“Today, I ran into Suzan Bagnold and Mitchell Lloyd at Elliott’s Cozy Room,” Effie Bagnold said to Lyman Etheridge.

Lyman responded with a calm “Hmm,” but inwardly, he was quietly delighted.

Vinson Elliott had already mentioned this to him, but hearing it from Effie herself felt entirely different.

After Effie spoke, she fixed her gaze on the road and focused on driving, saying nothing more.

Lyman didn’t press the subject. He closed his eyes, content, savoring the rare silence.

“Effie, I’ve tracked her down,” Nolan Bagnold said. “She was clever hiding her IP address, but I still managed to find her.”

“Thank you,” Effie replied. “I had my suspicions, but I didn’t expect it really was her. Now that we have the evidence-”

“Want me to help you call the police?” Nolan offered.

“Not yet,” Effie said. “I have another plan.”

“Alright, your call. I’ll put all the evidence together and send it to your email.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

Nolan paused, clearly displeased. “Effie, haven’t I told you before? I don’t like it when you thank me.”

Effie glanced at Nolan’s serious expression, a little taken aback. “Then what should I say instead?”

She couldn’t help but laugh at his intensity.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Nolan insisted. “Helping you is the least I can do.”

“Nothing in life is really ‘the least you can do,” she replied.

“It is for me,” Nolan said quietly. “You saved my life once. I owe you everything.”

“That’s in the past,” Effie said, her voice catching slightly as an unpleasant memory surfaced. “Let’s just forget about it, alright?”

Nolan licked his lips, subdued. “Okay. I get it.”

When Effie returned to the office, she announced, “We’re going live.”

“Live? But our design department’s

never

don’tne a live stream before. We

è any equipment, not even

a studio.”

“Don’t worry,” Effie reassured them “I’ve already cleared everything. the company. Just follow the plan, and

everything will go met

She turned to Shirley. “Shirley, are you ready?”

Shirley bit her lip and spoke softly, “Yeah, I’m ready.”

“You’ll do great,” Effie said, leading her away.

Everyone else was stunned. “Wait, didn’t Miss Bagnold and Shirley have a falling out? Why are they…?”

“Right? I thought Shirley was out of favor and we’d finally have a shot to move up, but…”

The team exchanged bewildered glances, unable to make sense of what was happening.

But it didn’t matter-soon enough, the live stream would reveal everything.

Shirley sat nervously in front of the camera, taking several deep breaths. Effie asked, “Ready?”

Shirley glanced at her, licking her lips anxiously. “Effie, I’m… I’m nervous.”

“Everyone’s nervous their first time,” Effie said gently. “You’ll get the hang of it.” “Effie, would you stay with me?” Shirley pleaded.

her

Effie could tell Shirley was truly edge-if she couldn’t calm this broadcast could be a

ntent belongs to swnow t

“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay,” Effie promised.

Shirley whispered, “Thank you.”

Effie smiled. “You’re the host-you’re in charge. I’m just your assistant. Did you

read over the script?”