My brain is a whirlwind. I never knew how Daniel had found out about me and Guy, but now, the truth is coming out.
“Why didn’t you say?” I stutter.
“I didn’t need to. You just admitted it as soon as I challenged you,” Daniel hisses.
“Challenge” is a light word. The last time we talked about this was the night Daniel punched me in the face, the first time he was violent, and the last time we called ourselves a couple.
Those videos broke us apart.
“Who sent them to you?” I have to ask.
“Well, for a long time, I had no idea. Figured it was a friend or his wife.”
Evelyn.
“Yeah,” Daniel continues, “I found out he had a wife too. Both as shameful as each other.”
My mouth goes dry. “Who sent it?”
“It was from an unrecognised number, but it hit me the other day, when I was looking through your laptop, it would be worth a check. It didn’t take long to match it to one of your contacts.”
“Who?” I demand a third time.
Daniel gives me a self-righteous smile. “Craig,” Daniel says. “Your friend. The copper.”
That can’t be true. My brain rejects it outright. Craig wouldn’t—hecouldn’t.
But Daniel’s eyes are steady, convinced.
“Why would Craig—”
“No idea,” Daniel snaps. “Maybe he thought I deserved to see what you were doing behind my back.”
Why, why would Craig do that?
“But it doesn’t matter now though does it,” Daniel says with venom.
“Daniel...” I whisper.
“Dead as a dodo. Sliced up and left on the pavement like the trash he is. He got what was coming to him,” he hisses.
There’s something in his voice that makes me look up.
He’s staring past me, eyes unfocused, almost… detached.
I’m struggling to process this—what is Daniel telling me?
He got what was coming to him.
“What do you mean? What did you do?” I plead.
“What did I do?!” he shouts. “You were the one sneaking around, lying, betraying me! You broke us, Tom. You made me do everything that came after!” He slaps me again, harder this time. My head cracks against the porcelain.
I taste blood. My ears ring.
He crouches again, grabs the towel. “Let’s try this one more time, yeah?”
“No—please, don’t—”
