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“Heading out of here in about an hour,” he replies. “Text me when you get home and when you get to Tracy and Brandon’s,” he adds, like I would forget.
“Will do,” I say. “I’m going to go. I’ll stop at Del’s and then head home.” I give him this update again, making sure he knows where I am at all times.
“Alright, babe,” Ethan says, kissing me, and I close my eyes, loving the way he feels when his lips touch mine. I have never been so happy in my whole life and as crazy as it sounds, I wouldn’t change anything about what has happened to us, since I know I end up here with him.
I say goodbye and find Eric in the hallway waiting for me.
I make it over to Delaney and Alex’s house quickly since I’m now driving everywhere. I miss walking all over Badger Creek, but I know it makes Ethan more comfortable if I drive, and with Eric with me, I would have to make small talk with him, walking the twenty minutes or else he’d look like my shadow following behind me.
I don’t bother knocking, using my key to let myself in, and Eric tells me he’ll wait outside the door unless he wants me to check the house before I enter.
I shake my head, trying not to let the annoyance of that question reflect on my face. I’m not having him search my best friend’s house. If anything, I’d have him search it to make sure Del and Alex are safe, but there’s no way I need him to check up on these two. Like Ethan feels about Brandon and Tracy, I feel the same way about Alex and Delaney. I trust them with my life.
“Hey!” Delaney calls jumping up from the couch. “I love when you just let yourself in. It reminds me of when we used to live together.”
“I know! I miss your face and miss living here with you,” I reply, hugging her as she greets me near the kitchen.
“Everything is right here,” she says, indicating to a pile of mail sitting on the island. “I’m sure most of it is junk, but I didn’t want to throw anything out without having you go through it first.”
I’m thumbing through the envelopes as she talks, tossing a few flyers and ads right into the trash. There’s only a couple of things worth keeping and then I come to a large white envelope. It was on the bottom of the pile, and it has my name and the address hand-written with a black marker on the front.
I turn it over in my hand, looking to see if it has a return address on it, but there’s nothing but a few stamps on the front with a Tahoe postmark on it.
“That just came today,” Delaney says, shrugging. “It was weird, which is why I texted you.”
I open it quickly, finding what appears to be a bunch of papers inside, but when I slide them out, I see that they’re pictures. Grainy and black and white, like they were taken from a distance and when I take in what is on them, I gasp out loud.
“What is it?” Delaney instantly asks, coming to stand next to me, her hand resting on my arm. Her whispered, “What the fuck,” tells me she has gotten a good look at what is on the pictures.
Each picture is me naked and in the hot tub with Ethan. There are also shots of me fully nude standing up to enter and exit the hot tub.
I can feel my heart racing, the blood pumping so hard and fast that it’s the only sound that fills my ears for a few seconds. Embarrassment turns to rage, and I swear that when they find this guy, I’m going to make him pay.
I turn one of the pictures over and find that same black-marker handwriting covering the back of the picture. And what it says, has me livid. He’s hitting me everywhere, and I’m starting to think this has more to do with money than anything.
“Wonder how the public would feel about seeing the Holden local heiress like this, princess. Don’t worry, I sent them to your parents too. Fifty grand a pic and I won’t release them to the public.”
“This is fucking blackmail,” Delaney yells out, slamming her hand down on the counter. “Does he think you’re just going to hand over…” Delaney pauses, mentally counting the number of pictures this guy sent, “like half a million dollars?”
I don’t know,” I reply, shaking the envelope out, thinking I missed something, but nothing materializes. “When did this come?”
“Today. It was in today’s mail. Do you think your parents got it today too?” she asks, and as much as I want to rush over there and do damage control, I’ve done nothing wrong. These pictures were taken without my permission, in the privacy of my home.
He’s trying to take all the places I feel safe and make them my worst nightmare, but again, he doesn’t get to win.
“Do you think the detective could get prints off the envelope?” Delaney now asks, and while I appreciate her thoughts, there’s no way the detective can get anything off of this. It’s been through the post office, and I have no clue how many hands would have touched it then. Delaney’s prints are on it too, and Alex’s probably and now mine.
“I doubt it, but I’m going to have him meet me at Ethan’s to give him the envelope and pictures,” I tell her, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. “I gotta go. I have Tracy’s bachelorette party to get to.”
“You’re still going?” Delaney asks, sounding more shocked than anything.
“Fuck yes, I’m tired of letting this motherfucker win,” I announce, walking to the door, the mail tucked under my arm, the pictures in my hand.
“You fucking tell him, Zoey Holden,” Delaney says, a smile on her face as she tries to hide her concern. “Text me when you get back to Ethan’s and when you get to the bachelorette party,” she now adds.
“Will do.”
I storm out of her house, Eric falling in line right behind me, and when we reach the car, closing the doors, I shove the envelope and pictures at Eric.
