Page 122 of Edge of Unbroken

Holy hell, my feelings are all over the damn place. I’m fucking pissed. Undiluted rage courses through my veins, my right fist clenching and unclenching with unspeakable thoughts coming to life. I’ve never considered myself a gratuitously violent person, but fuck, I have a vivid desire to bash the guy’s skull in with my bare hands, to reach into his throat and rip his windpipe to shreds. It would feel fucking great, too.

I push the feelings deep down inside. They’re not helpful, and honestly, I don’t like it when I get like this, when I outright lose my shit, when I see nothing but a deep, dark red. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does I feel myself resemble my mother most closely. It scares me, especially after yesterday’s revelations.

I take a few steadying breaths, trying to collect and organize my thoughts. Right now I can’t deal with the piece of me that is deeply wounded by Cat sending pictures of her perfect, sacred body to some asshole while we were together. She shared something so vulnerable and intimate with someone who doesn’t deserve even a glimpse of her. I also can’t think too deeply about the things Cat did to come up with the money—the fact that she sold the hockey skates I gave her for her birthday, that she took some of Shane’s tips. I’ve had tips snatched from me before, and it sucked every time because I relied on them so heavily. What I need to focus on is Cat’s safety. Everything else is secondary to that.

“Is he asking you to send him a picture right now?” I ask, getting back to what started this whole mess.

“Yeah. That, and more money,” she croaks. “He always tells me not to ignore him, that if I don’t send him a picture within a few minutes, he’ll leak the others or… or sell them…” Her voice breaks, unleashing a tidal wave of fresh sobs.

I’m beginning to understand it’s even worse than I thought.

I grind my teeth. “Do you know where he is?”

“I… He just texted and said he needs more money and that he wouldn’t hate it if I sent him a new picture and… and then he said New York is nice in March…” Her cries morph into outright wails. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this powerless before, even when I was at my mother’s mercy.

“And I… There’s something else,” she says. I can’t think of a way this could possibly get worse, but I’ve been wrong before. “He… he was seeing this girl—Annalise. In January, he put her in the hospital. He beat her really badly, Ran. They had to do emergency brain surgery,” she tells me, the fear audible in her voice. “There’s a warrant out for his arrest. They’ve been looking for him. He’s on the run. That’s why he needs money, and… he’s hurt me before. I know what he can do. I’m so scared, Ran…”

I stand from my bed and resume my pacing. Maybe this asshole is just trying to scare her, and he’s obviously doing a grand fucking job, too. But I know what he’s capable of and I’m aware there’s a pretty good chance this guy is back in New York. I’m hoping against all hope that, even if he is, he hasn’t figured out I’m not around to provide Cat with protection. Regardless, I’m certainly not going to let her go without.

I know what I need to do. I need to get home—I just don’t know how to do it.

But first things first. “Is your front door locked?”

“Uh…” I hear her walk down the stairs in her house. “Yes.”

“When’s your mom getting back?” I know there’s no point in telling her to call her mom now. Her mom puts her phone on Do Not Disturb whenever she’s with a patient. She wouldn’t even receive Cat’s call.

“She said a couple of hours.”

“Okay. Baby?”

“Yeah?” God, she sounds so tired, so emotionally exhausted, and I yearn to wrap her into my arms.

“Do not send this asshole any more photos. Do not respond to his messages. Ignore him!” I tell her, my voice firm and cooler than I want it to be. I gotta get control of my emotions—the hurt, the anger, the fear, and all the other unproductive feelings battling it out in my head and heart.

“But, Ran, he’ll—”

“No, he won’t,” I say. “Trust me, he isn’t going to post shit. This threat… that’s his only power over you. It’s the only way he can ensure he gets money and fresh…” I trail off. God, I can’t believe this fucking asshole has nude photos of my girl. Shit,Idon’t even have nude photos of my girl. “I’m confident he won’t post or sell them. At least not yet.” I wouldn’t put it past him to do exactly that once he realizes he’s lost his grip on Cat. But we’ll deal with that if and when that happens, I guess.

“But what if he does, Ran?”

“Then he does. Whatever. Plenty pictures of naked girls on the internet.” I try to downplay it, but I can’t say that I’m fond of the idea of Cat being exposed like that. It makes me sick to my stomach. Man, that shit has to be illegal, right?

Fuck, yes, of course it is! I’ve heard of revenge porn and sextortion and all that shit. Man, we’ve been given lectures at school about that—ad nauseum reminders to always seek consent before engaging in anything sexual, about the dangers of sharing intimate photos and videos, how it’s illegal to send them to others, especially if the people in the pictures are minors.

“You need to tell your mom, baby. You need to get the cops involved.”

“The cops arealreadyinvolved, Ran! They’re already looking for him.”

I sigh. “Yeah, okay.” I’m dismayed to think that they’ve been unable to hunt him down, that he’s able to extort money from Cat without getting caught. Isn’t there a way to track this fucker? “But you still need to tell your mom. If you’re too scared to tell her about the money and… about the damn pictures, then at least tell her he’s contacting you again, okay? I need… fuck, I just need you to be safe.”

Another long moment of near-complete silence passes between us, marred only by my deep exhales as I try to simmer the fuck down and her quiet cries.

“Baby, I’m… I’ll call you right back, okay?” I say abruptly.

“Why? What are you doing?” she asks, slightly panicky.

“Just… I’ll call you right back. Door’s locked, right?” I assure myself even though she already told me it was.

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