Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

Willow

Samantha and I ended up back at the same hotel last night. While she was able to sleep in, I spent most of the night staring at the ceiling, wondering if I just made the biggest mistake of my life.

I step out of the bathroom, freshly showered and dressed. I need coffee, and I head straight for the coffeemaker in the room.

"We did it!" Samantha sings as she dances around the room.

"Did what?" I ask.

She holds out her phone. It's open to an article with a headline about an influencer caught cheating on her husband. There is a photo that must have been taken from one of Tyler's videos. It shows both his and her faces clearly. There is no doubt about what's going on.

"And check this out," Samantha says as she grabs the phone back. She scrolls down and turns the phone back to me. "Twenty-five hundred comments already. It's going viral!"

This doesn't feel right. I scroll through the comments. "Yes, but everyone is going after the woman. They need to be going after Tyler."

"Give it time. They will. First, they have to figure out who he is."

"So, we wait for someone to post his identity? That might not happen," I say.

She quickly types something. "Done. And don't worry, I didn't use my real name." She walks to the bathroom. "After breakfast, we'll stop by the police station with the other videos. We can probably fly home later today, or we could do some touristy things and stay another night."

Without waiting for my response, she closes the bathroom door and the shower turns on. I grab my phone and search first for the influencer. Ten articles come up repeating what Samantha showed me. Then I search for Tyler.

There are zero hits. It's too soon for anything to have really spread yet. But why isn't there any kind of hit?

My phone buzzes. I discover that I have three missed messages from Piper since yesterday. She wants to go out for dinner while Durango is gone. I can't leave her hanging, so I write her back, letting her know I'm out of town and not sure when I'm returning.

I turn on some music and try to focus on anything other than my ex as I wait for my friend to get ready.

Samantha steps out of the bathroom and spots my phone on the dresser. "You're not monitoring what's going on?"

"No, and I want to go to the police and get this over with. I'm tired of Tyler taking up space in my head and my life."

She sits on my bed next to me. "I'm sorry. You're right. I'm getting too caught up in him getting what he deserves. Give me ten minutes and I'll be ready to go."

Shortly after, we are on the road to the local police station. It comes into view, and the station building is new, with a large parking lot. Inside, there is an area you enter that is separated from the rest of the building by a wall with a door. On one end is an officer behind what appears to be bulletproof glass sitting at a desk.

"Can I help you?" the officer asks.

"Yes, we want to report a crime," Samantha says.

"What nature?" the woman asks without even looking up from her computer screen.

"A man shot videos having sex with women, and none of the women consented to it," Samantha says.

The woman stops typing and glances up. "Women? How many are you talking about?"

Samantha shrugs. "I'm not sure because I didn't watch all the videos. But I have them all here." She holds up the USB stick.

"Are you one of the women?" she asks Samantha.

"No."

She turns to me. "Are you?"

"No," I say.

The officer stares at us. "How can you be sure they didn't consent to being taped?"

"Because it's obvious if you watch the videos!" Samantha yells.

The officer arches a brow. "It might be their kink."

I step in front of Samantha before she loses it and gets arrested or something. The officer is wearing a badge. Officer Swanson.

"This guy is an asshole. Trust me, these women do not know," I say.

Swanson crosses her arms. "You know the guy? Is this some kind of revenge thing?"

This is not going at all like I thought it would. "No, not at all. This man is a predator, and I guarantee if you contact any of these women, they will tell you they didn't consent to being recorded," I say.

"Look, you're probably right, but I can't file a case with what you are bringing me. It will just look like a file of sex videos. This guy could be filming porn, for all we know. Unless one of the women in those videos comes forward and claims she didn't consent, there isn't much we can do for you."

She turns her attention back to the computer but then looks up. "Unless…Is anyone underage?"

"We don't know," I say. "We haven't watched it all."

"I can't help you, sorry." She turns back to her computer again, essentially dismissing us.

Samantha balls her fists. She's getting ready to launch into this woman. I grab her arm and haul her out of there before she can.

"Can you believe that? This whole thing is evidence," Samantha yells as she waves the USB drive in the air.

"I have an idea how we can make this work."

She turns her attention to me. "How?"

"You recognized two of the women. We need to contact them directly to see if they will come forward."

Samantha leans against the building. "That might work, especially since one's story is going viral right now." She opens her phone, and her eyes widen. "Oh, no."

I step up beside her and read what she's seeing. The influencer responded to the allegations by stating it's all untrue and likely some AI video the guy made to get clicks.

"So much for her coming forward," Samantha says.

"You said you recognized another woman, too."

She nods. "I did. But they're friends, so she might react the same."

"Well, we have to try, right? Unless you want to watch more of those videos. Because I don't."

Samantha scrunches her face. "You're right. I'll contact her."

I lean against the building as my friend types away on her phone. Of course, Tyler is going to get away with this. He's charming and has people falling at his feet. I used to be one.

"While we wait, let's go somewhere expensive to eat," she says. "My treat."

I grab my purse and meet her at the door. "No, I'll pay for my own."

Samantha opens the door and then turns to me. "It's my idea and my treat. Besides, if I don't try to spend the money my parents give me, they might cut me off."

Did I mention Samantha comes from a rich family? I mean, they are seriously loaded.

"Why not invest the money? That way, you spent it on something," I suggest.

As we walk to the car, she turns and walks backward. "That's actually what I do with most of it."

I have no idea how much she is worth, but considering she's in her thirties and has been receiving monthly trust fund payments since she turned eighteen, I'm guessing it's a lot.

Once we are in the car, she checks her phone again. After she makes a few calls, she manages to find us a place for brunch.

"Huh, they didn't require a reservation," she says.

I laugh. "You do realize things are a lot more casual out here than in New York?"

She shrugs. "Yeah, I guess I didn't think it through."

Despite the fact that no reservation was needed, brunch was wonderful. And I'm thankful Samantha seemed to know what I needed. A moment to slow down and not think about Tyler.

But as soon as we get back into the car, she checks her phone and grins. "The other influencer already responded and said she might be willing to talk to the police but needs to see the video first."

"That's great!"

Samantha nods. "The only problem is that she lives in Connecticut, and we need to bring the video to her."

I open my mouth, but Samantha holds up her hand. "Before you ask, no, I won't send it via email or the cloud. That's illegal."

Oh, I think she might be right. Not that I'm an expert on this sort of thing. "No problem. Connecticut isn't far from New York. I guess this means we should pack up and fly home."

She stares out the window. "I guess we should. I wish we could have convinced the police here to do something."

"You heard the officer. They can't do anything until one of these women comes forward."

She sighs. "You're right. Let's go pack up and check out."

We are able to get on a flight that afternoon. Once we landed in New York, we dropped off our bags at the apartment and grabbed Samantha's car.

Samantha watched a couple of movies on the flight. I couldn't concentrate and spent the time wondering where Durango is right now. He could be anywhere in the world. If he were injured, I wouldn't know. Those thoughts swirled in my mind on repeat for most of the flight. By the time we are ready to leave for Connecticut, I'm a mess.

"It's going to be late when we get there," I say. "Maybe we should go tomorrow."

Samantha glances over at me from the driver's seat. "It's fine. She's expecting us. It's going to be light out for a few more hours, so we might even make it home before dark."

She's right. It's summer, and with the late sunsets, everyone seems to be up and out later. Not everyone is in bed by nine at night. And I won't be able to sleep until we've talked to her.

"Okay, you're right. Let's get this over with."

"That's the spirit," she says as she pulls into traffic.