Page 86 of Let Me
Caden’s fist lands on the mirror beside the front door and it shatters into a hundred pieces, the sound piercing.
I won’t have to tell them after all. Rolland is here to confess. But I feel sick. Because even I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what happened after the phone stopped recording.
Caden whirls around, blood over his knuckles—I can see it even in the darkness—and his eyes are wild. “If you make one more comment like that,” he says calmly, totally at odds with how he looks, “I will slit your goddamn throat.”
Benji is silent.
I’m barely breathing.
I have an irrational urge to run to Caden, to kiss his bloody knuckles. But I sit on my hand that’s not in Benji’s, and don’t move.
Silence rings through in the aftermath of the shattered glass.
Finally, Benji clears his throat. “Tell me the story behind the video,” he says again, as if there’s been no interruption.
Rolland’s eyes flick to me once more, but he doesn’t say anything stupid. Instead, he shrugs.
“You watched it. What does it look like happened, Mr. Silva?”
Benji’s hand tightens around mine. “Don’t play games with me.”
Rolland laughs. He jerks his head to Caden. “I think this kid is the one playing games,” he says, and shocking me, Caden says nothing, just keeps pacing, blood pouring down his hand.
“Let me explain this to you, Mr. Virani,” Benji says, voice dark. “If you don’t tell me precisely what happened before and after the events in that video, if you don’t tell mewhois in it, I’ll fucking gut you. I will run a knife from your head to your balls, and I’ll be slow about it. So please, let’s get on with this.” His words are so calm, I’m scared. And I don’t even have balls.
I can see, in the moonlight from outside the window at my back, Rolland’s face pales.
“Very well,” he says after he clears his throat. “Riley,” he nods in my direction, and my skin crawls, as it always does around him, “came to me in a time of need. I offered her platonic comfort and she…well…she wanted to take it further.”
“You didn’t stop her?” Benji asks before Caden can say anything. BeforeIcan say anything.
Rolland leans back on the couch, spreads his arms around the back of it, as if he’s completely relaxed. “Oh, son, there’s no stopping Riley Larson when she wants something.” A smile tugs at the corners of his mouth.
I feel my temper rising again.
This is about me.
Benji doesn’t get to interrogate him and let him slander me. And since we’re all here, it’s time everyone knew the fucking truth. I can own my mistake. My fuck up. Concealing the truth. But it’s time for Rolland Virani to own his.
I stand up, shrugging out of Benji’s grip.
“Riley,” Caden calls, but I ignore him too. I cross around the table, until I’m standing directly in front of Rolland, and I see his eyes spark at the challenge. He sits up straight, brings his hands to his lap.
“You’re a fucking liar,” I say, chest heaving. I point at him as I talk, and his twisted smile widens. “A fucking liar. Tell them the truth.” Now I point at Caden. “Tell your son the truth about what you did to me. Tell him you put your filthy hands all over me, when I came to your house, running away from my mom’s fucking boyfriend.” Those words come out hoarse and my lip trembles.
I see the smallest flicker of a shadow cross Rolland’s face. But it’s not enough. Not nearly enough.
“I ran away, looking for a place to stay.”I take a deep breath, swallowing back the tears. I won’t cry over this shit again. “And you drugged me. You fucking drugged me and you put your filthy hands all over me when I ran away from Mom’s because one of her piece of shit boyfriends tried to rape me.” The words are strangled in my throat.
“And you…you took advantage of that.”
I turn to Caden, and he’s completely still, staring at me, awestruck. His face is full of pain. “That video isn’t the half of it. Jack was on a tour. You were…you were at school.” I bite my lip and shake my head and Caden looks as if I’m gutting him.
“I wasn’t there,” he says softly, as if this could somehow possibly be his fault.
I shake my head. “It wasn’t you,” I say. “You had nothing to do with this.” I gesture toward Rolland, at my side, and blink through the tears. “You had nothing to do with this, Caden.Hedid it. And I couldn’t tell him no, I couldn’t move, because I was drugged. I don’t know what happened after the video clip. I don’t fucking know because I passed out. And I didn’t send it to Jack. He threatened me against showing anyone, and I never would have sent it to Jack. Never.”
Silence again.
