scent that rushed into their nostrils, suffocating.

Amelia rolled down the window, letting the cold wind blow away the smell and the terrible thoughts in her mind. If Sandra hadn't answered the phone, if they'd been a step late...

"Why would she do this?" Sandra's knuckles were white as she gripped the steering wheel. "Just to make me stop going against you?"

Amelia whipped around to face her: "Don't you get it? Mom's using her life to warn you!"

Sandra's face went pale, and she said nothing more.

The hospital corridor lights were blindingly white.

After Evelyn was wheeled into the emergency room, Amelia and Sandra sat on the bench like two statues, with one seat's distance between them.

"Has she been... acting strange lately?" Sandra suddenly spoke, her voice so soft it was barely audible.

Amelia laughed coldly: "You mean besides sending you dozens of messages every day that you don't reply to? Besides waiting for you downstairs at your company every week when you won't see her?"

"I didn't receive..." Sandra's voice cut off abruptly, her face suddenly turning ugly. "Louis said Mom's number was marked as spam. He had security..."

Amelia suddenly stood up, glaring down at Sandra: "So you let Louis cut off your contact with Mom? Do you know how worried she was about you?"

"I didn't know it would be like this. I was trying to compete with you, to prove I'm better than you, but..." Sandra also stood up, tears glistening in her eyes. "How was I supposed to know she'd be so foolish?"

"Of course you didn't know!" Amelia's voice echoed through the corridor. "Because you only ever think about yourself! When you jumped off that cliff, Mom collapsed from the shock too! She was in the hospital for months!"

Sandra froze like she'd been struck by lightning: "When... was this?"

She staggered back a step, hitting the wall, her lips trembling but unable to form words.

Amelia sat back down, covering her face with her hands: "Mom's been taking medication this whole time. She never blamed you, just said it was because she failed as a mother..."

The emergency room door suddenly opened, and a masked doctor walked out: "Family?"