Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Willow

Something my therapist said this past week keeps playing on repeat in my mind, and I can't think of anything else. She said I likely wasn't Tyler's first victim, nor would I be his last. It's what Durango said, too.

Now, all I can think about is whether Tyler will do this to someone else. Hell, he might already be doing it to Sasha. And while I should hate her, she actually was the one who allowed me to get free. No woman should go through what I went through.

When I first met Tyler, I thought he was such a thoughtful, great-looking guy. It's been over six months since I escaped. He's probably still in the honeymoon phase with his next victim. He's getting her hooked. I need to stop him.

Durango is leaving tomorrow and will be gone for a while. I have some vacation days I could take off from work.

I sigh. What exactly am I going to do?

My friend walks in the front door.

"Samantha?" She's never home in the middle of the day.

She slams the door shut. "I can't believe that asshole!"

I follow her into the kitchen, where she throws her purse on the kitchen table. Then she spins around to me.

"We dated for two months. Today, I found out he's married. And you know how I found out? When I was called into a meeting with HR to discuss my behavior. My behavior!" She goes to one of the kitchen cabinets, opens it, and then slams it shut. "And I don't have any liquor here." She spins around. "Want to go to a bar and get drunk?"

"What happened?"

She falls onto one of the kitchen chairs. "It's a mess, and I might get fired. But it's all his fault!"

I knew Samantha was seeing someone, but she hadn't really given me too many details. I sit down across the table from her. "Start from the beginning and tell me what happened."

"I met a guy as we walked into the same office building a couple of months ago. He asked me out, and I've been seeing him ever since. I thought he was wonderful. Today, his wife reported me to HR for harassing her husband. I had no idea he was married! Or that he worked for my company! He lied and said he worked at another business in the building. Apparently, the wife found some texts he sent to me, and she did some digging and found out where I worked. According to HR, now this guy claims I'm stalking him. I told HR what really happened. They told me to take the week off while they investigate."

That doesn't sound good. "Did they give the guy a week off, too?"

She shakes her head. "He's a department head. They said his job was crucial to the company and he had to stay. The writing is on the wall. I'm getting fired because of that asshole."

"A department head? And you didn't recognize him?"

Her eyebrows shoot up. "Do you have any idea how many VPs we have? It's insane, and I only know those in my chain of command."

I'm shocked I'm hearing this for the first time. "Why haven't you mentioned any of this before? I've told you all about Durango and my issues. Oh no, did I dominate our conversations?"

Samantha and I met right after I moved to Portland ten years ago. We became instant best friends, but that all changed when she moved to New York and Tyler cut me off from everyone. I'm so thankful she has been so open to renewing our friendship and giving me a place to stay.

"No, you didn't dominate conversations. I just wasn't ready to talk about him yet. I was worried it was too good to be true. Looks like I was right."

It comes to me fast. "You have the week off?"

"Apparently."

I grin. "Want to help me with something? Involving my asshole ex?"

She smiles, too. "Does it involve getting revenge? Because that's all I want right now is revenge on this asshole, but your asshole might work, too."

"Something like that. We need to go to Portland."

She grabs her phone from her purse and starts typing. She smiles. "There is availability on a flight to Portland today, and wow, it's cheap. I'm in."

Glad to hear they are cheap because I'll have to put mine on my credit card.

"What's the plan?"

I already told her about Tyler and everything he did to me. Somehow, after telling Durango, it's easier to talk about now. I explain how I need to stop him from doing what he did to me to someone else.

"What is your plan for stopping him? Because if it involves murder, I'm sorry, but I'm out."

I chuckle. "Murder? You think I'd fly out on a commercial flight that can be traced and murder my ex?"

She frowns. "Are you upset because I think you're capable of murder or that I would think you'd be sloppy about it?"

My hands go to my hips. "There's no murder involved. I have something better. The morning I left, I checked his computer that he leaves at the house, hoping it would have some sort of internet he hadn't told me about. It didn't. But it did have videos. I only saw a snippet of a couple before I had to stop because it made me sick. The videos were of him having sex with women. I'm positive the women weren't aware he was recording them."

Samantha closes her eyes. "Were these other women he brought home?"

"No. I think they were from before we dated. I didn't recognize the bedroom."

"And you think exposing this about him will somehow prevent others from falling for his lies?"

"If I'm right and these were taken without consent, the police should investigate. It might make the news, and everyone will learn to stay away from him."

She winces and walks toward her bedroom. "I doubt that. There are women who seek out men in prison."

I follow her. She tosses her suitcase onto her bed and begins to pack.

"Yes, but at least those women know what they are getting. Tyler comes across as a sweet, honest man. It's all a lie."

She stares at her phone. "I hope you're right. And for the record, I bought our plane tickets. We need to be out of here in about twenty minutes."

"You bought? How much was it? I can repay you?—"

Her hand goes up. "No, this is my treat. And thank you for providing me with a distraction. If it weren't for this, I'd be spending all week sitting on the couch crying or being angry."

"Well, don't thank me yet. This could end up being a disaster."

I pack as fast as I can, and in less than a half hour, we are on our way to the airport.

We arrive in Portland later that night and check into a hotel. Tomorrow morning, we will watch him from down the street to make sure he's still on the same schedule he used to be on. And we need to know if he's living with someone.

The next morning, as we drive toward the old house, I get cold feet. "This is dumb, isn't it?" I ask.

Samantha glances at me from the driver's seat of our rental car. "Dumb? No. Crazy? Yes."

"We should go back home."

"Nope. We have to stop him from hurting anyone else."

She's right. I'm just scared this won't work. Or it will backfire somehow. I'm not someone who breaks the law, so this is wildly outside my comfort zone.

She parks where I instruct.

"The house is at the end of that driveway," I say, pointing toward it. "We need to park on the road and then walk down. There are some bushes we can hide behind."

Samantha turns in her seat. "Excuse me? You want to hide in the bushes? And what if we get caught?"

"Yes. And we won't."

I get out of the car before she can ask me anything else.

She gets out. "I thought we were going to be sitting in a warm car, drinking coffee. I didn't sign up for hiding in some cold, damp bushes."

I pat her on the shoulder. "Think of it as an adventure. And don't worry, the bushes aren't damp. It's the summer."

Fortunately, she doesn't complain anymore, and we find a spot to hide. Thirty minutes later, Tyler steps out onto the porch and locks the front door. He's wearing a suit, and his hair is shorter than he used to wear it. He gets into his car and drives away.

There is still a light on inside the house. And there is a car I don't recognize in the driveway.

"Someone else is in there," I say.

"What if she never comes out?" Samantha asks.

"We need to give it time."

Twenty minutes later, the door opens. I turn and spot a beautiful brunette heading to the other car. It's not Sasha. I shouldn't be surprised that he has moved on already and has someone living with him. He never truly loved me. For him, it was all about having someone he could control.

Once the brunette leaves, we wait five minutes before we move toward the house. My eyes scan the exterior. Tyler never had any security cameras, but that could have changed. Although, as I scan, I don't see any. I move the gnome by the front door and grab the key.

"You're kidding me. He hides a key right there?"

"I never said he was smart."

I unlock the door, and we walk in. The moment I step inside, I freeze. It looks the same. And being trapped here comes back to me. I try but can't get any air into my lungs. Finally, I lean against the wall and slide to the floor.

"Willow! Look at me!" Samantha demands.

I focus on her.

"Breathe in. Then out. Slowly."

I follow her instructions, and slowly, my heart stops racing and I can breathe again.

"I should have realized it would be too much for you to come back in here."

She's right that it's hard, but I can do this. Even though right now, all I want to do is curl up in a ball and cry. Instead, I force myself to lead her to the spare bedroom, which Tyler used as an office when he had to work from home. And just like six months ago, he has a computer set up on the desk.

Same password. I get into the files. It almost feels too easy. After locating the videos, we watch the first part of a few.

"Wait, I recognize her," Samantha says. She frowns. "But it doesn't make any sense why she'd be outside of Portland having sex with this random guy."

"Who is it?"

"She's a big-time influencer. But her platform is based on family values. She and her husband are very involved in the church."

"And how do you know of her?"

Samantha scrolls through her phone and then turns it for me to see. "She has the best makeup tips. See, it's her."

I watch the influencer's video, and I can't deny that it appears to be the same woman.

"I'm going to copy all the videos." Samantha slides a USB stick into the computer as I take in the rest of the room.

My eyes go right to the purple elephant on the shelf. It was a gift from my mom when I was a child. It had always been special to me. I hate that I had to leave so many things behind when I left. I grab the elephant and shove it into my purse.

I leave the office and walk around the house. I left jewelry here as well. I find it in a box in Tyler's dresser and grab it.

"Here's another one!" Samantha says.

I walk back to find her grinning.

"It's that woman's best friend. I can't believe this. Willow, I can take care of this guy with just these videos. Are you okay with that?"

"What do you mean?"

"There's a site known for gossip that I can submit these to. They will take it from there."

I'm not fully sure what she means by "take it from there," but if it stops him from what he's been doing, I'm in.

"Yes."

Samantha flashes a devilish grin and begins typing. Ten minutes later, she stands up. "It's been done."

"Do you really think whoever runs that site will care about that influencer?"

"Yes, they will. And I made a copy of all the videos just in case there is anyone else on there who's famous. But we should go. We've been here too long."

I check the time, and we've been inside for about thirty minutes. Not too long, assuming Tyler and his new girlfriend are both at work for the day. But she's right; I don't want to push it.

We head out, and I put the key under the gnome. As we walk down the driveway, the girlfriend's car approaches.

"Oh shit, we almost got caught," Samantha says.

What does she mean almost? We are still on their property. Shit, she might recognize this box.

The woman rolls down the window as she pulls up next to us. "Can I help you?" Her tone is snappy.

I open my mouth to warn her, but nothing comes out. She needs to know what kind of man Tyler is.

Samantha steps forward. "Yes, we are out spreading the good word of the Bible. Can we talk to you for a minute?"

"No," she says as she hits the gas, leaving us behind.

We practically run to the car. I have us down the road and onto the highway as fast as possible. "Using religion? That could have backfired."

Samantha nods. "It could have, but I would have figured something out."

"I feel guilty not telling her about Tyler."

"Don't. She wouldn't believe you anyway. We have to take him down with these videos. Hey, what's in the box?"

"Jewelry. It's mostly costume, but most of it was from my mom. I hated that I left it behind. Same with Fuzzy."

"Fuzzy?"

I nod to my purse. "The purple elephant."

We grab a couple of sandwiches from a local deli and then drive to a nearby park to eat them.

"What if this doesn't work?" I ask. "The gossip site might ignore what you sent them. The police might not consider what we have to be enough evidence of a crime."

Samantha finishes her food as she stares at the swings, which are currently empty. "Let's stay another night and see where we are in the morning."

"You mean I should wait to go to the police?"

She nods. "I've been thinking about it. You can't walk into the police station saying you broke into his house to get those videos."

I laugh. "Obviously. I was going to report it anonymously."

"How?"

I shrug. "I'll use a library computer."

"You need a library card. It's traceable."

"Okay, I'll drop the USB stick off at the police station with a letter."

"They have cameras. They'll identify you."

I wipe my mouth and stare at my friend. "All right, what do you think will work?"

"If the tabloid doesn't bite, I'm not sure. But I'll keep thinking about it. In the meantime, we should do something fun tonight. Want to go to a club and pick up some men?"

I groan. "Sorry, no. But I'm up for a movie."

"Let's table the discussion for now. I have to say, I really didn't think the investigation and video retrieval would go quite so fast."

I laugh. "It does feel a bit anticlimactic, doesn't it?"