CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

Lila Warwick checked the mirror one more time.

Satisfied that her dark hair perfectly framed her face and that her hazel eyes popped nicely, she looked at the time. It was 7:08.

She reminded herself that she was a smart, sophisticated, sexy bitch as she turned on the ring light, adjusted the angle of her phone camera, and prepared to start the livestream. They always began at 7:09 p.m., to match her birthday, July 9 th .

It was a little cheesy, but she didn't care. And it had taken off with her followers. Most nights, she had a couple of hundred thousand viewers, and for big ones like tonight, that number could climb to half a million.

Lila was proud of what she'd accomplished in such a short time. She could have rested on her laurels and lived off the money that came from being an heir to the Bubblicity Sodas fortune. That's what both her older brother and sister had done. Neither of them had jobs, at least not real ones.

But Lila was different. She'd only been doing this for two years now and she'd already been listed at #26 on the most recent ranking of social media influencers. This year, she was aiming for the top ten.

But that could only happen if she brought it consistently. That's what her fans expected. And that's what she would give them tonight. In fact, she'd be coming in hot in four, three, two…

"What is up my darlings!" she squealed delightedly into the camera. "So good to see you all again, especially on what we all know is a big night here at Lila's Lounge. As I promised last night, there is a big announcement coming that I think you're all going to be as excited about as I am. Should I share it right now or wait?"

She looked at the stream of comments pouring in on the monitor to her right and smiled.

"Peanutbaby231 says I should spill right now," she announced. "But NeverEverBunnyBoy is begging me to hold off because his boyfriend won't be home from work for another twenty minutes. I'm sorry, Bunny. I don't think I can keep people waiting that long, but maybe we'll compromise and hold off just a couple of minutes for the late-comers to join."

She stopped for a second to take a sip of water. As she did, she felt an odd shiver go up her spine. She had no idea where it came from, but she couldn't let her fans notice that anything was off, so she dived right back into it.

"In the meantime, while we wait for stragglers—and shame on you! —I have to tell you that I just tried these amazing new plantain chips," she said holding up a bag in in one hand and a chip in the other, "I mean, what the heck is a plantain even? Like a mutant banana or something? Whatever they are, these things are awesome. They're like, sweet, but not too sweet, with like, a little kick of savory, you know? When they were pitched to me, I almost said no, because as you all know—calories count! But then I found out—."

There was a clicking sound off to the left behind her that threw Lila off slightly, almost making her look over in that direction. She recognized it as the studio booth door unlocking, which was weird because she had the key, and she was the only one here. Instead of getting another shiver, she noticed the hairs on her arms were standing up. Luckily, she was a professional and only stopped talking for the tiniest of seconds.

"Sorry, guys, but my mouth started watering at the thought of a bite of one of these and I had to swallow," she said, covering nicely. "So I was saying, we hate the empty calories right, which is why—."

Suddenly there was movement off to the side of the booth. Lila couldn't help but look over. What she saw made her scream. There was someone inside the booth. They were dressed all in black and had some kind of hood over their face. Then she saw the knife and screamed again.