Page 28 of One Week With My Dad's Best Friend

I’ve put up with her, but we’re over and I don’t know why she now thinks we can be friends. Or that I will bankroll her.

But she keeps turning up. Keeps on calling me, begging for another chance. Normally, when she’s had a drink.

I need to put a stop to it permanently and maybe I have gone too far to stop her. But as the police siren blares in the distance, I’m fine with my choice.

She suddenly realizes...it’s for her.

“I am going to sue you for every dollar you have. What you did is illegal and only when you can prove the recordings are deleted will I say it’s a mistake, or you can spend some time thinking about your actions in jail.”

She lunges at me, screeching. I step one foot to the side, and she falls. Her face slapping against the kitchen island.

She stumbles on her heels. “I’m going to tell them you hit me.” This time she is crying for real, holding the side of her reddened face. “It’ll be you that will be locked up. Not me.”

“For what?” I say, calmly.

She points her sharpened nail against her slowly bruising face. “This.”

I shake my head. “Nobody will believe I did that.”

She smirks. “Your little girlfriend will think you beat me up. Imagine if her daddy found out. Imagine what he would do to you.”

The sirens get closer to the house. She rips her blouse, exposing her red lacy bra. “Who will they believe? Me or you?”

My heart is pounding at this turn of events. Cassandra really is deluded, but worse, she is bat shit crazy.

The sirens stop. Moments later, there’s a knock at the door. I turn to Cassandra and say, “This is your last chance to be amenable.”

She laughs, her fingertips brushing over her cheek. She tilts her head and gives me a fake smile. “Or you can give me one million and I can make it go away.”

I close my eyes and shake my head, sorry that it came to this. “You’re going to claim I hurt you, that I did that.” I point at her cheek and at the ripped top. “And you’re blackmailing me?” I hiss.

“I could, and I would say you have a couple of minutes to decide.”

I growl, wanting to wrap my hands around her neck and hurt her for real. “If I pay, how do I know for sure you haven’t downloaded the videos or made a copy?”

She smiles. “Everything on my phone gets uploaded to the cloud, and once you agree and transfer the money, I can log in and delete it today.”

The knock comes harder this time, and I hope Scarlett is still sleeping. I don’t want her to be hurt by what Cassandra is doing to us.

“One million dollars and you give me everything, and you leave me alone forever?” I say. “Anything else?”

She swipes her tongue over her bottom lip. “This house.”

“No fucking way. This is my home.” I stroll down the hallway and head to the front door.

“Two million!” she yells, as my hand hovers over the handle. I turn to her and glare.

Then I open the door, beckoning the cops inside. I talk to them for a few minutes and then usher them into the kitchen. Glancing up the staircase as I do.

I don’t want Scarlett hearing anything if I can and hope to keep the scene in the kitchen.

Cassandra stands with her arms crossed over her chest, and I know she is waiting to play her trump card if I decide not to go along with her two million dollar threat.

I always thought Cassandra was slightly off balance. Now I knew she was not only crazy, but dangerous with it.

“Cassandra here broke into my house,” I say, and glance at her face. Her lips turn down into a scowl and her fingernails dig into her arms.

“He invited me here and tried to rape me,” she says, fake sobs release from her mouth as she grips the edges of her torn top, and tries to cover her bra.

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