Chapter Five” Dirty Games and Dangerous Truths #5
“No,” Amira said. “But I’m angry. And today that’s useful.”
Makayla looked at Jarvis.
He nodded once.
Steady.
Beside her.
Dangerous, yes.
But steady.
Makayla turned to Trevon. “Set it up.”
Trevon moved immediately.
Phones came out. Laptops opened. The foyer turned into a war room with marble floors.
Jarvis stepped close to Makayla. “You ready?”
Makayla looked at him.
“No.”
His mouth softened.
She lifted her chin. “Post it anyway.”
Five minutes later, Dirty Little Proof went live.
Makayla stood in Jarvis Draven’s foyer with Auntie Zella on one side, Vasha crying behind her, Renzo bruised in a chair, Trevon running the feed, and Jarvis just out of frame.
The viewer count climbed fast.
Ten thousand.
Fifty.
One hundred.
Makayla looked into the camera.
“My sister’s name is Amira Serrin,” she said. “And tonight, Selene Rusk tried to hurt her with an edited lie. So we’re going to show you what Selene cut out.”
Her hand shook.
Jarvis’s hand touched the small of her back, light enough that nobody could see on camera.
Strong enough that Makayla felt it.
She kept standing.
The full video played.
The hallway.
Amira with the tray.
The man blocking her.
The grab.
The struggle.
The fall.
The cut.
Then Amira stumbling out.
Then Selene picking something up from the floor.
Then Selene looking at the camera.
Then black.
When the feed returned to Makayla, her eyes were wet, but her voice did not break.
“That was the truth before people edited it. That was the truth before a lawyer taught a city how to doubt a nineteen-year-old girl. That was the truth before my family learned what silence costs.”
Comments flew too fast to read.
Makayla continued.
“Selene Rusk had this footage. Her own notes show she knew a camera existed. Her notes show she planned how to make my sister look unstable. Her notes show she called me aggressive when I was a child grieving beside my family.”
Trevon displayed the documents on screen.
Names.
Dates.
Notes.
The words Selene wrote years ago.
Makayla looked directly into the camera.
“This page started because nobody believed my sister. I made a mistake with Jarvis Draven because somebody used that pain against me. I own the mistake. But Selene Rusk owns the lie she buried. And tonight, she doesn’t get to bury it again.”
She turned slightly.
Renzo lifted his bruised face.
Makayla asked, “Who paid you to feed tips through my page?”
Renzo swallowed. “Selene Rusk. Through a law office account. Calia Morvant was a cover. I passed the fake Jarvis evidence and took money for it.”
“Did Selene know about Amira?”
“Yes.”
“Did she plan to use Amira’s edited video to discredit me?”
Renzo looked miserable. “Yes.”
Makayla turned back to the camera.
There was one more thing to say.
The hardest thing.
“I also owe my followers this. Dirty Little Proof will no longer accept anonymous files without a verification process. I built this page to help people. But hurt people can still make harmful choices. I did. And I will fix the system I built.”
A tear slipped down her cheek.
She let it.
“But I will not stop telling the truth because dirty people learned how to fake receipts. I will get better. I will get cleaner. And I will get louder where it counts.”
Makayla leaned closer to the camera.
“Selene, you asked me to remember why I started.”
Her voice lowered.
“I remember.”
She ended the live.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Auntie Zella started crying.
Vasha covered her face.
Trevon exhaled like he had been holding his breath for ten minutes.
Renzo muttered, “Well, I’m dead.”
Jarvis stood beside Makayla, silent.
Her legs finally gave a little.
He caught her before she hit the stair.
This time she did not pull away.
She leaned into him, just for one second.
Just enough to breathe.
His voice came low near her ear.
“You did it.”
Makayla closed her eyes.
“No,” she whispered. “We started it.”
His arm tightened slightly around her waist.
Her phone buzzed again.
Not once.
Over and over.
Trevon looked at the screen nearest him.
His face changed.
Jarvis noticed. “What?”
Trevon turned the screen toward them.
Breaking posts were already spreading.
Victims of Selene Rusk clients begin coming forward after Dirty Little Proof live.State bar complaints resurface against attorney Selene Rusk.Calia Morvant reportedly fleeing Morrow Bay after west dock allegations.Jarvis Draven’s legal team calls for investigation into fabricated evidence campaign.
Makayla barely processed it before another message came through on her personal phone.
Unknown number.
Her body went cold.
Jarvis saw.
She opened it.
No threat this time.
Just a video still.
A woman sitting in a car, face half-hidden by sunglasses.
Under it, a message:
This is Maribelle. Tell Jarvis the dead girl is tired of hiding.
Makayla slowly lifted her eyes to Jarvis.
He looked at the screen.
All the blood seemed to leave his face.
“Jarvis,” Makayla whispered.
For the first time since she met him, Jarvis Draven looked scared.
Not angry.
Not controlled.
Scared.
The phone buzzed again.
And tell him Calia is coming to finish what his father started.