Now that the camera is close enough, I notice how emaciated her face is, as well as marks on the inside of her arms. Substance abuse. She seems to suffer from it, and it might explain why she accepted this deal. If she’s gone far enough, she’d do anything to get the money that’ll allow her to get more of her drug of choice.
“This is sick, Norman!” Lex’s father intervenes, ripping away his mask.
“She wants this!” Becker retorts.
“She doesn’t! Look at her! She’s scared out of her mind!”
“We’re helping her. She’s a lost soul, a caterpillar. And through pain and suffering, we will reinforce her will and redirect her life. We are the chrysalis that will turn her into a butterfly, Richard.”
“What the fuck,” I mutter. “Does he mean all that?”
“Seems like he does.”
Lex and I watch the two men argue for a little longer until his father storms out of the place after cursing out every single man in there. We stop the footage when Becker suggests they move on from the incident and get started with “the ritual,” as he calls it.
We both stare at the still image, unsure what to make of all that. Was all that bullshit Becker’s way of justifying his fucked-up needs anddesires? Does he really tell himself and the men who indulge along with him they’re helping those women?
“Well, your father might be an asshole, but at least he isn’t a monster.”
“He walked out on what was happening, but he didn’t denounce Becker and his accomplices either.”
I press my lips together, aware that this is indeed not great. “Can you look for a folder namedCatasticta?” I ask Lex before I reach over to grab my laptop. I pull out the page from Becker’s notebook that matches and check the date of the folder Lex found. They’re the same.
“This one has a star,” I explain. “We need to figure out what that means.”
When Lex opens the video file, it starts in the same manner as earlier. Except this time, no one steps up like Richard Coleman did. On the contrary, the four men and one woman seem eager to get started.
The girl is a young and gorgeous Latina, and her body language is alarming. She’s sluggish and unsteady, barely capable of sitting on that chair without falling off it. This one isn’t a drug addict like the previous one. She’sdrugged. When she tries to speak, I can barely make out what she’s saying. Her Spanish is not only accented but also hard to follow. I get some nuances in her speech, though. She sounds… Colombian.
Something clicks in my head.
“Is that… Amalia… Amalia Camacho? The young maid Paola told us about?”
“She mentioned it happened about a year ago, right?”
“Yes. The date matches.”
Something felt wrong in the previous video, but this is even creepier. She doesn’t even seem to know where she is, barely conscious. Is that what the star means? Those are “nonconsensual” women? Not that the consent from the other girl was anywhere near acceptable or valid.
“Alright, you need to get out,” Lex says, pausing the video just as Becker and his clan start picking up tools from the carts.
“What?! No, I want to stay with you and see!”
“Andrea, you were terrified the whole time we watched that horror movie you insisted on. This is real life. I won’t let it haunt you.”
I frown, ready to offer my rebuttal, but he lays a hand on my thigh and says, “I’ll let you know the broad strokes of what happens. But please let me do this one alone. Please. I haven’t been able to spare you once during this entire mess. This is my one and only chance to do it.”
Fuck… He’s right. Watching those people hurt, abuse, and rape that poor girl will scar me. The images will stay with me for a while, a constant reminder of how depraved and cruel people can be. Between that and the fact that Lex needs this chance to protect me when I’ve protected him so many times already, I don’t argue.
I rise from my chair, bend over to give him a soft kiss, and say, “If it becomes too much, please, stop. I don’t want you scarred either, okay?”
He nods and welcomes my lips for another tender kiss.
Once I’m at the door, I turn around for one last look and then step out. I close the door and go to the couch, taking my phone out. Time for some dumb, mindless scrolling to take my mind away from this messed-up discovery. Alas, my Instagram feed offers next to no comfort, my brain too scattered for it.
This goes so much deeper than we imagine. It’s organized crime, at this point, with Becker as a ringleader and Horvat as his supplier. Sex trafficking, drugs, abuse, forced prostitution… And on top of everything, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those girls were minors.
What if we took a bite that is too big for us to chew? What then? We focus our efforts on Becker and let those other people run free? Do we dismantle the entire thing? What would we even start with?
