Chapter 28 #2
“Why? If this is a weird fetish…”
“No, asshole. I think she’s in trouble, but she’s too stubborn to admit it. I just need her staying here so I can protect her and sort it out.”
“For a girl you barely know?”
I roll my eyes.
I didn’t say it was Jack’s ex we put the cameras in at. And I don’t now. “Can you get it done?”
“I can get anything done.” Then Enzo laughs. “But it’ll cost you.”
“Uh huh.”
“I want all the details.”
“How’s ‘none of your fucking business’?”
“How’s fuck you, too?”
“You’re not my type,” I say, and add, “thanks for this.”
“You owe me.”
I hang up and head to the kitchen area to make the coffee.
Violet appears behind me. “Can I help?”
“Yeah, put something crappy on TV. I’ll be out soon with the coffee.”
“Okay.”
I put the beans in the grinder as my phone buzzes.
Enzo: You owe me big time. On it now.
With that, I look to the living room.
She’s curled on the sofa, channel surfing, and I take that as a chance to duck back to my room.
I want Isaac ousted from his job.
Violet on my sofa is jarringly perfect, like she belongs.
I need her to stay. At least until Isaac’s gone…And Isaac really has to go. The sooner that happens, the sooner our lives can go back to where they were. And I can be fucking her as The Ghost.
Sex I can handle. This… I don’t know what this is.
The bug records everything, unlike the cameras.
I didn’t set out explicitly to make recordings, I have no interest in any kind of political secrets or blackmail, not unless I’m being paid for that.
But this fucking creep with his thing for young women, coercing them to do things for him. The strippers he’s used and abused, all of that utter ugly underbelly of his so-called power, he deserves to be taken down and away from public life.
I’m happy to ruin him the way he has ruined other females, the way he tried to ruin and hurt Vi.
Especially her.
Fuck him.
I put my headphones in, sliding one off so I can keep an ear out in case she needs me, and I start editing.
I put together a choice audio clip of Isaac threatening her job, his power play, demand for sex and the things he says. I remove all mention of school and internship and anything that can identify her.
It definitely identifies him. I start it with an earlier call he answers, stating his name. And then…the rest.
He sounds like a creep, a bully, a monster, a self-entitled sexual predator, which is exactly what he is.
When I’m satisfied, I hack into the biggest radio station in New York. And I set it up to go to all the TV stations, too.
Radio might not be what it once was, but plenty of people listen to it on their commutes.
There’ll be plenty listening during the peak hour times.
I set it up to play at various intervals and put up firewalls to make sure it’s virtually impossible to take down.
It’s almost slow burn in a way. Of course, once it hits big, it’ll spread like wildfire.
But audio playing on TV works better if the news picks it up, which is why I sent them clips from The Ghost’s no-reply email account. That’s impossible to track.
Then I turn off the computer and my light and head out.
The TV is playing some old sitcom, and Violet doesn’t move. I think she’s asleep.
Considering last night, I’m not surprised.
I make the coffee, pouring some healthy shots of whiskey in, and order a selection of pizzas from my favorite pizza place. I know Vi loves this place and always suggested it to Jack who opted for the New York pizza joint.
Vi sits up when I come over with the coffees, and she pretends she was wide awake the whole time.
“I thought you’d flown to Brazil to farm the beans yourself.”
I roll my eyes. “What do you take me for? Brazil? Colombian or Nicaraguan beans only.”
“Uh huh. And the whisky.”
I give her a pained look. “Irish.”
“So, you flew to Colombia and then Ireland?”
“I’m pretty fast, and I know you weren’t sleeping.”
She blushes, and I laugh.
I slide down next to her. “Sorry, something came up with work, I needed to take care of it, and you were making cute little snoring noises.”
“I don’t snore!”
I just smile.
“What is it you do, anyway? I know it’s IT, but you glossed over it the other night.”
“Consultant. Go in and fix shit, make sure computers are working, the usual. It’s pretty much turning it off and on again and fixing the mistakes idiots did.”
I stop, most people get bored by now, but she looks interested, which is dangerous in so many ways. “I ordered pizza, from Wild’s.”
“I never said I was staying?”
“I know. That’s why I got Wild’s. You love their pizza.”
“Which ones?”
“The mushroom, the soppresetta and smoked black olive and wild arugula, the three cheese and hot honey. Chili and—”
“Fine. I’m staying.”
She does. And it’s a fun, easy evening, where we eat, drink, and watch shitty TV.
I like Vi even more.
We joke about the show, and we fight over the remote, and it’s just a good fucking time. Without any fucking.
The flirting is so natural I don’t notice until she rests her head on my shoulder like it’s what we do.
And I know I have to make the next move.
“I’ll get an Uber and take you home.”
She sits up, the fun crushing down in her, the sweet comfort souring. “Yeah, I’ve got work tomorrow.”
But she doesn’t want to see Isaac, no matter the lies she told me and herself. It worries her, I see it creeping like shadows in her eyes.
I call the Uber and put it in as a round trip.
“You don’t have to—”
“Yeah, I do.”
What I want to say is she’s okay, she’s fine, I’m here, and then I want to hold her.
But I’m not meant to know the whole story. I just walked in near the end, and she told me she was okay.
So, I have to play it that way.
“Cade…”
“I’m coming, seeing you home and making sure you’re safe and sound before I head home. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Come on, let’s go get you home.”