Corrine's voice snapped Tilda back to reality.

"I'm listening," Tilda said, her voice calm, though her mind was anything but.

Corrine, on the other hand, was furious. "I can't believe it! I was just saying good things about your husband, thinking he was a decent man, and now look! What was he thinking? Acting like the perfect husband while having a secret affairs? Pretending to be devoted to you in public, only to turn around and help his lover in private?"

Tilda's knuckles whitened as she clutched her phone, absorbing Corrine's torrent of complaints in tense silence.

"Corrine, perhaps we're not seeing the full picture here," Tilda ventured carefully.

"I wish that were true," Corrine shot back. "That's exactly why I went straight to call the director myself. But there's no room for misinterpretation here! The fact remains that Rita got the part to sing the ending song for Chasing Starlight. Let's be real—how could someone so unknown secure such a prestigious role without powerful connections?"

A knot formed in Tilda's chest as her lips pressed into a thin line, wrestling with an irritation she couldn't quite name.

Corrine made a good point.

The entertainment industry was a ruthless machine of connections and favors.

The media circus around both Rita and herself was still fresh, and everyone had witnessed Lyndon's public rejection of Rita.

Industry veterans weren't naive-such opportunities didn't materialize from thin air.

A troubling thought crept in: could her husband be secretly pulling strings for Rita?

"That's it-I'm going to the director to have Rita replaced!" Corrine's voice crackled with fury through the phone.

"Wait!" Tilda snapped back to the present. "Let me speak with Lyndon first."

Though she was still learning the depths of her husband's character, something about this didn't add up.

Lyndon wasn't one for duplicity— publicly washing his hands of Rita while covertly advancing her career.

Such behavior didn't seem like his style. Could it be that Rita's backer wasn't him? A memory suddenly crystallized in her mind.

Days ago, when Lyndon picked her up from the set, he'd received a call from Casper.

After agreeing to something, he'd instructed his assistant to contact a director regarding an audition for Casper's friend.

Through the fog of her memory, Tilda recalled the project's name—Chasing Starlight.

Her eyes flickered with sudden realization, pieces of the puzzle falling into place.

Could Casper have orchestrated this, using Lyndon's influence as leverage to pave Rita's way to the director?

"Alright, go straight to the source and hear what he has to say," Corrine suggested.

"Okay," Tilda responded, ending the call before turning to survey the room.