Page 74 of Total Obsession

The ones that did sometimes got what they wanted. Other times they were pulled into a cycle of misuse and abuse the likes of which would make even the most seasoned sex traffickers cringe. Lots of prostitution, forced pornography, and other irredeemable acts, all in exchange for a shot at the big screen.

"Tell me this, Mr. Galliway," I said to him when he'd wrapped up his last story about an 18-year-old actress he'd managed to sell to a wealthy foreigner for a chance at being in a movie, only to never hear from her again. "Miranda, was she your next victim?"

"Victim's a strong word," Matt said, trying to defend himself. "These girls ask for this! They know what they're getting into when they agree."

"Do they though, Mr. Galliway? Do they really? Or do they just think it's a quick blowie for a movie deal and instead, you Weinstein'd them into a world of abuse and prostitution?"

"They ask for it," Matt said again.

"Miranda," I repeated. "Was she next on your list?"

"She approached me about wanting the lead next season over Zoey."

I kept my face passive, but that was news to me, and very few things surprised me these days.

"Is that so," I replied.

"Said that Zoey was distracted. Not dedicated to the role. That the show would do better if the lead was shifted to her and Zoey's character became an afterthought."

"And what did you promise her?"

"I promised her that I would make that happen."

"If?" I coaxed.

"If she did what I told her to do."

"Well, Matt," I said, standing up, "I've listened to all of your sins."

"And?" he asked nervously. "You're going to let me go, right?"

"Not quite," I replied, unsheathing the shiv from my pocket.

As I plunged the object into his neck, the only thing on my mind was the little Polaroid that Zoey had kept for all these years.

twenty-four

AXE

"Hey, are you okay?" Zoey asked me as I turned over in the bed for the thousandth time that night.

"Fine," I replied to her. It was a lie, of course. I was not fine. I was burning up inside with rage. The more I thought about what Beau and Primo tried to do to me on Thanksgiving day, the angrier I became.

Not only was I becoming angry, but I was also becoming slightly paranoid. I recognized the signs in myself because I'd managed to grow them in other people over the course of the last decade. Never wanting to go out, always worried someone was watching you, the slightest noise causing your heart to spasm. It wasn't a pretty sight, and I felt like a weakling for breaking down this way.

"I'm going to get a glass of water," I said to Zoey, getting up out of the bed.

"Okay," she said sleepily. I knew she meant well, but her constantly pestering me with"are you okay?"questions was also wearing on my patience.

Everything as far as Zoey was concerned had been put on hold. The moment I’d found that Polaroid was the moment that changed everything. My heart just wasn't in it anymore. Which essentially meant that I had legitimately become her live-in boyfriend.

I walked into the kitchen and opened the freezer, letting the cool air do its best to calm me down. As I stood there, I wondered when everything got so fucked.

Johnny's words echoed in my brain. The ones that said I shouldn't be bothering with this scheme surrounding Zoey. That I was a man with no past and no future. I was just a man.

In a way he was right. By trying to satisfy something from my past through my future, I had certainly managed to fuck up my present.

Still though, the need for revenge against Zoey for everything that had happened to me and the way she'd betrayed me had burned in my soul for over a decade. That wasn't the sort of fire that you could just douse with a little bit of water. Especially not when I'd used a lot of my own political capital to create an amazing life for her. If I didn't eventually bring her to her knees, then I would have just gifted her fame, money, and glory.

---