“I can’t confirm that, however,” he quickly added. “But that’s what it appeared to be.”
“I did hear from one of my sources that Amayah was seen meeting with a real estate agent last week.”
His breath caught. “What? You didn’t tell me that.”
“I was getting around to it. I wanted to see what you could dig up first.” She paused. “Follow this lead, Luke. This might be just what we’re looking for. Don’t let me down. Don’t letHannahdown.”
His jaw tightened when he heard Hannah’s name again. “I won’t.”
The call ended, but his editor’s words continued to echo in his mind.
He and Linda had talked ad nauseum about the importance of this article that would bring down an influencer who did more harm than good.
Influencer culture created significant psychological and ethical risks for those following. Curated, filtered images and carefully crafted personas encouraged followers—especially young people—to compare themselves to unrealistic standards, leading to body dissatisfaction, lowered self-esteem, anxiety, and even disordered eating.
Other influencers promoted misinformation or harmful products, lacking expertise and endorsing everything from extreme diets to unproven supplements, which could have real physical and financial consequences for their audiences.
Some parent influencers even exploited their children’s privacy in order to gain views. It was disgusting.
Together, these issues fostered a culture of comparison and materialism, while encouraging overspending, envy, and a longing for unattainable lifestyles built more on performance than reality.
Someone needed to pull back the curtain. To call out the performance. To remind the world that compassion wasn’t the same as content.
And Luke was determined to be the one to do it.
For Hannah’s sake.
Hannah Roberts had been pure sunlight when she first walked into the newsroom as a rookie reporter—a little nervous, a little idealistic, but sharp and hungry to do work that mattered. Luke liked her immediately. Everyone did.
Then Hannah discovered influencer Celeste Rayne. Celeste with her ocean-blue feeds and glossy videos about “livingbrave,” “breaking free,” “becoming the most fearless version of yourself.”
At first, it felt like Hannah was simply inspired by Celeste’s videos. But the changes came fast—too fast.
Suddenly, Hannah had new clothes—purchased with affiliate links from Celeste’s websites. She even changed the way she spoke, almost as if she was imitating Celeste’s pattern of speaking. She stopped asking questions and started repeating Celeste’s mantras like gospel.
Several people at the newspaper had encouraged Hannah to take some time away from watching Celeste. But it turned out that Celeste had decided to personally mentor Hannah. Hannah wanted to grow a social media empire just like Celeste’s.
As part of this mentoring, Hannah was taking pictures to show her “best life.” She tried to take a ridiculous “edge-of-the-world” photo—one with her arms lifted toward the sky as she stood on a narrow rock ledge slick with winter ice.
She’d fallen and died as a result.
Luke had assumed Hannah would eventually come to her senses. Instead, she’d gone to the edge.
And then it was too late.
He glanced once more at Amayah’s video before locking the screen.
A new determination hardened inside him.
He couldn’t let selfish influencers hurt innocent, moldable people.
And Amayah just might be one of those influencers who presented a false narrative. Who encouraged her fans to make risky choices in the name of faith. To put themselves in dangerous situations because they’d been called to do so.
If she was exploiting her viewers, Luke needed to find out.
He couldn’t believe someone with her kind of success was living the way she was. No, he’d bet anything she secretly had abig house on the water where she escaped on weekends. Maybe this current house—her current lifestyle—was all just for show.
It was easy to be fooled by her, to be drawn in by her sweet smile. Even Luke found himself forgetting his purpose when he was around her, and that worried him.
