Page 23 of American Royalty

There were the usual: “Great picture!”

“I love your hair!”

“You look so cute!”

But they didn’t stay mild for long.

“Stay strong, Samantha!”

“Don’t worry bout her. You’re way more talented. She can’t even rap.”

“Slay, Samantha, slay!”

“Duchess? You mean the Queen! Bow down!”

“How are all you coming for Duchess? She hasn’t done anything. She wasn’t even mentioned. GTFOH!”

“Bitch please, you think we don’t see what you doing? Duchess’s true fans will stan her 4-evah!”

“She’s trash. All she does is shake her ass and show her cunt.”

Dani raised a hand to cover her mouth, stopping just short ofactually touching the liner and gloss Rhonda had applied to her lips.

It had been two months since Banks posted the video, two weeks since her meeting with Genesis. Dani had wanted to believe Henry Owens was wrong and this would all blow over, but from the consistent paparazzi presence to countless Hot Topics segments onThe Wendy Williams Show, there appeared to be no end in sight. But while the attention meant more downloads and sales, her image was still taking a beating in certain media outlets. Which meant Mela-Skin was still companis non grata. And posts like these continued to stoke the fire.

Heat seared her skin. She could hear Tasha’s voice in her ear:Don’t feed the trolls, Dani.

Fuck that noise.

Pursing her lips, she logged in to her dummy account and pulled up the post.

She typed and mumbled, “Nice mouth! You’re worried about her lyrics when y—”

“Oh no you don’t!” Nyla Patterson said, snatching Dani’s phone and looking at the screen. Her hazel eyes widened. “Wow.”

Dani stretched out her arm. “Give me my phone.”

Nyla ignored her. “I can’t believe you were about to respond... wait... who is @boycotttheD? You have a fake account?” she asked in the scandalized, overdramatic voice she used every week on the cable drama she starred in.

“Why not? Worked for Kevin Durant.”

Nyla scrunched up her beautiful face. “Did it though?”

“Can I have my phone back, please?”

Nyla tapped on the screen several more times before handing it back.

“Did you remove the app from my phone? Have you been talking to Tasha? I can just reinstall it, y’know.”

“Sure, but by the time you get to it, the urge to do something you’ll definitely regret will have passed.”

Dani tossed her phone on the makeup counter and sighed. “What are you doing here? I thought you were in New York for upfronts.”

Upfronts were the presentations of the television networks’ upcoming fall shows. They were usually attended by executives, stars, major advertisers, and the media, and were so named because they allowed advertisers to purchase commercial airtime on shows “up front,” before the season began. Because she was one of the stars of a popular television show, Nyla’s presence had been required the past three years.

“Girl, the old showrunner stopped by our suite, still mad that he’d been let go after the sexual harassment investigation. When he started talking about all he’d done for diversity, I knew it was time to go before I said something to get my ass fired. So, I grabbed a late flight home last night. I saw your text about the shoot and thought I’d show up and surprise you. Good thing I did.”

“Yeah,” Dani said, a tad calmer now. “Thanks.”