Rhia anxiously paced back and forth, her eyes cutting to her reflection in the glass windows across from her. She looked haggard, her eyes heavy with the bags under them behind her square-framed glasses, her skin ashen and unhealthily flushed, her clothes hanging off her frame making her look more than ever like an awkward teenager. When she was pale like this, she almost couldn’t see the paler splotches that marred her skin, but her vitiligo was always apparent from the streaks of white in her black hair that started at her hairline and flashed down to the ends of her shaggy wolf cut. Well, it was supposed to be a wolf cut, but the woman who cut her hair had messed it up and it looked more like a crooked mullet, except there was no party to be had.

  Rhia’s eyes flickered restlessly around the office she was currently trapped in, waiting for Avery to get done with whatever meeting he was having so she could plan her next move. Milly’s video could easily be detrimental to her work- both the IT job she had, and her streaming job. She had too many subscribers to hope that they all would ignore Milly’s claims, and she was bound to lose a few. It was likely Milly’s plan. Rhia hadn’t picked up her phone calls or answered her messages, so Milly was going to get her revenge in whatever way she could, even if that meant ruining Rhia’s life more than she already had.

  “Rhia!” She turned to see Avery walking quickly to her, his blond hair swept back from his handsome face as his green eyes traced over her worriedly. Avery was tall, cute, and had a charming grin that always put her at ease. He power walked to her side and grabbed her shoulders with both hands, easing them down her arms to her hands, which he then squeezed. “Oh, sweetie. You look awful.”

  Rhia fought to not twitch under his touch and laughed hollowly. “I got accosted four times on my way here. Milly leaked photos of me.”

  Wincing, Avery let go of her hands to place one on her back and guide her into his office. He shut the door behind them and gently nudged her to one of the chairs in front of his desk. His office was wide and airy, with a broad window that looked down to the city streets below that were teeming with people going about their day. Circling his desk, Avery unbuttoned his tan suit jacket and sat. He gave her a small, pitying smile as he leaned to press a button on his work phone. A moment later, a squawk answered him and he spoke into the intercom on his phone.

  “Stephanie, can you please bring me two coffees, both with a lot of creamer and sugar. Also, order a chimichanga meal from Pollo Taco with some mango habanero salsa on the side, please.”

  “Of course, Mr. Sykes,” a pleasant female voice answered. Avery released the button and settled back in his chair to eye Rhia.

  “So, how do you want to handle this, Rhia?” he asked, folding his hands over his stomach as he reclined slightly. “We can go scorched earth here, and sue her for defamation. A cease and desist letter at the very least.”

  Rhia shook her head and gnawed at her thumbnail that was already bitten down to the quick. “I don’t know. I can’t figure out what I want. Part of me wants to burn it all down but another part of me doesn’t want to hurt her. She put a lot of work into her channel.”

  Avery eyed her silently for a few moments before he reached over to a drawer in his desk and pulled out a manila folder. He placed it carefully on his desk and slid it over to her. “No, she didn’t, Rhia. You did. She barely had ten thousand subscribers before you met and, after you met and announced you were dating, her subscriber numbers shot up.” He opened the folder to show screenshots and graphs, papers that Rhia’s eyes moved over restlessly. “The top search regarding the two of you during the month you started dating was ‘RhiaPlaysGames new girlfriend’. It had nothing to do with Milly’s talent, or lack thereof.” He said the last part in a dry tone.

  There was a gentle rap on Avery’s office door and Stephanie, his secretary, balanced two coffees as she quickly pushed the door open. Stephanie was a pretty woman, petite and curvy, with a curled blond bob that bounced as she moved. She was wearing a dark blue sheath dress and heels that she expertly balanced on as she placed the coffees down on the desk. Her red lips curled into a smile.

  “Hello, Rhia,” she said gently, her blue eyes softening as she looked down at her. “I made the coffees just like you like, and your food will be here soon.”

  “Hey, Steph,” Rhia mumbled, her face growing warm under the other woman’s gaze. “You look pretty today.”

  “Thank you, dear.” Stephanie turned to Avery with a raised brow but he shook his head and motioned for the door. With another smile at Rhia, Stephanie sailed out just as quickly as she came.

  Suddenly looking stern, Avery pointed to the two cups of coffee. “Drink that. You look like you’re apart to pass out. When was the last time you ate?”

  Rhia picked up one of the cups and sighed as the warmth sank into her hand. Taking a sip, she squinted as she tried to think back when she had eaten. She remembered the bowl of ramen right before she had started streaming and had seen Milly’s video.

  “Hmm,” she swallowed the mouthful of sugary coffee, feeling it sink into her with relief. “Two days ago?”

  Avery scowled harder and opened his mouth to berate her but, before he could, there was another knock and the door opened to show a baffled, middle-aged man wearing a suit and holding a bag of food in one hand and a suitcase in the other.

  “Roger, there you are!”

  Roger Lyons, Rhia’s lawyer, stepped into the office and kicked the door shut behind him. Moving quickly, he plonked the takeout bag in front of Rhia and sat in the chair beside her.

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  “What did I miss?” He scraped a hand through his short dark hair, making it stick up in weird clumps. Roger was nearly as skinny as Rhia, but usually had an air of confidence that she had always lacked. He was one of the few people she didn’t mind being around and, because he had two daughters her age, he treated her like she was his kid, even though she was twenty-seven. His eyes flicked back to Rhia. “Eat.”

  She wordlessly pulled the food to her and opened the bag, ignoring the two men while they caught up on the situation. Pollo Taco was her favorite place to get food from the rare times she bothered eating out, and she had always favored the massive cheese-coated chimichanga they sold. With the food in front of her, Rhia’s anxiety abated enough for her to realize she was actually starving. She had wolfed down half the chimichanga when she looked up to see the two men watching her carefully.

  “What?”

  Avery exchanged a loaded look with Roger. “Did you keep screenshots of the texts?”

  Rhia nodded and inclined her head to his computer. “I emailed them to you.”

  “Good. We’re going to release them.” He turned to his desktop and went to his email where he opened it and began reading through the countless texts Milly had sent her. His face blanched and his eyes widened, then he looked back at Rhia. “These…are something….”

  Rhia just nodded again and crammed another giant bite of chimichanga into her mouth, ignoring the greasy cheese drop that would probably stain the gray shirt she was wearing. Roger stood and walked around the desk to read the texts over Avery’s shoulder and silence fell as they read through the threats and insults Milly had sent over the past month, promising to ruin Rhia. While they read, Rhia polished off the last of the chimichanga, tackled the accompanied beans and rice, and sat back to munch on the two bags of chips included with the meal.

  The two men apparently had enough because they both wordlessly moved away from the screen, Roger returning to his seat. Silence fell as they all contemplated the nastiness of the messages.

  Sighing, Rhia sat back and rubbed her full stomach. “Thanks, Avery.”

  He grunted and moved to throw her trash away, depositing it into a garbage can below his desk. “I think we should release the texts and go for a defamation case.”

  Roger nodded and put his briefcase on the desk, but Rhia waved her hand. “I agree, but I also released a video. I probably should have waited for your approval and for you to view it, but I just needed to defend myself somehow.”

  Avery slumped and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. With a long sigh, he turned back to his computer and pulled up her channel where her latest video sat at the very top, with millions of views and thousands of comments. She had posted it the same night she had watched Milly’s video. It wasn’t very long, just twenty minutes, lacking any of the embellishments she would usually edit into her videos. It was the first video in which she had ever shown her real self on screen, her vitiligo glowing brightly for the world to see, as she emotionlessly read text after text after text, periodically showing the camera that they were from Milly and that she hadn’t added anything to the words that she was saying. Then she played the voicemails where the unmistakable sound of Milly’s voice could be heard cursing her and degrading her. The viewers had gone wild, especially those that were LGBTQ, when Milly had loudly declared she had just pretended to be bisexual and that Rhia was lucky to ever get her for a girlfriend. Some comments were nasty, bashing Rhia for exposing Milly like that, some calling her phobic against straight people, which was the stupidest thing she had ever heard.

  “Release the texts and voicemails,” Rhia said as she stood, unable to deal with all of the trouble any longer. “I’m fine moving on with the defamation case as well.” Listening to all of the horrid things the woman she loved had said had Rhia hardening against her usual passiveness. Milly had stomped on her heart.

  Roger and Avery both stood, following her out of Avery’s office and back to the hallway outside of it. There were two other offices on this floor, situated on a landing with set of stairs, a desk that Stephanie sat behind, a sitting area, and a glass railing that overlooked a fifty foot drop to the lobby below. The walls of the building were all made of towering windows so Rhia could see out to the street beyond from where she stood, and could also see the pink-clad figure with pastel pink hair marching through the door.

  “Oh, no,” she groaned. Avery was at her side in an instant and they watched as Milly burst into the lobby door and started shrieking at the security guard that stood there denying her entry. Even from where she stood, Rhia saw the exact moment Milly saw her and the look of pure rage and hatred that distorted Milly’s face made her blood freeze in her veins.

  “RHIANNON, YOU FUCKING BITCH!”

  Milly threw herself past the security guard and flew across the lobby, storming up the stairs until she stood face to face with Rhia, her chest heaving as she panted in fury. Rhia stumbled back, bumping into Roger who cursed and dropped his briefcase to keep her from falling to the floor. Avery tried to step in front of Rhia but Milly shoved him out of the way with a feral growl. “Move, Avery!”

  Pointing a sharp pink fingernail at Rhia, Milly bared her teeth. “I can’t believe you would make a video about me! How dare you?!”

  Anger reared its head and Rhia pushed away from Roger. “How dare you?!” she retorted back, knocking Milly’s hand away and glowering back down at her. “You started this!”

  Milly shrieked and turned, slamming her foot into one of the glass panels guarding the edge of the platform. “You ruined EVERYTHING! I lost THOUSANDS. OF. FOLLOWERS!” With every word, she kicked at the panel and Rhia swore she heard an alarming cracking noise and saw the silver flash of a bolt break.

  “Milly, be careful-”

  Milly rounded on her, her face bright red. “Shut up! I’m sick of you always telling me what to do! Always ‘Milly, be safe’, ‘Milly, are you okay’. You ruined everything, Rhia, like you always do! You’re a waste of breath and so fucking gloomy it drives me crazy!” She slammed her foot into the glass again for good measure and Rhia flinched, her anger fleeing in the wake of Milly’s harsh words.

  Leveling an insidious, disgusted look on Rhia, Milly kicked the glass again. “I hate you. I wish you would just die-”

  With a pop and a sound like rain falling, the glass under Milly’s white boot shattered and she was falling, tilting forward into open space. Time slowed and, before she knew it, Rhia was moving. With a strangled cry, she grabbed Milly’s arm but the momentum twisted her, sending Milly swinging back towards Avery and Rhia over the edge of the platform. Avery and Roger stood frozen, watching as she went over, and Milly screamed shrilly, but it was too late. Rhia was falling. Her last thought was that, in this, Milly had gotten her wish. Then time seemed to speed up and her body thudded into the cold marble floor below. There was a brief flash of blinding agony before everything went dark and Rhia’s heart stopped beating.