The handwritten apology took an hour. She wrote three drafts. The final one said: “Derek, I confused a following for a community. I confused views for values. I’m sorry I made you the villain in my story when you were the only one who believed in me.”
“What? Why?”
“Don’t be,” Derek said. “Our engagement rate is 0.8%. Yours is 18%. Do you know how rare that is?”
Emma stared at the screen. Her fingers hovered over her TikTok profile. 500,000 followers. A graveyard of viral hits. Her identity for the last six months.