The American Elite (COTE X OC)

Burning Bridges

THIRD PERSON POV:

As Jack finishes his game of Capture The Flag at the ANHS sports festival, a woman sits in a makeup chair inside the penthouse hotel room of the nicest hotel in Japan. Her makeup artist is getting her makeup ready. The woman stares down at her phone as the TV hums quietly in the background.

Makeup Artist: Okay, we're all set...

Ms. Bridges.

The woman who was staring at her phone looked up and smiled at her makeup artist. The woman had recently gone with a new hairstyle, having cut her hair to about shoulder length. Even with no makeup, she was the picture of beauty.

"Thank you, Jessica, and I told you please...

Call me Victoria."

Victoria Bridges is one of the most famous women in the world. Her beauty and charm are widely recognized throughout the globe. She is an incredible actress, a once-in-a-generation beauty, and someone with seemingly endless amounts of kindness. However, this woman harbors a deep and dark secret.

If this secret came out, her career, and her life would be over. No one but her knew this secret. Not even her closest friends and confidants. Even during the time a rumor had surfaced that she had a child and covered it up, she lied even to her lawyers.

Her secret, is a son. A son she had almost 17 years ago now. These days she rarely thinks about him. He will sometimes enter her thoughts in passing, but she never lingers on thoughts of him for too long.

You may be wondering, how did it turn out this way? If Victoria abandoned her son and never even thought about him, why did she have him in the first place? Well... A nearly identical face isn't the only thing mother and son share.

Victoria and Jack are both unique in their ability to light a passion inside of them that cannot be put out. However, this passion can turn... Toxic.

Such a strong passion mixed with an unfortunate childhood where no love or recognition was ever given, is a dangerous mixture. We all know how Jack's passion became toxic. His deep-rooted feeling that he isn't worthy of love, making him feel like he needs to prove himself and crush everyone in soccer. Luckily for him, he had a best friend and more friends down the line that pulled him from that dark place. And saved him from the depths of his own darkness.

But what about Victoria? How did she come to be like this? A woman who would abandon her child for a chance to become an actress. Remember, she left Jack when she had an audition opportunity, not a casting or a guaranteed role, just an audition. How did she become a woman who would leave her child, even though there was a chance she didn't get the part?

To understand that... We must go back... Back to her childhood.

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Victoria grew up in suburban New York City, meaning she was well off. Even as a child, she was seen as the pinnacle of beauty. All the boys in her school had a crush on her, but that made all the girls hate her.

Her beauty was both a blessing and a curse. She was ruthlessly bullied throughout her school days by girls who were jealous of her. She began to hate her beauty, and herself. She hated herself so much, that she started desiring to be someone else. Which is how her passion for acting began.

At the beginning of high school, she joined the drama club and theater club, as well as begging her parents to let her take acting classes. Her parents eventually relented, thinking it may be a good outlet for her.

From there her acting skills steadily improved over her high school years. She was the lead in several school plays and was impressing her own instructors in her acting classes. Finally getting recognition from people would seem like a good thing... But in this case, it sparked something else...