Hermione laughed, though it wasn’t warm. It was hollow, resigned to the lost justice she could have had, and the peace she might have got from such an event. ‘Yeah. About ten years ago. Drugs, apparently.’
‘The life of a film producer.’ Matty shrugged. ‘It’s not a glamorous industry.’
‘How would you know?’ Noah asked him.
‘I’m in it.’
Noah scoffed.
Quinn cleared his throat, feeling a little shocked at the exchange between the hottest men in Cusop Dingle. ‘Hermione, I’m sorry that happened to you.’
‘Don’t be,’ she said. ‘The video tapes kept selling until I used all my money up on lawyers and got them taken down. Only by the time we did, those copies had been bought and distributed. Now I hear there are digital versions floating around the internet. Back then, people could do that. They didn’t care. Like I say, he got heaps of praise and I lost all my work, my agent, and most of my money. The only reason I’m able to live like this is because I still get royalties from some of my films.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘What I want to see is a clearing of my name, but I want to raise awareness too,’ Hermione said. ‘Sex isn’t shameful. Sex work isn’t shameful. I shouldn’t be ashamed of what happened. I was embarrassed, and I still am, but I’ve been learning to deal with that.’
Realisation hit Quinn hard. This wasn’t just a regular semi-celebrity autobiography. It was much bigger than that. This wasn’t just an opportunity for him and for Hermione, but for victims too. Hermione’s story had been crying out for years, ignored because it had become so normalised to just laugh at her expense. If she wasn’t the washed-up actress, she was the spinster in the village, or the old porn star.
‘Did you consent to sleeping with him?’
‘Oh, yes,’ Hermione said. ‘Oh, it wasn’t anything sinister. The only consent that wasn’t given was the taping and the distribution. I loved him. And I still do in some silly way. He was kind. He looked at me differently. He wasn’t like the other men I met.’ Hermione seemed oblivious to the consensus at the table that Roger was not, in fact, kind. ‘But he hurt me, ruined me, and broke me. For a little while, I understood why he did it. How silly is that? I justified it by saying I helped him get his life back on track.’
‘Bull,’ Noah said.
‘I know that now,’ Hermione said. ‘I was hurting, and I tried to heal in any way I could.’
‘How did he distribute it without your consent?’
‘It happens a lot more than you might think,’ Hermione said. ‘I’ve joined a couple of online chat rooms over the years. Revenge porn, I hear, is a big thing. It’s now a criminal offence, but it still happens. People have their images, their videos, distributed without their consent all the time. I found out, through my lawyers, that he forged my signature in case anyone asked. Nobody did. They saw who was on the tape and knew there was money involved. It didn’t matter whether I consented.’
‘But of course, it did.’
‘It should have,’ Hermione said. ‘To them, though, it was just business.’
Just business. The words Quinn kept hearing. Horrible, dirty words that hurt those involved. How many people suffered at the hands of ‘just business’?
‘A similar thing happened to Marilyn Monroe, you know,’ Matty said. ‘Playboy. She didn’t consent to that cover.’
‘Yes. A decision she made early in her career, and then the photographer had the say over who bought the photos, rather than her,’ Hermione said. ‘I remember reading up on that and feeling like I had something in common with her.’
‘And Pamela Anderson,’ Matty said. ‘Home sex tape stolen and distributed.’
Quinn had heard stories often about the horrible industry in Hollywood. Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian. Now, it felt very close to home.
‘I fled back home, and not too long after, I had Noah.’
Quinn turned to Noah, realising what was about to come.
‘Roger is my dad,’ Noah said.
Quinn realised then that the things he heard about Hermione were only half true. There was more to the story, hidden truths and concealed hurt.
‘Hermione, you’ve got the opportunity with this book to get control of the narrative,’ Quinn said. ‘And with that, you regain your power.’
‘And you’ll help me get it back.’
Noah placed a hand on Quinn’s knee, which felt sturdy, warm, and welcoming. It fit so perfectly over his muscle, Noah’s fingers sprawling over the sides. Quinn cursed the cold weather, wishing it was the middle of summer, so that he could wear shorts and feel that skin-on-skin contact.
