Jewel had primed them to take the unexpected fall from the very beginning. When Stella asked the Ouija board why The Cruelest Jewel existed, it answered WARDEN and SIREN. When she asked Jewel if she trusted them, Jewel never gave an answer.

The viewers, who saw everything, would remember that too. Stella made sure of it by specifically pointing it out during her last livestream.

There was too much evidence, too many instances that Stella could twist to her advantage. She took a moment to consider, to make sure she was sure, because she’d reached the point of no return. One more step and it would all be over. She nodded to Harlow, who nodded back in solidarity. “But in the court of public opinion you’ve been found guilty. Golden Rule is where people go to tell their stories. And I’ve just told mine.”

Harlow pushed a button on Stella’s tablet and turned it around. “Surprise.”

“I’m here for a very specific reason,” Stella said. “I know there’s a delay on the broadcast, just enough time for you to edit and censor what you don’t want seen. Like this—I’m sure you cut the cameras the moment it became clear I wasn’t going to follow your plan. Want to know how I know?”

Olive, who looked near tears, again, exchanged another look with Ethan, who was boiling with fury.

“Because Jewel asked little old wild card me to make livestreams, as many as possible, in the Golden Rule app in secret. We didn’t have our phones—Jewel knew it would never occur to you to check the app. ‘In a pressure cooker, separate the royal flush with red herrings wild. Bake for seven minutes.’ Jewel set my livestream time limit to exactly seven minutes.”

Stella sat back in her smugness and watched as silence descended. They needed time to process, to absorb the greatness she had just laid at their feet.

“Okay. Um. So,” Alex said, right on time. “What happens now? I mean, I guess everything you said could be true, but what are we supposed to do about it? Citizen’s arrest or something?”

“Oh! Right! The End. Sorry. I was internally reveling in my greatness a little too hard there,” Stella said. “Francis, I know you’re probably feeling betrayed by your besties right now. If it helps, they didn’t really lie to you.”

“What?” Scrunched face and pinched eyebrows, Francis looked like he was fighting off a killer headache. He was also holding Nicole’s hand, something Stella zeroed in on.