Chapter 6: The Lesson Goes Live

My tears just kept coming. All I got was the desk clerk’s comment: “Girls these days! So dramatic. Can’t spoil them too much, or they get soft.”

It stung, but I was too far gone to care. No one was going to help me.

Eric smiled. “It’s fine, I want to spoil her. She’s my girl.”

He said it with pride, as if he’d won some prize. I felt like I was suffocating.

He kissed my forehead. It felt like being bitten by a snake.

The memory still makes me shudder. I’ll never forget the cold, slimy feeling of his lips on my skin.

He took me to the room, undressed me. I kept my eyes shut, didn’t even bother to beg. I knew it was useless.

I went somewhere else in my mind. I left my body behind, just trying to survive.

“I said I wouldn’t fantasize about you anymore, because I want to have you.”

“Alyssa, you’re so beautiful.”

His words haunt me. They’re burned into my memory, impossible to erase.

—Eric Morales is a criminal!

I typed it in the livestream chat. But in the sea of comments, it vanished without a ripple.

No one noticed. No one cared. His fans kept cheering, kept sending money. I felt invisible all over again.

I didn’t care. I started spamming.

—Eric Morales is a sexual predator!

—Eric Morales is a sexual predator!

—Eric Morales is a sexual predator!

I kept typing, over and over, until my fingers ached. I wanted to drown out his lies with the truth.

Finally, people noticed.

The chat slowed. People started asking questions. The mood shifted from adoration to suspicion.

The curious, the gossipy, the mocking, the instigators. They treated me like a troll. But then, some sharp-eyed viewers noticed something was off.

“Why is his release certificate blurred? What did he really do?”

It was the crack in the façade. People started digging, asking questions, demanding answers.

More and more people started questioning. Eric was rattled, but tried to play it cool, pretending not to see the comments.

He kept smiling, but I could see the panic in his eyes. The mask was slipping.

You can’t hide the truth forever.

Not in the age of Google and Reddit. Someone always finds the receipts.

Some internet sleuths, using the release certificate number, found out Eric’s crime.

It didn’t take long. Within minutes, screenshots started circulating. The truth was out.

“Sentenced to 7 years for sexual assault, got two reductions, served 5 years and 8 months.”

The chat went dead.

The silence was deafening. The fangirls vanished. The mood turned icy.

The fangirls stopped gushing. The looks-obsessed went silent.

—Ugh, disgusting!

—How can a predator be a streamer?

—Sex offenders don’t deserve a second chance!

—Should be locked up for good!

—If someone like this can be a viral celebrity, the world’s gone mad!

The tide turned fast. The same people who cheered him now wanted him gone.

Eric ended the stream in a hurry.

He fumbled for the power button, face pale. The performance was over.

I breathed a long sigh of relief.

It felt like a weight had lifted, if only for a moment. I let myself hope it was finally over.

I thought it was finally over. But it was just beginning.

The internet never lets anything end quietly. There’s always another twist, another round.

I got a call from an unknown number. When I picked up, all I heard was heavy breathing.

My skin prickled. I knew that sound. I knew it too well.

I knew who it was.

“Stop playing games.”