Chapter 19: The Launch Party

Cassidy launched her agency on Thursday night in a rooftop hall in Marquette, with a step-and-repeat wall and a champagne fountain.

Soren's truck sat across the street with its lights off.

He had offered to come up, and I had said no, and he had said, "Then I'll be here."

I walked in at eight past the girl with the guest list.

She was holding a tablet.

She looked at my face and did not ask for my name.

Nobody stopped me.

The room held eighty people, all in black, with phones raised.

They were her clients, and the brand managers who paid them.

I knew some of them by their handles.

A very young creator who made baking videos stood by the bar with her mother.

Two brothers who did prank clips stood by the window.

On a low stage at the front, under a glowing sign that said MAHONEY MEDIA, Cassidy lifted a microphone.

"We are here tonight to build a new kind of company," she said. "One that protects its creators."

I walked down the middle of the room with a laptop under my arm.

She saw me when I was twenty feet away.

Her mouth kept smiling for two more seconds.

"Han," she said into the microphone, and her voice slid up half a tone.

"Everybody, this is Hanna Ostrowski. We've been through so much together."

"I read your article," I said.

The room hushed.

"I'd like to talk to the people you're protecting."

"This is a private event."

"You invited the press," I said, nodding at the corner.

Two reporters were already holding their phones up.

I set the laptop on a cocktail table and opened it where everyone could see.

"The first part is about me," I said. "The therapy note is real."

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