I look at the ceiling.
I look at the water stain in the corner of the hospital ceiling, and I breathe through the new pain sitting on my chest. I think about the videos I watched, the women, their faces. I think about how Theo and Beckett forced me to watch videos of my boyfriend having sex, and how they knew it was deceiving. They made him out to be a monster, and now I learn that was all for porn?
I thought it was about the women.
I thought the masked men were out to kill him.
It was never just about that.
It was a business.
"How much?" I ask. I want to know how much money was worth destroying our relationship over.
Cody looks up.
"How much money?"
"Adela—"
"How much?"
“Nearly three hundred thousand since we started.”
The number gets stuck in my throat. That’s all profit, and if it’s split between everyone involved, no one is innocent.
"And then what happened?" I say. "Because something happened. Because you—" I look at Cody. "You were put in a coma on my birthday." I don’t look at Beckett because I know his heart. I look at Theo. "Was it you?"
"Yes," Theo says.
I inhale, trying to put these pieces together. "Why?"
The room falls silent. It’s the quietest it's ever been.
Theo looks at me for a long moment. I don’t think he’s conjuring a lie. I think he’s trying to figure out how to say it.
"My sister," he finally says.
My face hardens.
"Cody crossed a line." He exhales. "I told him she was off limits, and he didn't listen."
I look at Cody.
Cody is looking at the window again.
"Your sister," I say to Theo.
"Nessa," he says.
I breathe.
“What did he do to your sister?”
Theo blinks. “I don’t…”
Beckett interjects. “He fucked her and filmed it, uploaded it to the page.”
Cody inhales.
