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“Well, I agree with you there. That you’ve become a nobody, but the world hasn’t forgotten about you yet, so it won’t take much to make you somebody again.” He swiped on his phone a few times. “Here, watch it.” He held up a hand as she opened her mouth to refuse. “I promise, your boyfriend will be glad you did.”
The bottom dropped out of Michaela’s stomach as she snatched the phone from his hand. Though dark, the video was clear enough to make out what was happening. On the screen, a woman with dark hair, lay naked on a bed with a pale man rutting between her legs. She faced the camera, blank stare seeing nothing. A tear rolled down her cheek just as Keith had described.
Michaela’s heart dropped to the ground and splattered into a million pieces.
Without ever having seen the video or the people in it, she knew precisely was she was witnessing.
“What did you do?” she whispered, throat tight. Only sheer force of will kept her from collapsing to her knees in the snow. He’d won. Mark found her weakness. She’d do anything to spare Keith the horror of this video.
“Well, old Chuck told me you’ve been avoiding him, so he called me. Offered this baby to me for a hefty sum to keep it off his Facebook page. By the way, you owe fifty thousand dollars. I’ll be transferring it to him in a few days.”
Tears filled Michaela’s eyes as she watched the camera pivot to a devastated young Keith as he entered the motel room. Rage, hatred, disgust, and a myriad of other emotions crossed his face in the blink of an eye. The video cut out as he charged forward. Not that it mattered. She knew what happened next and how it had altered the rest of Keith’s life.
He’d die if this got out. This horrifying video of the worst moment of his childhood, which he’d been promised, had been destroyed.
“Be a shame if this baby ended up on TMZ, wouldn’t it? I imagine that’d be embarrassing as fuck for your boyfriend. But here’s the thing. I’m thinking you can keep the money and I’ll take twenty-five percent commission on the money you make from your next movie. I hear the role of Princess Carmella is up for grabs.”
If only embarrassment was the worst of what Keith would suffer. No, he’d be less concerned about himself and more worried about his siblings and the reputation of his deceased mother whom he loved with all his heart and was never able to save.
The release of this video, even the knowledge of its continued existence, would break him in a way she’d do anything to prevent. Even return to the life that had nearly ruined her.
“There’s a way to make this all disappear,” Mark continued. “You start shooting in three days. I’ve already emailed the script.”
She could contact her attorney but filing injunctions and going after both Mark and Chuck would take time he didn’t grant her. By then, the video would hit the media and how would she ever prove it came from Mark?
The first tear fell, plopping onto the phone screen. Mickie lifted her head and, with as much strength as she could muster, said, “I’ll fly out in the morning.”
With nod, she dropped his phone in the snow and walked away from the man who’d just wrecked every good thing in her life.
By this time tomorrow, she’d be halfway across the country, but as far as Keith was concerned, she might as well be traveling to the moon.
A sadness like she’d never known washed over her as she made her way to her car. She’d do what she had to do to protect Keith and his family. Even if it killed her.
Even if it destroyed them.
CHAPTER TENTY-SEVEN
EVERYTHING WAS SET—the candles, the blanket, the food. Ronnie had been the one to create the ambiance, or so she called it, and thank God for that because he could barely say the word, let alone make it happen.
His siblings agreed to make themselves scarce for the evening so he could have this romantic picnic without their meddling eyes peeking around the corner. If all went according to plan, he and Mickie would start their night in front of a roaring fire but end it in his bed, sweaty and writhing for hours.
He peered out the window just as Mickie’s car pulled into her driveway. She was an hour or so earlier than he’d expected her but fine by him. Even better, actually. Now he didn’t have to sit around nervous as fuck for the next sixty minutes. Sad as it might be, he’d never put effort into a woman in this way. Never cared what they thought about a date beyond generally having a good time. But this, this had to go off without a hitch. He wanted Mickie to understand he was all in and loved her. That he wouldn’t hold back anymore and would stop waiting for her to leave at any time.
