Page 56 of Payback

Edward took the proffered bag and pulled out a photo. His eyes widened. “Good Lord.”

My spine curled toward my knees, and I stared at my lap. Was it worse than the pictures of me I’d seen? “Are they camera stills?”

“This one looks like it was definitely taken from over there.” Edward pointed at the window.

A lead boulder of dread rolled in my stomach. I’d hoped my initial assessment of the photos had been wrong. Because the implications were unthinkable.

I whispered, “He must have been peeping at us.”

“Or it could have been Charlotte,” said Blake.

“Never underestimate the depth of that girl’s malice.” Edward placed the picture in the bag and picked out another. “Or her depravity.”

Curiosity built in my chest, and I couldn’t hold back any longer. “Let me see.”

Edward sat beside me on the Chesterfield, sandwiching me between himself and Henry. Blake stood over us, his dark brows furrowed into a frown. Most of the photos Edward pulled out had come from someone standing behind the window and taking advantage of the gap in the curtain. But there were a few of me crouching on the ground surrounded by students. Someone pulled up my skirt, exposing my panties, while others punched and kicked and pulled my hair. I swallowed hard. The gauntlet.

“The IT people were supposed to delete those from the servers,” said Edward.

“Someone must have downloaded them before that,” added Henry.

“Or Charlotte took them herself.”

I shook my head. “She was on the other side of the crowd, waiting for me outside with her little gang.”

Henry wrapped a strong arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his warmth. “Nothing like that will happen to you again as long as we’re around.”

Blake plucked the photos out of my fingers. “You shouldn’t look at these. And we’re not handing them to the police.”

“Those incompetent buffoons?” Edward patted my thigh. “Absolutely not.” Then he stood. “The fire is ready. I’ll burn these and keep anything that might prove useful.”

“What will we do next?” I croaked.

“Step one of our plan is complete. We have Mrs. Carbuncle in our grasp, and she has no means of contacting her son.”

Blake huffed a laugh. “By now, he’ll be frantic with worry about his mother. Let’s give him a day to stew, then we’ll tell him to surrender to the nearest police station and make him confess to being employed by Philippe and Rudolph to abduct and assault you.”

A lump formed in my throat. “Is Mrs. Carbuncle alright?”

Edward threw another photo onto the fire. “I walked her to the kitchens, where Reginald served her a meal of pan-fried trout with a glass of Pinot Gris. She was most charmed by his gentlemanly ways.”

A long breath slid from my lungs. The old woman was probably having the time of her life and didn’t even know her son would think she was abducted.

“I hope this works because it could backfire very painfully.”

Chapter 16

The next day in English Literature, I could barely concentrate on Miss Oakley’s lecture on The Scarlet Letter. Last night’s adventure preyed on my mind, and those compromising photos made the pancakes and maple syrup I’d had for breakfast churn in my stomach.

I glanced over my shoulder at Blake and Henry, who sat together at the pair of desks behind us. How had they felt when the photos of them together had reached their parents? Powerless, angry, violated? I had hurt them. Exposed their secret to the entire country. Yet they had still forgiven me.

My shoulders slumped, and I doodled on a sheet of paper. I wasn’t sure I could forgive whoever had sent those pictures to Mr. Carbuncle.

Edward’s phone beeped and broke me out of my reverie.

Miss Oakley stopped talking and glowered around the room. “How many times must I inform you that telephones are not permitted in the classrooms?”

At the other side of the room, Coates shot up his hand. “Miss, the sound came from Bourneville’s direction.”