“It doesn’t.”
“Plan A, then? Cut off his dick?”
“Cross.” She comes forward and wraps her arms around me.
“Chemical castration?” I suggest. “We could poison him slowly. Tamper with his coffee or something so he drinks arsenic for the next three months.”
“Cross.”
“Hey.” I put my finger under her chin, lifting so she meets my gaze. “I would do anything for you. Just say the word.”
Her eyes fill with tears. “What about blackmail?”
I pause. “Oh. Yeah, that’s an option.” My mind goes back to the first things he said– “Shit, Scar, we can get that video. We can erase it from the face of the earth.”
“Yes,” she breathes.
“On it. You can stay out here or…not.”
She nods. I duck back into the room and go to his nightstand, where his phone is still plugged in. The dumbass probably didn’t think about calling himself an ambulance, not after his recorded confession, which is fine by me.
It requires a face ID. Tyler hoists him into a seated position on the floor and keeps his head still. I shove the screen in his face until it unlocks, then I go to his camera roll. There’s a locked, private album.
“Passcode,” I demand.
He licks his lips.
“Or we break your other leg,” Tyler warns.
“One-three-seven-two.”
I type it in, and the album unlocks. My stomach knots.
There’s not just one video–there’s a dozen.
I click on one, and he lets out a whimper. It’s a fucking home video, but he starts recording when the girl is carried in by two other guys. They drop her on the edge of the bed, and she immediately slides to her knees on the floor. She catches herself, her head bobbing like she can’t hold it up.
It isn’t Scarlett.
Thenhemoves into the frame, his hands going to his jeans. He flicks open the button, and there’s very clearly the motion of him jerking himself, and he grabs the girl by the hair. She wobbles, but her eyes are closed. The only thing keeping her upright is the way he tugs at her scalp.
“Open up, baby.”
I swipe to the next one. Girl on bed, her arm hanging off. He climbs on her–
“You fucker.” I close the phone and lunge for him, punching him in the face. His nose breaks under my fist, and the spray of blood does nothing but make me want to keep hitting him. I get in two more strikes before Scarlett calls my name.
I freeze.
“Send those videos to the police,” she says.
I look over at her, stricken. My heart is in my damn throat. “You heard?”
She nods slowly. “I thought we had an easy way out. But he kept that freaking memorabilia, Cross. And it wasn’t just me, was it?”
“No.”
Tyler squeezes his eyes shut. He remains very, very still, and I know my best friend is close to losing his shit too.
