I wrap my arms around her, choking back everything I want to say.
Not right now.
She needs space to speak and feel like she can tell her story.
“Turns out, he had a porn account. Photos and videos of me. And other girls too. Always Harry with a new woman, all recent. New ones I guess he moved on with, if he wasn’t with them behind my back.” She presses a hand to her cheek. “It wasvile.”
My next breath feels so fucking hot it scares me.
Touching her. That’s the only reason I don’t erupt.
I close my eyes, pressing a kiss to her temple. She’s sitting with her back to my chest now, and I think it’s better this way, even if I want to see her face, to caress her and kiss her so hard she forgets that backstabbing fuck.
But right now, Lena doesn’t want me to see, and I can respect that.
She idly brushes my thigh, and I force myself to relax.
“I’m okay now,” she whispers.
“Go on.” I sound like I’ve been gargling nails. “What did you do?”
“Cried, obviously. Felt like I’d never stop. Finally, I confronted him when he got back, and I told him to take it down, and he just ... he refused. For months. I threatened to get a lawyer, but I didn’t have the money or the time. He called me on my bluff.”
I tighten my hold on her waist. She touches her hand against mine, linking our fingers.
“He took them down eventually, just in time for his graduation. I suppose he wanted to clean up his image for future employers. God knows he never cared about mine.”
I’m frozen in my seat, knowing there’s a good chance I’m going to wind up a murderer.
“But then theseassholeskept calling, and then a few of them showed up in person. Stalker porn freaks from the internet who somehow put my name and face to the videos. Wanting to know if I’d treat them the same as Harry. They wanted to pay me like a high-class escort. Called me ‘boat brat’ in front of my mom. It got so bad—the drama, the visits, all of it—that she closed her ice cream stand and moved away.”
“Holy shit. It cost your mom her business?” My nostrils flare.
“That was the worst. Raven Swirl was a seasonal thing for extra cash, but she poured her heart and soul into it. She’d built up a nice local following, too, and we were getting more tourists every summer from word of mouth.” She sighs. “Mom never asked for much—just a happy place to churn fresh flavors in the morning and smiling kids with sticky faces at sunset. Her Rainier cherry ripple flavor made people cry, Brady. She was living the dream, and I’m the idiot who went and blew it up.”
I’m breathing raw fury down her neck.
“I hope you know,” I whisper against her skin. “I hope youknowthat what those bastards did to you and your mom is scum-of-the-earth, snake shit. And there’s no way—no fucking way—I’ll let that man hurt you again.”
She twists around in my arms until her nose almost brushes mine. Her eyes sparkle, wet with tears she tries to hold back.
“How many times have I told you? This isn’t your fight. Don’t defend me.”
“Sass, I don’t care if I have to plunk down ten times your check to keep that damn clinic out of his hands.”
The corner of a smile touches her mouth, brightening the pain shadowing her eyes.
“It won’t come to that,” she insists.
“I don’t care if it does.Ifit does, I’m game. Whatever it takes. What he did is revenge porn. That’s inhuman, and it’s also fucking illegal. A goddamn invasion.”
“Believe me, I know.” She touches my face, a line between her brows forming. “I know.”
“Good.”
“But you know what’s weird?”
I stare at her, waiting.
