Page 92 of Apparently, I’m Torture

Stacey’s face twisted and she held up her hand; she didn’t want to hear anymore. I kept going anyway.

“Brianna watched Trevor work on Lilly’s computer in the staffroom. He was logged in. It had to be him.”

She lowered her hand and shook her head. “Lilly’s computer can’t join ours without the proper software.”

“I know.” I folded my arms and pinned her with a glare. “He would’ve needed someone here to give him access. The only person he has ties with in this office is you.”

She scoffed, but I could see she was scared. I held up my hands. “I get it. You helped your cousin get revenge on the woman he once loved. And why wouldn’t you? It’s not like there was any love lost between you and Lilly.”

“Stop it, Shawn. Stop treating me like you don’t trust me. You know me. You know I wouldn’t do something like that. I wouldn’t risk this initiative. It means a lot to me too.”

She was upset now, shoulders stiff as she shifted her weight on her feet.

“Look, Stacey, I get what exposing Trevor would mean for you. I know you’d lose as much as he would. But you know you can trust me. If Trevor is holding something over you, I need to know so I can help.”

I wanted to wince at how melodramatic all this sounded, but I knew Stacey. I knew she was feeling backed into a corner, and that she needed to know she was safe.

She clamped her jaw shut. I could almost hear her teeth grinding. But eventually, she said, “I do trust you; you know I do. But Trevor’s my cousin, and the things he knows about me could ruin everything.”

I stepped closer and lowered my voice, pinning her gaze with mine. “Then let me help you fix this. If Trevor is forcing you somehow, if he knows you’d do anything to keep your secrets safe, he’s never going to stop. He’s going to keep dragging you into doing whatever he wants. He’s going to hold the same old threat over your head.”

Her throat worked as she swallowed. She was thinking it over, trying to decide whether telling me could tear apart everything she’d worked for alongside me.

“You’re safe with me, Stacey. You can tell me.”

Her chest rose and fell, then she nodded. “It happened years ago. I was young and stupid, and I made this really bad decision.”

I held my breath, almost afraid to move. Her words were coming out in a rush, and the last thing I wanted was to stem the flow.

“I got drunk at this frat party, and the guy I was with dragged me into his room. More guys showed up, and I wasn’t thinking. I remember laughing while I was there, and I don’t think I cared about who was touching me. It was so stupid, and I should’ve said no, but one of them started filming it–”

My eyes widened, but I kept judgement from my voice as I asked, “Stace, you consented, didn’t you?”

She swallowed and nodded, but her voice shook as she spoke.

“I did.” She tried to smile, but it slipped. “Except the filming part. But I was drunk, and I didn’t know how to stop it. Trevor came in, snatched the phone and pulled me out of there. Then he walked me back to the sorority, and I thought he deleted the video before anyone else could see it. He’s my cousin. I thought he was looking out for me.”

“But he did delete it, didn’t he?”

She shook her head. “He sent it to himself.”

What the fuck? I couldn’t keep the disgust from my face. Stacey was his cousin. “Why would he do that?”

She let out a brittle laugh. “To use against me, obviously. He cornered me as soon as my hangover wore off and told me he had the only copy of the video. I told him to delete it. A video like that could end my career before it started. And he promised he would as long as I set him up with Lilly, and kept you away from her. He had this huge crush, and she was hanging by a thread, and you know what a people-pleaser she is. It didn’t seem like it cost me anything at the time.”

I pushed down the flare of anger I felt. It didn’t cost her anything, but it cost Lilly. I shook my head, reminding myself that Stacey was a victim here too. Her own cousin used her to get what he wanted. Stacey wasn’t the bad guy here.

“But then he roped you back in, didn’t he?”

She nodded, letting a breath of relief escape, like it felt good to finally say all this out loud. “I don’t want to hurt Lilly, but he still has the video.” She took in a breath and hugged her elbows tight. “Working with you for the past five years has made me better. And because of you and all your support and ideas, I have a career I’ve only dreamt of. I can’t let anything get in the way of it now.”

I heard what she was saying, and I knew where she was coming from. But I was still confused. “But if what we’re doing is so important to you, why would you let Trevor hurt our fundraiser?”

She looked away and shook her head. “It wasn’t supposed to go that far. You were supposed to fire her after a couple of weeks. But once Lilly overcame everything Trevor threw at her, forging that invoice was the only thing he could think of. I didn’t have anything to do with that.”

“So, he didn’t want to bring me down too?”

She let out a small laugh and shrugged. “You know, he was so sure you had a thing for Lilly all those years ago, it was why he put me up to asking you to graduation. But once you made it clear that you didn’t want to be around her, he didn’t think of you as a threat anymore. It helped that I went with you to Brooklyn. That made him feel like he could check on you whenever he needed to. This really was only supposed to be about Lilly.”