Chapter 18
1067 Words
Kaden POV
Rory Finch.
The name sat in my head like a live wire.
Ex-security contractor.
Dad’s old mistake.
And right now, the guy watching my step-sister sleep.
I didn’t sleep after Dad told me.
Keira fell back asleep around 5 AM, curled on her side of my bed.
I didn’t move her.
Didn’t want to.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw that camera in the vent.
Pointed right at her bed.
If I ever got my hands on Rory, he wouldn’t get up again.
At 7 AM, Mrs. Hale texted: Address. Rory’s last known location. Be careful.
I stared at it for 10 seconds.
Then I shook Keira awake.
“We’re going,” I said.
Her eyes were bleary, scared.
“Now?”
“Now.”
She didn’t argue.
She just got dressed and followed me out before Mom and Dad were awake.
We couldn’t go to the cops yet.
If Rory knew we were coming, he’d vanish.
And I needed answers.
Face to face.
---
Rory’s place was a one-story rental on the edge of town.
Peeling paint.
Blinds drawn.
A van in the driveway with tinted windows.
I killed the engine two houses down.
“Stay in the car,” I told Keira.
She crossed her arms.
“No.”
“Keira—”
“If he’s been watching me, I’m seeing his face,” she said.
“I’m done being scared in the backseat.”
I wanted to argue.
I didn’t.
Because she was right.
This was her life too.
We approached from the side.
Back door.
Unlocked.
Stupid.
Or a trap.
I went first.
Keira stayed close behind me, breathing quiet but fast.
The inside smelled like stale coffee and metal.
Monitors lined one wall.
Three screens.
All of them showing our house.
Different angles.
Live.
My blood went cold.
He’d been watching us this morning.
Keira made a sound behind me.
I turned and pulled her against my chest before she could see the screen with her in my bed.
“Don’t look,” I said.
Too late.
Her face went white.
“Rory!” I shouted.
Footsteps from the hallway.
He came out slow, hands up, smiling like we were old friends.
early 20s
Short hair.
Eyes that didn’t blink enough.
“Well, well,” he said.
“If it isn’t the West heir and his little problem.”
“Turn the screens off,” I said.
“Or what?” Rory said.
“You’ll hit me?
Go ahead.
Then I post everything I’ve got.”
He tapped his phone.
“I’ve got 47 videos, Kaden.
You carrying her to bed when she had the flu.
You kissing her forehead when she cried about her dad.
You calling her mate in the library.
Want me to send them to St. Claire Confessions?”
Keira’s hand gripped my shirt.
Hard.
I stepped forward.
Rory didn’t flinch.
“Why?” I said.
“Why us?”
“Your dad screwed me over five years ago,” Rory said.
“Cost me my license, my contract, my name.
Said I ‘misused surveillance.’
I was doing what he told me to do.”
“So you’re taking it out on us?” Keira said.
Her voice was shaking, but she said it.
Rory grinned.
“You two are the perfect leverage.
He loves you both.
In different ways.”
I saw red.
I moved before I thought about it.
Grabbed him by the shirt, slammed him against the wall.
“Delete it,” I growled.
He laughed.
“It’s backed up.
Cloud.
Three locations.”
Keira stepped between us.
“Kaden, stop.”
I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
Not when he was talking about her like that.
“Delete it now,” I said, “or I swear to god—”
“Or what?” Rory said.
“You’ll hurt me?
Your dad’s lawyers will love that.”
Keira put her hand on my chest.
Her eyes met mine.
“Don’t become him,” she said quietly.
That stopped me.
I let go.
Rory slid down the wall, still smiling.
“Smart girl,” he said.
“But it doesn’t matter.
I’ve already sent the first clip.”
My stomach dropped.
“To who?” Keira asked.
Rory’s smile got wider.
“To everyone.”
His phone buzzed.
Then mine.
Then hers.
A notification popped up on Keira’s screen.
St. Claire Confessions just posted: EXCLUSIVE. West step-siblings caught on camera.
I grabbed her phone.
The video was loading.
It was the library.
Me, caging her in.
Me saying Mate.
Her face in the frame.
Terrified.
And not entirely.
The comments were already rolling in.
“DISGUSTING.”
“I knew it.”
“Expel them both.”
Keira’s knees buckled.
I caught her before she hit the floor.
“Delete it,” I said to Rory.
One last time.
No anger.
Just promise.
He shook his head.
“Too late.”
I looked at Keira.
Her eyes were wet, but she wasn’t crying.
She was pissed.
“Okay,” she said.
“Then we fight back.”
Rory frowned.
“What?”
She pulled out of my arms and walked to his desk.
Picked up his phone.
“Your cloud password.
Now.”
Rory laughed.
“Not happening.”
Keira held the phone out to him.
“I have your location.
I have your IP.
I have you admitting to illegal surveillance on recording.
Give me the password, or I send all of it to your old employer.
And to the FBI.”
Rory’s face changed.
For the first time, he looked scared.
“Keira,” I said.
“Don’t.”
She looked at me.
“I’m not afraid of him anymore.
Are you?”
No.
Not with her standing like that.
Rory gave her the password.
She deleted everything.
All 47 videos.
All the photos.
All the backups.
Then she turned the phone over to me.
“Call the cops,” she said.
I did.
As we waited for them to arrive, Keira leaned against me.
Quiet.
Shaking.
“You okay?” I asked.
“No,” she said.
“But I will be.”
I pulled her close.
“Me too.”
The video was down in 12 minutes.
But the damage was done.
School would be hell tomorrow.
I didn’t care.
As long as she was with me.
- Writer
