Page 53 of Brazen Mistakes

“Yup.”

“Yikes. You make me want to shut down my socials, like, today.”

“I’ve got a list of posts you should at least set to private, if you’d like. And after the Bryce thing, I have a new proximity alert for your phone.”

I lean into him. “Are you taking care of me?”

“Of course.”

We kiss, quiet, until he pulls back. “I should probably keep teaching, or Trips will be on both of our asses.”

“Do we mind?”

“Usually, no. But you have a scary amount to learn in a very short period. So for now, we should at least attempt to focus.”

I sigh and turn back to the monitors, RJ’s hand resting higher on my hip this time. “How do you pick your targets?” I ask, forcing my brain back into the game.

“It used to just be rich assholes that I found, both local and not. I didn’t want there to be any major patterns for the feds to sus out. Now, though, I’ve got a hit list, and it keeps getting longer.”

“Isn’t that risky?”

“Yeah. But I want the feds to get suspicious. I want them to dig into these bastards.”

“Who are you targeting?”

His arms band around my waist, his lips warm on my cheek. “Tell me to stop if you need me to.”

“Stop what?” I ask, leaning into him.

“Explaining.”

I twist to look at him, and his face is grim. “How bad?”

“You know how Bryce was part of some kind of pedophile co-op ring?”

The shiver that courses through me has nothing to do with the temperature. “Yeah.”

“Well, I’ve been tracking down the members, finding other groups like Bryce’s, mapping them out, getting every detail possible, and then robbing them.”

My heart stills as I turn to look at this man. “You’ve been hunting down pedophiles and leaving them penniless?”

He nods.

I’ve flung myself at him before I’ve fully turned, scrambling to press my lips to his, tears damp on my cheeks as my mind spins. He’s been hunting them. And I’ve never been so glad to have stumbled onto the wrong side of the law as I am right now.

Warrants and ethics handicap the police, the rule of law, jurisdiction and evidence beyond a reasonable doubt stall them. Justice stymied by the need to convince twelve strangers to agree with them.

RJ’s free to find a thread and pull until it unravels.

And while he can’t put these monsters in cages, he can strip them of their power.

Without funds, these guys won’t be able to buy videos of girls like me. Girls and boys younger than me, who never consented to be a part of this. Who couldn’t consent.

The monsters still need to be tossed in a windowless box, though.

Squeezing RJ tight, I wipe my cheeks on his shirt. “RJ, this is amazing. Are you passing off any of the threads you find to the police?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know how I could get the info to them without incriminating myself.”

---