2 Weeks Later

It’s amazing how quickly everything can change.

Two weeks ago, I was tied to a chair in a warehouse, gagged and giggling through sheer panic. Now?

Now I’m Velvet Vixen, Westville’s newest—and sparkliest—champion of justice. There are posters of me in diners, memes of me online, and a mural in the arts district that has my butt looking spectacular.

And of course, there’s Officer McKenna.

The hottest cop in town.

Cool, composed, square-jawed, and dressed like a walking regulation fantasy. She was the one who took Cleo Capone into custody—and the one who handed me a slim black phone with a knowing smile.

“If something weird’s going down,” she said, “I’ll call you.”

I’ve kept that phone charged every single day.

Tonight – The Call

I’m lying across my couch in a black silk robe, flipping through the glossy pages of the latest Westville Weekly, where I’m featured in a ten-page spread titled “Glitter & Justice: The Rise of the Velvet Vixen.”

I pause on a photo of me straddling a rooftop, one leg up, smirking into the camera like I’m about to arrest someone and steal their girlfriend.

God, I look good.

Then—vrrrmmm.

The phone.

I leap across the couch like I’ve been tasered.

“Hello?” I answer, trying to sound cool.

“Vixen,” McKenna’s voice hums through the speaker. “We’ve got something strange. People are disappearing.”

“People?”

“Five, in the past week. All in the wooded area just outside city limits. No signs of struggle. They just… vanish.”

“Creepy,” I murmur, already pulling on my gloves.

“I need someone who can investigate quietly. Someone the department can deny if things get weird.”

There’s a pause.

“I trust you.”

I bite my lip. Hard.

“Say no more, Officer. Vixen’s on the case.”