"Aria, honey?" Her mother stuck her head through the doorway to Aria’s childhood bedroom. "Are you awake yet? Steele is here."

Aria had been awake for hours. Actually, she'd never slept. She'd laid in bed all night trying to process how her life had fallen apart so easily in the last twenty-four hours. Her apartment was still surrounded by paparazzi, so she’d had no choice but to seek refuge at her parent’s house which, thankfully, was in a gated community. In her childhood bed. Like a sulking teenager again.

It was pathetic. She was pathetic.

Every major entertainment news site had run with the story accompanied by her photographs by the time she’d woken up on Sunday, and she had no doubt it would still be a hot topic today. People picked apart her appearance, her personality, her promiscuity, her sexuality, and her career. They all had an opinion about her, like she was a commodity they could trade rumors for dollars.

Her mother and sisters had tried to help her all day yesterday with damage control. Releasing a statement that the photos were a hack and without her permission. Police report filed and statement given. She'd even gone to Russell's house to punch him, but Ben had beat her to it. And then, of course, she'd found out about Ben’s involvement. That the man she loved had released her nude photos to the public…for what? Ticket sales? Box office ratings?

Talk about a gut punch.

She’d thought she knew Ben. She'd never felt so strongly about a man before—that intensity, that passion, that confidence that he…fit. But, the reality was she barely knew him. Truthfully, they'd just spent a quick frenzy of long, wonderful days wrapped around each other in bed with even longer periods of absence between.

Once again, she'd trusted the wrong man. It was starting to become a pattern about herself she didn't like. This wasn’t who she thought she'd be. This wasn't who she'd ever wanted to be. Her mother was one of the strongest women she knew, and she'd raised all her daughters to be independent self-starters.

She hadn't raised her to lose everything because of a man. Twice.

"Aria?" Steele's voice finally got her to turn around. "Are you doing okay?"

Aria sat up on the bed, rubbing her eyes. "No. Not even a little."

"Do you want me to cancel the audition today?" Her mother asked from the doorway, looking as tired as Aria felt. She wondered if her mother had been awake all night too, and guessed she probably had.

"There's no way they’re going to hire me." Aria sighed, shaking her head. "They won't want someone with such bad press."

"Are you kidding?" Steele scoffed. "You're the best. They're going to want you because of your talent. Everyone has...um, skeletons in their closet. This is Hollywood. You haven't made it until you've got a sex tape."

Aria chuckled a little at that. "Please, God, let there not be a tape."

"If there is, I'll personally strangle his skinny little neck," Steele assured her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"I think Steele's right. You should do the audition," her mother added. "And I'm not saying this as your manager. I'm saying this as your mother. This man...he took something from you. If we lie down and let him, he'll take everything. Go to the audition. Take your power back, baby girl. Show the world this won't break you."

Aria stared at her mother, feeling a small surge of confidence from the way she spoke.

Steele bobbed her head, waving her arms in the air emphatically. "Preach, Mama Reynolds. Fucking preach!"

Her mother laughed. "I'm going to head downstairs and set up the dining room table for you to use as a makeup station, Steele."

"Thanks," Steele replied, then turned to Aria. "You hop in the shower, okay? Then meet me downstairs? Your mother made these delicious egg bite things, and I swear to God if you don't hurry, I'm going to eat them all."

Aria smiled, nodding. "I'll be down in a few."

Alone, Aria headed for the shower, shedding her clothes along the way and leaving them wherever they fell. The warm water beat down on her head and back, and she took a moment just to feel it. Just to embrace the soothing massage of its pressure on her skin.

Tears slid down her cheeks, and she let them come. She let them mix with the shower water and fall to the tile floor, disappearing down the drain and taking her pain with it.

When she stepped from the shower and wrapped a towel around her head, she paused in front of the full-length mirror.

Nude.

Until yesterday, she'd never felt much self-consciousness about her naked body. As a teenager, she'd gone through her phases, but once she'd reached adulthood, she'd embraced who she was.

She'd had to. Being an actress was cutthroat. Every audition, every fitting—it could destroy her self-esteem if she let it. And until yesterday…she hadn’t let it. There were so many comments online following the leak of her nude photos, each more brutal than the next.

She must wear padded bras. Tiny tit bitch.

Boob job! Stat!

Aria brushed her hands over her breasts, cupping them and feeling their weight. They weren't tiny, but they weren't huge either. This wasn't the first time someone had poked fun of them—mainly Russell came to mind. He’d loved to remind her of everything she…lacked.

Aren't actresses supposed to have personal trainers? Someone teach this cunt how to do some crunches.

She'd grown to love the swell of her small breasts, and the roundness of her belly that was just a few pounds shy of flat. Her hands slid across her belly, smooth and dewy from her shower.

I’d bite the fuck out of that giant ass! I bet she can make those hips move!

Fat ass. Lay off the donuts, slut.

Bet that cunt loves getting it in the ass. I’d throw her a pity fuck if she begs me.

Aria's hands passed over her hips, and then her bottom. She loved her wide hips and voluptuous backside. They were natural, healthy, and normal. She was a far cry from overweight, and she didn't want those comments to get to her, but...

No. She wasn't going to let internet trolls ruin the self-esteem she'd spent a lifetime building. She wasn’t going to let the crass things men said about her touch her.

But that was the easy part.

As a woman, she’d been raised her whole life to ward off men’s advances and build her shield against predators. More than half the comments she’d read attacking her…they were from women.

And she didn’t have shields for the betrayal of her own gender yet. She’d never needed them before.

Friendships with women had always come easy for her, and she was a big believer in the power of sisterhood since she came from a tight-knit family of women. But, if she could believe the online commentary, it felt as if her entire gender had turned on her just as much—if not more.

Repeating her mother's words in her head, Aria decided she wasn't going to let those photos—or Russell, or the press, or Ben, or anyone in those awful online comments—tell her who she was or judge her body. She refused to be broken by their collective betrayal.

She knew who she was.

She was going to go into that audition just like she would have before any of this happened. She was going to ace it and get the role. She was going to prove that she was above one damn scandal. She was going to prove that she was the best for the part—that simple.

So that's how she got the part. She sucked his dick!

No talent hack. Has to fuck her way into a movie. Pathetic!

Stick to porn. You suck at acting.

This is why no one takes us women seriously. Stop using your body to get what you want and grow some brain cells. Or better yet—talent!

Aria swallowed, trying to push the nerves in her stomach away. She could do this, right? She could rise above those words. She...wasn't so sure.

Damn it.

She wished it was as easy as her mother made it sound. That she could just hold her head up high and forget the things they'd called her, the assumptions they'd made, the pictures he'd spread.

It simply wasn't that easy.

"Aria, you coming?" Steele called from somewhere downstairs.

Aria pulled on a silk robe and let her hair out of the towel. "Coming."

"Hey, honey bunny," her father greeted her as she reached the bottom of the stairs. He was propped up in a recliner in front of the television in the living room, mostly immobile because of multiple sclerosis these days. Never dampened his spirits, though. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired." She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

He chuckled. "Well, it's like five in the morning."

"I know. Gotta prep for this audition, but what are you doing up?" She refilled his glass of water for him and brought it back to the small stand next to his chair.

"Oh, you know your mother. Neither of us could sleep a wink last night thinking about..."

Aria sat on the edge of the coffee table, facing her father. "Dad, I'm so sorry. I'm...God, I'm horrified at what you must think of me."

Her father's face scrunched up and he sighed. "Aria, I haven't seen the photos or anything. God knows I wouldn't want to, and I made your mother promise to hide any of that from me."

"Good!" Aria was relieved to at least know that much.

"But...knowing they are out there? None of that makes me think any less of you, Aria. There were two people in that room—the blame for what occurred between you two is not yours to carry alone."

She swallowed, sniffing lightly. "I know, but you should see the things they're saying, Daddy. All of it is...she's a slut, he's a playboy."

"Fuck that shit." Her dad tossed his arm up in the air with a dramatic flair. "Fuck all of them. Nothing wrong with what you did. Now, what he did? First, taking the photos and then releasing them? Downright criminal, and I hope he rots in prison, because I swear to God if he doesn't I'll kill him my damn self."

Aria laughed and moved to give her father a hug. "Thank you, Daddy."

He hugged her back, gently ruffling her hair with his hand. "I love you, baby girl. No matter what. Nothing can ever change that."

"Aria, you ready?" Steele popped her head into the living room. "Oh, shit. Am I ruining a moment? Go back to your moment."

Aria and her father both laughed.

"Go get ready for that audition," he told her. "You're going to kill it."

"Thanks, Daddy." Aria followed Steele into the dining room which was entirely covered in hair and makeup accessories, along with a rack of clothes against the wall. "Holy crap, Steele."

"I know. I brought everything. Made Xavier carry it all in here for me, too." She ran her hands across the row of clothes. "He's out getting us all some coffee and donuts."

"No donuts for me." Aria quickly shook her hands in front of her body, then patted her stomach. "I really should drop a few pounds."

Steele huffed and took a step back. "Aria, I swear on every tattoo on my goddamn body that if you let those internet troll comments get in your head, I will slap you silly."

Warmth rushed to Aria’s face as she took a seat at the table facing her friend. "Okay, okay. Maybe half a donut."

"You're going to eat an entire goddamn donut with extra icing and you're going to fucking like it," Steele threatened, pointing a giant makeup brush at her. "Now, close your eyes because I'm about to prime the fuck out of those glorious cheekbones."

Aria laughed, already feeling a million times better than she'd felt all day yesterday. Good friends and family...she was beginning to realize that that was all that really mattered in this world.

Ben. Russell. Every man who'd hurt her. Every woman who’d looked down on her. She didn't need them. She didn't want them, and damn it, she'd be just fine without them.

At least, that was what she was going to tell herself today.

Today, she was focusing on the audition, and nothing else. This wouldn't be the moment her career ended. Russell wouldn't be the one who'd take it all from her.

She'd earned every moment of her career, and if she was going down, she was going down fighting.