Forbidden Passion
Chapter 655 She Became Just Like Him

Phoebe stood by the curb, watching Grace's car vanish into the neighborhood. She turned back to her own ride, locked it up, and grabbed her phone to scroll through Facebook. The wait felt like forever, every tick of the clock was like nails on a chalkboard.

As she scrolled, she noticed Ernest and Noah's new show was blowing up, already hitting the third spot on the trending list.

Phoebe clicked in and saw the buzz had exploded outta nowhere. It was mostly Ernest's fans blowing up the comments, with a few Noah fans here and there, but they were getting drowned out. She skimmed through the comments, most of them gushing over Ernest's looks and hyping up the new show. It was pretty obvious these were paid shills; real fans were few and far between. More and more fans started chiming in.

[Seriously? With Ernest's plastic surgery face, his fans still think he's hot? If they don't need their eyes, they should donate them.]

[Just a few days ago, he was riding Noah's coattails, and now he's buying trending spots. Does he think we're too nice to call him out?]

[What new show? Ernest's fans, don't be so shameless. If the official announcement doesn't include Ernest, it'll be awkward.]

As Phoebe kept scrolling, the so-called Noah fans were getting pretty extreme, making everyone else dislike them. Meanwhile, Ernest's fans seemed to be taking the high road.

[Noah's fans are so fierce. What did Ernest do wrong? He just joined the same show as Noah.]

[If Noah's fans don't wanna see Ernest and Noah together, they can ask Noah not to join the show.]

This comment got some Noah fans riled up, and they started boycotting Noah's participation in the new show.

As Phoebe read on, she realized Queen Entertainment had hired trolls to stir up Noah's fans and push him out of the show.

Such dirty tricks-hiring trolls to pose as Noah's fans to trash his image, then flipping the script to provoke Noah's fans into boycotting the show.

The more Phoebe read, the angrier she got. She bailed on Facebook and called the PR department.

"Mr. Connor, Noah's trending on Facebook. Why hasn't the PR team done anything? What are you guys doing?"

On the other end, Franklin Connor sat up, throwing on his coat. "Ms. Ziegler, don't be mad. I'll get someone on it right away."

Phoebe hung up, her temples pounding with anger. She had a gut feeling Queen Entertainment was gunning for her. Vanessa!

She hadn't even settled the score with Vanessa, and Vanessa was already coming for her.

She glanced at the time-midnight. She hesitated, then dialed Stanley's number. "Stanley, why are you still up so late?"

Stanley chuckled, "You're not asleep either. I was just waiting for your call; otherwise, I wouldn't dare sleep soundly."

"Don't be silly. I need a favor." Phoebe said with a slight smile.

"Is it about your company's Noah?" Stanley had heard earlier that Queen Entertainment had paid for Ernest's trending topic, so he stayed up, waiting for Phoebe to call. Phoebe lightly tapped the steering wheel, her eyes flashing with a dangerous glint. "No need to remove the trending topic. I'll give you some juicy news." "Oh?" Stanley raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

Phoebe's lips curled into a sly grin. "I'll send it over right now. Bet Queen Entertainment will shell out big bucks to get this trending topic wiped."

After hanging up, Phoebe dug out some photos from her email and shot them over to Stanley. Stanley was left speechless after checking them out.

Queen Entertainment just wanted to boot Noah from the new show, but Phoebe was gunning to kick Ernest out of the whole industry. Her moves were getting more ruthless and sharp, kinda like how Theodore used to handle things back in the day.

Phoebe tossed her phone onto the center console and rubbed her eyes. She was done with those online comments.

After a bit, she turned to look out the car window.

In the night, a bunch of high-rise buildings stood silently. From her angle, they overlapped like steel giants in the darkness.

Phoebe propped her face on her hand and drifted into thought.

For three years, she'd driven down this road every day. What used to be so familiar now felt totally alien.

As Phoebe's mind wandered, Grace parked her car and took the elevator up. She stood at the apartment door, pressing the doorbell for ages, but no one answered.

Grace thought of Theodore, who was still hurt. Could something have happened to him? Then she heard paws scratching at the door and was startled.

Listening closely, she heard a cat meowing it was Ollie.

Grace sighed in relief but then went silent as she looked at the keypad lock. Theodore wasn't coming to the door, and she didn't know the code. How was she supposed to get in?

After a bit, Grace pulled out her phone and called Phoebe. When the call connected, Grace suddenly realized Phoebe and Theodore were divorced, so Phoebe probably didn't know the code either.

"Grace, what's up?"

Phoebe's voice sounded a bit heavy, probably in an enclosed space. Grace said, "Theodore isn't coming to the door. I'm worried something happened to him, but I don't know his door code. Phoebe, do you still remember it?" Phoebe's mouth twitched. "Grace, you'd be better off calling Ms. Ramirez than asking me."

"I don't have Sandra's number," Grace admitted. Sandra looked down on her and only hung out with Madison when visiting the Reynolds family, so Grace never bothered to keep in touch.

Phoebe looked into the distance, thought for a moment, and gave the old house code. Grace entered it, "Phoebe, the code's wrong."

Phoebe paused, then smiled in relief.

How could she be as naive as Grace? She and Theodore were divorced; why would he still use the old code?

"Phoebe, there's a fingerprint scanner here. Why don't you come up and try?" Grace thought she must be crazy. The wrong code must've made Phoebe feel bad, and now she was making an even more absurd request. Phoebe closed her eyes. "Grace, why don't you call Taylor? She definitely knows the code."

"But I've already tried twice. The keypad's locked and can only be opened with a fingerprint. Phoebe, I know it's a long shot, but what if Theodore still has your fingerprint saved?"

"Impossible." Phoebe shot back immediately.

Theodore had changed the code; why would he still have her fingerprint saved?

Grace stood at the door, feeling desperate. "But the keypad's locked, and it's the middle of the night. We can't find a locksmith. What if something really happened to Theodore? Phoebe, just come up and try. If it doesn't work, we'll figure something else out."

Phoebe looked at the winding path leading to the apartment building and felt a slight tug in her heart.