Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

Willow

My palms sweat as we wait on the front porch of a large home. The second influencer, as Samantha refers to her, agreed to meet us this evening at her home in Connecticut. During the entire drive here, I kept going over what I would say. I'm worried she's going to try to say the video is fake, like the last woman.

The door swings open, and a woman in her forties appears. She's stunning in a designer dress. Her hair and makeup look like they have been professionally done.

"Please come in," she says. "I just finished shooting some videos."

We follow her through the house, past a room with an assortment of lights and props, and out the back to a large patio. It's still light out, and the view is stunning. The property overlooks the Atlantic Ocean, and I can imagine she must have the most amazing sunrises here.

"You can call me Carmen. You must be Samantha?" she says, looking at my friend.

"Yes. And this is Willow."

Carmen glances at me and then turns her attention back to Samantha. "Do you have the video?"

"Yes, it's on here." Samantha pulls a USB stick from her purse and hands it to Carmen.

When we dropped off our things at the apartment, Samantha insisted we make a copy of only Carmen's video to give her. Since we don't know the other women, we don't want to risk their videos being exposed because of some vendetta.

Carmen takes the file to her laptop and watches the video. "That son of a bitch."

"How did you meet him?" I ask.

She frowns. "What does that matter?"

I glance at Samantha, who nods. "Because I was his girlfriend. For six years. And you weren't the only woman he made a video with. I don't recognize the place you're in. I want to know how he lured so many women in and where he did it."

The woman's brows shoot up. "You were with him for six years and had no idea he was cheating on you?"

"Cheating? No. I believe the videos were made before we were together."

The woman laughs. "You're na?ve. How cute. That video was made about two years ago."

I sit on one of the patio chairs as I realize all those videos could have been made while we were together. How many women was he with?

"Ever since I met him, he worked long hours, so I never thought anything of him being gone as long as he was," I say.

The woman sits down across from me. "Tyler Bentley does not work long hours. I can assure you of that. He comes from a rich family and comes and goes as he pleases. Last I knew, he was working for his family's company, but he's rarely there."

No, she has the wrong person. "His last name isn't Bentley. It's Sampson."

The woman shakes her head. "Wow, he lied to you about his name, too? His last name is Bentley. You were with him for six years? Did you ever meet his family?"

Actually, I didn't. "I met Tyler through a coworker. He was a friend of a friend. He told me his family was dead, so no, I never met them."

"Well, I've known his family for years. Tyler is a playboy. Although, he did disappear from the party scene for a while. Perhaps that was for you. But I assure you I did not agree to this video. Tyler knows I never would. There are others?"

"Yes. Did you catch the headlines about Marnie?" Samantha asks.

Carmen arches a brow. "Marnie and Tyler? I only saw she denied some affair rumor. I didn't see the details." Her eyes widen. "But wait, it's true?" She smiles. "That will certainly hurt her family-focused brand."

Carmen seems a little too pleased with Marnie's troubles.

"So, why did you two bring this to me? You want money to keep quiet?" Carmen asks.

"Money?" I ask. "No, we wanted you to press charges."

The woman laughs. When we don't react, she laughs harder. "Oh, you two are funny. Why the hell would I risk my reputation and my marriage by coming forward about this?" She yanks the USB stick from her laptop and throws it on the floor. Using her shoe, she crushes it into small pieces. "I didn't consent to the video, but I sure as hell am not going to blow up my life because Tyler is an asshole. If that is all, please see yourselves out."

"But what about the other women he's done this to? It isn't right," I say.

"I don't care about them. Leave now."

Well, that wasn't the response I hoped for. But then again, I also wasn't expecting to find out my ex had a double life. How could he have, though? The first year, we were together a lot, except for the long hours that he apparently didn't work.

My head is spinning as we walk through the house to the front door. In the living room, I spot photos on the fireplace mantel. Something compels me to look at them. I walk closer, and at first glance, they appear to be family photos, but I spot Tyler in a few of them. He's surrounded by people I don't recognize except for Carmen.

"Let's go," Samantha urges.

I don't know what comes over me, but I grab one of the photos and hold it against my chest as we walk out the front door. We're halfway to the car when Samantha notices I'm holding something.

"Did you just steal something from her house?" she whispers.

I nod. "I'll show you in the car."

I get into the passenger side, and Samantha takes the driver's seat.

"What is it?"

I hold it out, showing her the photo.

"Do you recognize anyone else?"

"No. But everyone looks wealthy, don't they?"

Samantha shrugs.

"Why would Tyler take control of my money in our bank account if, apparently, he had plenty of his own money?" I ask.

Samantha starts the car. "It wasn't about the money. It was about the control. Just like these videotapes, he was in control."

I turn back to the house. It's huge. Clearly, this woman or her husband have money. She's known Tyler for years, she said. If he was living his rich playboy lifestyle, then why slum it with me? The house we lived in wasn't very large, and we certainly didn't have many nice things. He was willing to do all of that for control?

"All the time we were together, he likely was out hooking up with women in some secret apartment. All those years. She's right. How could I not have known?"

"Because you thought he was working like most people do. He lied to you on purpose. Don't blame yourself. This is entirely on him. And we will go back and see if we recognize any of the other women. Someone will want to file charges."

I hope she's right, but the odds are that Tyler selected wealthy women who have something to lose and will not be willing to step forward.

"Hey, did you really never meet any of this family?"

"He said they were all dead. And I only met one of his friends early on. Red flags were everywhere, yet I didn't see them."

Samantha pats my leg. "Don't be so hard on yourself. He manipulated you. And it looks like he's been doing it to others. And he's likely doing it to the woman we saw at his house."

That poor woman. We have to get someone to come forward about Tyler. It's likely the only way she would believe he's not a good guy.

I recline a little in the seat and stare out the window. The truth is, I'm sick of thinking about Tyler. I shouldn't be shocked anymore by what he's done.

We're halfway back to the apartment when an idea hits. "If Tyler comes from a wealthy family, he'd do anything to prevent the truth about him from coming out to them."

"What are you thinking?"

"Perhaps he'd turn himself in for a quiet plea deal if we threatened to tell his family. Clearly, he doesn't want them to find out about this life if he kept me a secret all those years."

Samantha doesn't respond.

"You don't think that would work?"

She shrugs. "If he has money, he likely has an attorney he can consult. He'd find out quickly that there will be no charges if someone doesn't come forward."

Considering how our attempts to get someone to come forward have gone so far, yeah, he wouldn't be worried.

"We need to see if we recognize anyone else in those videos and keep hoping someone will file charges," Samantha says.

I don't want to watch any of those videos. All I want to do is prevent him from doing this to someone else.

By the time we get back to the apartment, I've stewed on everything and now I'm angry.

"So, he just gets away with it all?" I ask. "He gets away with everything?"

Samantha flops onto the couch. "I've been thinking about it, and it's possible one of those girls on the video will be underage. Then the police will have to do something. Right?"

"I can't watch those videos."

She nods. "I figured you couldn't stomach it. My plan is to watch the beginning to see who the woman is and then fast forward until the next one."

I sit next to her on the couch. "Thank you for everything. I can't imagine this is how you'd want to spend a free week."

She laughs. "It's not like I'm on vacation and could be relaxing. If it weren't for this, I'd be in my head worrying too much over my career. I should thank you for giving me something I can really dig into."

"I'm sorry about your job. They suck."

She yawns. "Yes, they do. But right now, I'm happy I have spare time to help my friend. I'm really happy you are back in my life." Her words bring tears to my eyes.

"Me too. Thank you for understanding, for everything." I lean over and hug my friend.

After a moment, she jumps up. "Okay, I'm going to watch the videos in my room. I'll try to get through as many as I can. Wish me luck."

"Good luck."

Samantha gets up, grabs her laptop, and goes into her bedroom. Thankfully, she closes the door. I don't want to hear or see anything in those videos.

I have no idea how to thank her. But I do owe her for this, especially if this leads to Tyler going to jail. I can only hope that's where this leads.