The man nced at Vivian and asked, "Seriously? He ditched you to dance with other women, and you''re not even a little mad?"

Vivian yed along with a smirk. "Not at all."

"Alright, alright." He took the hint and walked away, not wanting to embarrass himself further.

Leon immediately dropped his arm from around her shoulders. "So? How was my performance?"

Vivian covered her mouth to stifle augh. "If you hadn''t said it was acting, I might''ve believed it."

Leon''s smile faded. "If it were Sarah... I think I''d y it even better."

Vivian''s expression darkened. "Of course. Everything alwayses back to Sarah."

The next morning, Wilson Corp released their own announcement: they would be hosting a gourmet Christmas festival and a celebrity concert.

Almost immediately, guests who hadn''t been able to book a room at Pine Mist Ind started turning to Harbour Crescent instead. Both resorts suddenly became the hottest destinations in town.

At the Sanders household, Sarah and Melvin were eating breakfast when they saw the news.

"Well, I didn''t expect Vivian to react this fast," Sarah said, raising an eyebrow. "She already came up with a counter."

Melvin''s tone was cold. "That was Leon''s idea. It''s based on one of Country H''s signature tourism events."

Sarah sipped her coffee and asked, "Melvin, those contracts I asked you to lock in with the celebrities-you got them all signed, right?"

Melvin nodded firmly. "Everyst one. Not a single name left out."

"Good. That means Wilson Corp can''t find anyone with real star power now."

When Sarah hade up with the idea for the Christmas g, she had already anticipated the celebritypetition. Every artist invited to Pine Mist Ind''s event had signed a binding agreement: any breach would cost them twenty times the original fee in penalties. On top of that, each celebrity automatically became a brand ambassador for Pine Mist Ind Resort-making them ineligible to endorse or appear at any otherpeting resort.

That single movepletely blocked Wilson Corp''s strategy.

Four hours after the Wilson announcement went live, Vivian finally realized something was wrong.

Her assistant walked into the office hesitantly, voice low and cautious. "Ms. Wilson... I..."

Without looking up from her paperwork, Vivian signed a document and cut him off. "Stop wasting time. Just say it."

The assistant took a breath. "We reached out to every celebrity you listed

yesterday. But... they''ve all already signed with Sanders Group."

"What?" Vivian''s brow furrowed. She hadn''t expected Sarah to move this quickly.

In less than a day, every key celebrity had already signed.

"Can we poach any of them?"

The assistant''s expression turned grim. "Highly unlikely. I reviewed one of the contract copies. The breach penalty is twenty times the

appearance fee. No one''s chfnd32e Original content can be found at find~novel/fnd32e

risk it. Even if we paid the penalty, it would cost way more than our entire promo budget."  s

Vivian took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm. "What about other entertainmentpanies?"

He hesitated again. "Ma''am, it''s Christmas. Most celebrities already have gigs lined tha. The few who are free don''t really have much following."  s

"You''re saying we can get people-but none of them have real pull?" Her jaw tightened.

"...Yes," he admitted, reluctant. "We could still book a few names, but their poprity won''t help uspete."

"Keep trying," Vivian said through gritted teeth. "Reach out to other agencies.

Offer more if you have to. Just get whoever you can."

She couldn''t afford another failure This task had been personally assigned by her grandfather-ishe screwed it up, she wasn''t sure if he''d ever give her another chance.  s

The assistant nodded, face tense. He understood how much this meant.

By the end of the day, after endless calls and a significantly raised budget, Wilson Corp finally secured a lineup.

But when Vivian saw the final list of performers, her face fell.

It wasn''t enough.

Not even close.