Chapter 8: Damage Control
Chapter 8: Damage Control
Completely oblivious to the mounting, insurmountable mountain of physical and digital evidence actively accumulating against him, Tyler aggressively proceeded to execute Part Two of his master content plan. Sitting comfortably in the driver's seat of his luxury leased SUV, parked on the top floor of the hospital's concrete parking garage, he prepared for his close-up. He adjusted his portable LED ring light, clipping it to the dashboard, and spent a full two minutes practicing his "devastated face" in the rearview mirror until he found the perfect, photogenic angle.
He hit record.
"Please... I'm begging you guys, please pray for my beautiful Bridget. We had a terrible, freak accident tonight," he cried into the front-facing camera of his latest iPhone. He utilized every single ounce of his amateur acting ability to force real, glistening tears to spill over his lower eyelids, his voice cracking with pitch-perfect, heavily manufactured grief. He spoke slowly, making sure to hit the emotional beats he had scripted out days ago, ensuring the video fell perfectly within the optimal algorithm length. He hit upload, blasting the deeply emotional, manipulative update simultaneously across all of his major social media channels.
May you like
The dopamine hit was instantaneous. The push notification bells chimed in a rapid, endless cascade. The comments flooded in by the tens of thousands within mere minutes of the video going live. Engagement metrics, shares, sympathetic duets, and algorithm recommendations skyrocketed to unprecedented, record-breaking levels.
Tyler leaned back against the plush leather headrest, a sick, satisfied smirk slowly wiping away the fake tears on his face. His sociopathic, highly calculated plan was working flawlessly on the digital front. He watched his follower count tick upwards by the thousands, completely, arrogantly unaware that Detective Hayes and the district attorney's office were currently standing three floors below him, quietly building an airtight, inescapable felony case that would destroy his life.
