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It was unseasonably warm for February; the sun was parked high in the sky casting a series of long, malformed shadows across the parking lot as people sauntered to and from their vehicles enjoying the unexpected break from the cold. To most people, the sunshine was a blessing after the wild weather of the past few days, but to Kayleigh it was an annoyance; just another thing to make it take longer for people to get out of her way. She hoisted her purse higher onto her shoulder as she hustled towards the mall, cursing the fact that she had chosen to wear high-heels as her designer boots pretty much made it impossible for her to run.

The story was being broadcasted on literally every single radio station. Kayleigh had listened, repeatedly, to the chilling details during the twenty minute drive from her office to the mall. Every radio DJ in the city was talking about the website; even the ones who normally wouldn’t be caught dead discussing the Backstreet Boys. The news was big enough to overshadow Kanye West’s latest Twitter rant. This was huge.

The mall was bursting with the usual suspects; sleepy moms, shrieking toddlers, shuffling seniors, and sullen teenagers. Kayleigh ignored them all as she at long last made it through the double entrance doors and pointed herself in the direction of the food-court. The steady click of her heels drew some curious stares as she switched from speed-walking to jogging, but she didn’t care. She didn’t have time to waste.

Kayleigh reached the escalator in record time; nearly toppling over as she hurried onto the moving steps. Her eyes were busy scanning the crowded food-court for her friend. She knew that Sophia would have made it to the mall before her; she always did. Kayleigh dug her phone out of her purse and quickly called up the website. She wanted to have it ready in case Sophia hadn’t seen it yet.

“Sophia!” Kayleigh pushed her way down the last few steps of the escalator as she finally caught sight of her friend waiting with her arms folded across her chest in front of the Starbucks kiosk. “Have you seen it?!” She blurted out the question from several feet away. “Have you seen it?!”

“Have I seen what?” Sophia immediately uncrossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. Her usually even-tempered friend looked a bit wild. “Why are you out of breath?”

“It’s all over the news!” Kayleigh practically shrieked. “How can you not have seen it?!”

“Probably because I’ve been waiting for, like, forever for our lattes.” Sophia rolled her eyes in the direction of the overworked barista who was rushing around behind the counter. “This place seriously needs to hire more people.”

“Just look at this!” Kayleigh shoved her phone into her best friend’s hand and ran her fingers through her wind-blown hair. “Can you believe it?!”

Sophia’s eyes quickly flipped across the screen. She couldn’t believe it. She didn’t believe it.

“Is this a joke?” Sophia raised her eyes to Kayleigh’s. “Is this some kind of weird promo for Nick’s Dead 7 thing?”

Kayleigh shook her head. “CNN has apparently been reporting on the story all day, but I didn’t hear anything about it until I got in the car after work. It’s all over the radio; on, like, seriously every station.”

Sophia could actually feel her eyes getting wider as she digested what her friend was saying. She shifted her eyes back to Kayleigh’s phone, and her stomach dropped at the sight that greeted her. This was bad.

“Sophia! I have two grandé, skinny caramel lattes for Sophia!”

“The website is legit.” Kayleigh snatched the lattes that Sophia had ordered off of the counter and placed one of the take-out cups into her friend’s outstretched hand. “They want the fans to vote.”

Sophia shook her head and took a sip of her coffee. She winced as the too-hot liquid connected with her tongue and hastily shoved Kayleigh’s phone back into her friend’s skinny fingers. She had seen enough. “Nobody is going to vote, Kay. It has to be some kind of a hoax, a publicity gimmick.”

“People are already voting!” Kayleigh quickly navigated to the continuously changing poll and wiggled her phone in her friend’s face. “I think this is real, Soph.”


~Two Days Earlier~


‘In other entertainment news, Nick Carter has been charged with misdemeanour battery after last week's altercation involving a bouncer at a popular Florida bar. According to the police report, Carter was already intoxicated when he and a friend entered the bar around 7:00 PM. The fight broke out when the bartender refused to serve Carter …’

“This changes things.” Carlos muted the news report and took a slow sip of his rye and ginger. “The news coverage is going to make this harder.”

“It will blow over.” Angelo gently swirled the amber liquid in his own cup; the ice cubes clinking softly against the glass. “It must have been a slow day for entertainment news. Nobody really cares about these guys anymore.”

“Then why did we choose them?” Carl frowned. “This has to work, Angelo. I ain’t got time to try this shit twice.”

“We’ve been over this.” Angelo chided. “These guys are our best option. They have a strong fan base consisting mostly of women in their late twenties to early forties; a demographic that has a lot of disposable income. We’ve done our research, and we know that their fans are loyal to a fault. These women have grown up lusting after these losers. None of them are going to think twice about forking over their hard earned cash in order to save the members of their precious boyband.”

“It just makes me anxious that’s all.” Carl nodded at the television. “I think that we should turn our focus to one of the other guys first. This Carter kid is generating too much attention for my liking. What if the police are keeping an eye on him?”

“You make a fair point.” Angelo conceded. He drained the remaining liquid from his glass and set the tumbler down with a heavy thud on the wooden coffee table. “Dorough might be our best place to start.”

“The Latino?” Carl raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think he’s popular enough. What about the little southern thing? What’s his name? Little?”

“Littrell?” Angelo shook his head. “He's always with his family. His wife will get in our way; make things harder.”

Carl frowned into his drink. He didn’t like that the plans had changed. Time was running out. If they didn’t get the ball rolling within the next couple of days then there wouldn’t be any point. The first payment was due in less than a week, and if Angelo’s plan didn’t work then the claim would be denied. If the claim was denied then Carl’s life was over; plain and simple.

“I don’t care.” Carl conceded. “If you want to take Dorough first, let’s take him.”

Angelo bit at the inside of his cheek to keep his frustration in check. He didn’t like Carl’s attitude. Didn’t he realize that he was doing all of this for him? Didn’t he realize that he was putting his own life on the line so that his baby brother’s life could continue? Sometimes being the older brother came with way too much responsibility.

“You boys doing okay?”

Carl’s wife, Janet, stepped into the room just in time to see her brother-in-law’s fleeting look of anger. She roped her long, black hair into a messy bun and looked back and forth between the two men. She loved her husband more than words could describe, but his older brother made her uneasy. There was just something about the way that Angelo carried himself that made Janet suspect that he was up to no good.

“We’re fine.” Carl shot his wife a loving smile. “How was work?”

“Long.” Janet rubbed absently at a mysterious stain on her scrubs. She wished that Angelo wasn’t there. “Nobody died … so that’s good.”

Working the afternoon shift in the emergency department was not Janet’s ideal job, but the pay was good and the benefits were even better. When she had first gone into nursing, Janet’s goal had been to work in pediatrics, but things hadn’t exactly gone the way that she and Carl had planned. After the twins were born, the two of them had both committed to jobs that they disliked simply to pay the bills. Since the bills were never-ending, their dreams remained unfulfilled.

Carlos quickly changed the subject. He didn’t like it when his wife talked about her job. The thought of being around people who were dying made him uneasy. “The girls are asleep. They both ate their dinner.”

“That’s good.” Janet cast another wary look at Angelo. It was time for her to make her exit; it was clear that he didn’t want her around. “I’m going to get ready for bed. Don’t stay up too late.”

“Your wife thinks that I’m a piece of shit.” Angelo announced once Janet had disappeared upstairs. “Remind me again why I’m doing this for you?”

“Because you promised mama that you would take care of me.” Carl finished his drink and looked directly into his brother’s eyes. “Isn’t that what you said?”

The motto of the Costa family was simple; you take care of your family – no hesitation, no questions, no whining. Angelo had made a promise to his mother, on her death bed, that he would look after Carl. So, that’s what he was going to do. It didn’t matter if he wanted to do it or not; a promise was a promise.

As much as Angelo disliked Janet, he didn’t want to see Carl or his little nieces suffer. Carl’s family was an extension of Angelo’s family, so it was his responsibility to protect them. That was why he had devised the plan in the first place; so that Carl’s family could remain intact.

“I just need to know that you’re in this one hundred percent.” Carl returned his brother’s stare. “If you ain’t in this with me then you better let me know right now.”

“I’m in.” Carl’s gaze didn’t waver. “The website is ready. The Twitter account is ready. Everything is ready.”

“Okay.” Angelo nodded slowly. He still wasn’t entirely convinced that Carl was telling the truth, but he was going to have to take his little brother’s words at face value. They needed to set things in motion first thing tomorrow morning if they were going to have any chance of making the deadline. “So, we’re in agreement that we’re going to start tomorrow with Dorough?”

“Like I said, you call the shots.” Carl finally dropped his gaze from his brother’s face and stared down into his empty glass.

Angelo’s plan made Carl uneasy. He couldn’t help but wonder if there was an easier way of meeting his goal; if there was a legal way of meeting his goal. Of course, it didn’t really matter what Carl thought. With his father being gone, Angelo was the head of the family. So, Carl had no choice but to go along with whatever his older brother decided. That’s just how things worked.

“I know I do.” Angelo smirked. “It’s good to know that we’re on the same page, little brother.”