Press publish.
Then I close my laptop, silence my phone, and wait for the world to catch fire.
Because I'm done being strategic. Done calculating angles and managing optics and trying to predict how every word will land.
I'm just done.
Whatever comes next—support or backlash, vindication or further destruction—I'll face it alone. The way I've faced everything else that mattered.
The video posts at 6 PM. By 6:02, the first comments appear. By 6:05, it's being shared. By 6:10, my phone won't stop buzzing despite being silenced.
I don't look. Can't look.
Instead, I sit in my darkening apartment and think about Korgan's hands on my waist, his voice in my ear, the way he said my name like it meant something.
And I wait.
For the internet to decide my fate, for Korgan to break his silence, for the next disaster to hit.
I wait, and for the first time in days, I feel something other than fear.
I feel ready.
CHAPTER 12
KORGAN
The proof arrives in a grease-stained envelope slid under my door at four in the morning.
I know it's four because I'm awake. Have been for hours. Staring at my phone where Trinity's video plays on loop, her voice steady and fierce and completely alone.
I don't need you to save me.
The envelope contains a thumb drive and a note in cramped handwriting:Thought you'd want this before they scrub the servers. You're welcome. —Tech Guy You Intimidated (Worth It)
I plug the drive into the laptop the producers insisted I keep for "social media presence." Pull up files labeled with clinical efficiency:HotH_S4_EditLog_Trinity_Scandal.mov,SMS_Composite_Script_v3.doc,Agent_Carlisle_Production_Email_Thread.pdf.
My hands don't shake. Orc training—assess the battlefield before reacting.
The video file opens first. Split-screen footage shows Trinity in the confession booth across multiple sessions, time stamps in the corner. On the left, her actual words. On the right, the edited version that leaked.
Real Trinity: "I came here thinking it would be good publicity. I wanted the platform."
Cut.
Edited Trinity: "I wanted the platform."
Real Trinity: "But I didn't expect to actually fall for someone. That wasn't part of any calculation."
Cut.
Edited Trinity: "I came here for publicity. That was the calculation."
They butchered her. Took truth and carved it into lies with the precision of a surgeon removing organs.
The email thread is worse. Agent Carlisle, represents Melissa, the contestant who's been positioning herself as theauthentichuman alternative, coordinating with Associate Producer Hammond to "maximize Trinity narrative collapse for Melissa positioning advantage."
One email, dated three days ago:Trinity's too likable. We need her unsympathetic before finale. Orc angle is perfect, plays into existing stereotypes about opportunistic women using monster relationships for attention.
