The Devil Wears Shea Butter Episode 5: The Chain Reaction

One envelope down, but the fallout is just beginning—and now everyone’s watching Ava.

Author’s Note:
Ava just walked away from Camryn’s emotional storm and straight into something colder, messier, and far more calculated at House of Monroe. Friendship? Shaken. Loyalties? Shifting. This is the ripple. And none of us is ready.

Part One: The Exit

Ava didn’t expect fanfare. But she definitely didn’t expect Camryn LeRoux to burst into tears over a lukewarm matcha and accuse her of betrayal like it was the series finale of her own reality show.

“You're leaving me for her?” Camryn gasped, flinging her phone onto the divan like it had personally delivered the news. “I let you hold my Pomeranian. I trusted you with my seltzer preferences. And now you’re just what? Moving up like we didn’t share a panic attack over the floral arrangements?”

Ava stood in the center of the suite with a half-packed box and a whole lot of emotional whiplash, trying not to wince. She was already running on a breakfast bar from yesterday. Camryn, meanwhile, looked like betrayal incarnate in a silk robe and a $300 face mask.

“I’m not leaving you. I’m just… reassigned.”

“Reassigned?” Camryn scoffed. “This isn’t the military, Ava. This is fashion. Which is worse. We have fewer rules and more emotional landmines.”

Ava shifted her weight, arms aching under the weight of her tote bag and Camryn’s chaos. “You’ll have a new assistant by Monday.”

“That’s not the point,” Camryn sniffed, dabbing at a tear that didn’t fully commit. “I just thought you were different.”

“Different from what?”

“From the people who use me as a stepping stone and then go green juice with Celeste Monroe like she invented ambition.”

Ava blinked. “That’s… oddly specific.”

Camryn flopped onto the chaise like a woman in mourning. “Just go. Take the ring light. Take the USB humidifier. Take whatever shred of loyalty I have left.”

She tossed a tube of under-eye cream into the box with award-worthy dramatics.

“And if she eats you alive, just know I tried to warn you.”

Ava paused at the door.

“Don’t worry. I bite back.”

The door clicked shut like a punctuation mark.

Part Two: The Quiet Eye

She didn’t exhale until the elevator closed.

Silence wrapped around her like a velvet cloak, cool, tight, slightly accusing.

Ava opened her phone.

Janine’s message flashed in the dim screen light:
You’re with Celeste. Starting tomorrow. Welcome to the deep end.

She caught her own reflection—rumpled blouse, focused eyes, something steel behind the tired. She wasn’t just an assistant now.

She was being seen. And tested.

Back on the street, traffic swarmed. Horns snapped like impatient gossip.

Under it all, her heart kept tapping: the envelope. The wine glass. The man’s laugh. Celeste’s face.

She’d crossed a threshold. Lit a fuse.

Now the question was: could she handle the flames?

Part Three: The Moment Before

Ava parked in the underground lot but didn’t get out.

Seatbelt still on. Engine still humming.

The city loomed just outside. The future pressed against the glass.

Her phone buzzed—Celeste’s texts, sharp and all-caps: ASAP.

The screen pulsed like a heartbeat.

She steadied herself. Breathed in.

Ambition burns hot. And now the match was lit.

She leaned forward.

And dove.

END EPISODE 5

Next Time on The Devil Wears Shea Butter…
Ava begins her first day working directly under Celeste. No more backstage. No more buffer. Just boss-level scrutiny, whispered rumors, and the empire at full speed. Someone’s already watching—and this game? It’s only just begun.