Page 131 of Red Flag
My feet were tapping. No. Nix was already a mess. This… this could not happen. This was prison time. This was the loss ofhis job. That was hislife.
“VinnyGarvsraped me,” I blurted. “Use that. Take that.”
“Livie, what?” Raay cried.
“On Thursday, 10th August, we went out to a bar after my dad’s funeral. Drunk, he took me to my apartment where he drugged me and raped me. I’m the girl in the picture that leaked. I have proof.” I said it robotically. Facts and nothing more. “I’ll send you a picture of my tattoo that proves it.”
I put her on speaker, already searching for the picture Ben had taken when we first got them done.
Raayswallowed. “Livie… you can’t protect your client that much. This is your life that—”
And I would do anything with that life to protect him. Anything.
“I have the tattoo that proves it’s me. Let me send it over.” My phone made a wooshing sound as the email left my drafts.
“But…Livie…” She took in a deep breath. “I’m so sorry to ask, but do you have proof it was rape? A rape test taken? DNA? This isn’t the news story you want to publish. It would ruin your life.”
“I didn’t have… no. I—I didn’t really come to terms with it until recently.”
There was a pause beforeRaaysaid, “I’m sorry, Olivia. But this conversation never happened. I’m not releasing that. It would ruin you. And theGarvstrial is literally weeks away.”
If she didn’t, it would ruin Nix.
“Please,” I begged.
They’d done this before when it came toVinny. They’d published article after article about him.
With the trial coming up… surely, they would love to use this explosive to bring more attention to it.
No, they probably just wanted it all to go away.
“You can’t say it was me, but you can say I told you the story,” I pleaded. “Raay—”
“I’ve got to go,” she said, her voice strained.
I was not going to lose him. I would do anything.
Even if it was against my better nature. Or Nix’s wishes.
My mouth was dry when I asked, “Raay, what about an affair?”
Chapter 27
For the next week, my schedule kept on being interrupted by nervous pees. During aCiclatiSprint2’sinterview, taking questions from the perspective new members of the team. Team meetings, answering questions from journalists when the news broke aboutAlv’sdeath.
The questions over the rider changes.
The next month would be one of more changes acrossStormSprint. It was the cut-off for anyone planning to retire to give their notice and when the offers of new contracts were given.
Ciclati Sprint2 and Sprint3 were going to have some serious movement.
Nix was taking a little break. He’d asked me to join him back in France for the week between races, but I used the media whirlwind overAlv’spassing as an excuse not to fly back.
I couldn’t face him, knowing what I’d done.
Because I hadn’t signed an NDA.
Because he trusted me.
