CHAPTER 30: CHAPTER-30. (LITTLE GOSSIP DIGGER).

My fingers continued to type on the keyboard before I pushed Enter.

It took three seconds for everything to display on the screen.

The search results were flooded with articles, gossip blogs, and half-baked forum threads written by people who either knew too much or absolutely nothing.

I started clicking through, half-expecting to find the usual industry dirt...contract disputes, bitter ex-clients, shady financial dealings.

And yes, all of that was there, scattered like breadcrumbs. But what caught my attention was how polarizing the stories were.

For every scandalous headline claiming Silver Fox ruined careers, there was another swearing they had rescued them.

One actor accused them of manipulation so subtle it took years to notice.

Another called them their saviour, the only agency that had truly understood their vision. It was... unsettling, like staring at a painting that shifts every time you blink.

Some names I recognised...rising stars who had seemingly come out of nowhere, each with that signature Silver Fox shine: daring roles, bold PR moves, the kind of reinventions that made headlines overnight.

And then there were the ones who’d vanished. No official statements. No scandal. Just... gone.

The deeper I dug, the stranger it felt. There was a pattern, but I couldn’t quite trace it...like a melody I almost recognised but couldn’t place.

Half an hour in, I realised I was hunched over the screen, eyes burning, tea long gone cold beside me, which Linda had made for me herself.

I sat back, rubbing my temples. The rational thing to do would be to close the laptop, get some sleep, and deal with it in the morning.

Instead, I clicked back to my inbox. The email was still open, waiting, patient.

The cursor hovered over the reply button, and for a dangerous second, I imagined typing a simple: Let’s talk.

But my gut tugged me back. Not yet. Not until I knew exactly which side of the Silver Fox story I’d be stepping into—the saviour’s tale or the vanishing act.

And God help me, I needed to know before I made a single move. The moment the thought came into my mind, my phone started ringing.

"Hey bestie, how’s your experience living with your soon-to-be ex-husband?" I rolled my eyes, hearing her sarcastic comment.

In the past week, I got much less opportunity to connect with her.

While I was busy with Dave, she, too, was busy with reporting work. Right, our Ms. Little Gossip Digger is a journalist at a high-end news channel.

Her literal job was to dig dirt on famous people, including politicians, businessmen, and of course, celebrities.

This was also the reason why she joined all the crazy fan groups. This is one of the easiest hotspots for getting some tea. Sometimes a hot one.

She was good at what she did, but her normal background became a speedbreaker in her growth.

While her colleagues kept climbing the ladder using their powerful background, she kept juggling to even survive in the food chain.

I tried to get her some help through my connections, but she refused.

Her exact words were, ’If I use your connections, then there will be no difference between me and those little vultures circling for scraps, waiting to pounce on whatever falls from someone else’s plate."

I stifled a laugh, recalling the face she made while saying those words when this time, in her real voice, landed in my ears.

"Hello? Is your devilishly handsome demon still around?" I bit my lips, not able to stop my lips from curving into a smile.

When this time I did not respond to her, she again repeated the rant of ’hello-hello’.

"You can stop blabbering, and no, he is not here," I finally replied.

She took a dramatic sigh from the other side as she spoke, "Uff, that was a close call because I ain’t in the mood to listen to your banter about him."

I lay comfortably on my bed while I rolled my eyes at her tone, and asked, "Well, then, why did you call me this late at night?" I rolled over onto my stomach, flipping my hair behind.

Caroline never called this late at night except if she had something to talk about that she could not keep in.

She took a pause. A long one.

"Caroline." I spelled her name slowly as suspicion started to creep over my thoughts.

Several theories started to weave in my brain.

Before my overthinking mind could come to any conclusion, her voice came from the other side, "Nothing interesting. Tell me about your day."

My brows furrowed, not convinced by her off tone. I was too bad at hiding my emotions, but I got the skill to tell if something’s wrong.

"Uh-huh," I said slowly, drawing the sound out so she knew I wasn’t buying it. "My day was fine, thanks for asking. Now, tell me what you’re actually hiding."

"I’m not hiding anything," she replied a little too quickly.

I smirked to myself. Classic rookie mistake.

Caroline could keep secrets from the world, sure, but not from me.

"You know your voice goes up an octave when you lie, right?" I asked, flipping onto my back and staring at the ceiling. "You sound like you just inhaled helium."

She groaned. "God, you’re annoying."

"And you’re avoiding," I shot back without missing a beat.

There was another pause, longer this time, like she was deciding whether to come clean or hang up.

I could almost hear her chewing her lip, the way she always did when she was debating if the truth was worth the trouble.

She sighed.

"I cannot tell you now..."

Okay now.

Those were never the words you wanted to hear at midnight. I wanted to ask her. Wanted her to spit out everything, but I cared about her boundary.

And clearly knowing that she would swallow a whole cactus but would not spill out even a word from her mouth.

I took a deep breath and at last said, "Okay, but promise me if you get in any trouble, you will call me immediately."

"Okay, you will be the first one to know." Her cheerful tone came back which made me shook my head at how impossible she could be.