Page 54 of Julian's Curse

“Hey Amanda, I know you said I could take more time, but I just couldn’t stay away from work,” I walked over and settled into my chair.

Kali gave me one of those looks, the kind that silently acknowledged and celebrated my decision. The others, however, weren’t quite as empathetic.

“We’re dying to find out if it’s the popstar or the billionaire,” Misha chimed in, his tone teasing. The sight of him shifted my empowered mood, even if only slightly.

“Boys are a waste of time,” our new colleague Krystal muttered under her breath. “That’s why I date girls only even though I am bisexual.”

I was surprised by how confidently the staff gossiped in front of Amanda. She must have been in a lenient mood for this to be the case.

“Lucie, congrats on the empty article,” Dan, our new staff writer, casually drifted in. “That was amazing! It reminded me of The Blank Canvas by Salvator Garau.”

I knew what he was referring to, because thanks to my mom, I read about art often. The work was essentially anothingness—a literal blank canvas that was sold for nearly $18,000. It was a conceptual piece, and Garau insisted that the “absence” on the canvas was meant to provoke deep reflection about space, perception, and the value of art in the modern world. “What?” I shot him a puzzled look. “Not sure what you mean, Dan...” I furrowed my brows as I caught sight of Amanda’s wide grin.

Even with my creative mind, I couldn’t come up with a single plausible explanation for what he had just said. I gave Kali a glance because I knew she was the one most likely to tell me what was going on.

“Great job,” Amanda remarked with a light laugh, her steps fading as she walked away.

Kali finally saved me from the torture of not knowing. “The app we use has an automatic submission deadline. I think you missed it, and somehow, it published your opinion column as blank.”

The blood drained from my face. “Dear God. I forgot there’s no proofreader for it after me.”

“The good news is,” Kali said with a warm smile, “the moment it got out, your readers went absolutely crazy. They’re thinking it’s a statement in response to tabloids.”

“It most certainly isn’t…” I gulped.

Kali grinned, “Within just a few hours, your article had sparked over two million Instagram posts, each one featuring the hashtag #BlankStatement. On Facebook, there were over 450,000 posts tagged with your name, generating an avalanche of comments and shares. So basically, youremptyarticle had become an unintentional viral phenomenon. We now have almost 1 million more subscribers to the app.”

“Are you kidding?”

“Nope,” she pursed her lips. “I am not even going to add that the internet is upside down because now everyone knows that you’re the secret girl from Stone’s songs. I mean, I am expecting a lot more subscribers.” She gave me a remorseful glance. “There’s something good in everything bad.”

“Not what I want to hear, Kali,” I said somberly.

She glanced around to make sure Misha was gone, then leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Lucie, I had a thought—maybe your nausea is more than just the flu.”

I shook my head. “A lot of it isn’t true, Kali.”

“When it comes to your audience, they love you regardless,” she reassured me.

I paused, trying to figure out how to navigate this strange situation. “What does one even write after a statement that’s this successful?”

We both burst into laughter—something I hadn’t expected, but it felt good. Almost as quickly as it had started, though, a wave of darkness swept over me again. “Actually, I need to talk to Misha. Kali, please excuse me,” I rose from my seat anddrifting toward his desk. My mind was set, and I had just one goal now as I hurried to speak to him.

“Yeah, Lucie? Finally realizing that the two of us might have a chance?” Misha quipped, raising his eyebrows in mock suggestion. I ignored his salacious remark.

“You know something about Jessica,” I said, my tone sharp. “With Sophie missing, tell me everything. And don’t even think for a second that Julian is going to take a picture with you. This is not a trade. It’s human decency at this point.”

He suddenly looked frightened. “Lucie, I already spoke with the security guard, Oliver. By the way, he seems like a badass. All I know is that Jess plotted revenge.”

“How do you know this?” I asked, my eyebrows furrowing threateningly.

“I overheard a phone conversation,” he replied with fear in his eyes. “I’m not sure who she was talking to, but it sounded like a dude. She told him that she’d planned to get back at Sophie for what happened to her career.”

“When was this? Place and time?”

“The day she got fired. I was leavingApogeefor lunchbreak, and heard her have this conversation in the lobby.”

“Is there anything else you heard?”

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