She reaches her car as Finn is just entering the parking lot, me a little way behind, and now we have the advantage because she still needs to unlock the door and get inside and put the keys in the ignition. It’s as we approach her that my attention is taken by something else – a man off to the side with brightly-dyed hair, smirking and watching us with his phone raised in front of him, clearly taking pictures or video of the whole thing.
And something comes back to me just at that moment, as he takes a picture and the light on his phone camera flashes. I remember last night, thinking I saw a flash of light, thinking I heard the noise from outside the room a little louder. I opened my eyes and the door was closed, and I thought that I must have imagined it. But now I know. If someone managed to open the door and get their phone angled inside, and then took a picture with the flash on…
“Wait, Lexie, please!” Finn shouts, but Alex’s attention has been drawn to that man now too, and she stares at him with an angry gesture as he takes another shot.
“What are you doing?” she shouts, half-in her car, almost ready to take off. “Stop taking pictures!”
And then Finn’s steps falter, and I almost run right into him. Because he’s also staring at the man with his phone – a man who is now openly laughing and grinning at what he sees.
“Robiye?” Finn asks, and I know then that he knows this man – and by the tone of Finn’s voice, I’m guessing that he might just be the source of all of our troubles so far.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Finn
I stare at him, open-mouthed. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. I know for a fact that Robiye isn’t a student, and nor does he teach in any way. There’s no reason for him to be here on campus, that I know about at all. Which means that he’s here on purpose – to document the fallout of his plan.
He’s the one who sent the picture to the paper. The one who told them she was underage to try to ruin my reputation. I can see that now. He’s such a petty little man and always has been. After I ignored him in our meeting, he clearly didn’t take it too kindly.
I see it all in a flash. I understand everything. Everything, that is, except for this ridiculous over-reaction. It was a meeting. If you want to get revenge, you take your business elsewhere – you don’t try to ruin a man’s personal life.
“Hi, Finn,” Robiye says cheerfully, waving at me. “Smile for the camera.”
“You smug little idiot,” I hiss, advancing towards him. He takes a step back, hiding behind a car, though the camera is still trained on me. “You took that picture, didn’t you? You made up that story.”
“I didn’t make it all up,” Robiye says. “You were still sleeping with your daughter’s best friend. Even if it isn’t against the law, it’s still a pretty good story. I can think of a few blogs that are going to love running with this footage.”
I growl low in my throat, moving towards him again. Now, the only thing between us is Lexie’s car. She’s still half-standing, one foot in the driver’s side and one on the ground, holding onto the door for balance, watching us uncertainly. “You set me up,” I say, shaking my head at him with fury. “Because I wasn’t interested in your presentation?”
“That’s right, Finn,” Robiye says, pouting as he poses with one hand on his hip, the other still holding the phone aloft. “So you’d better not cross me again. I’m a superstar, and you’d better start treating me that way if you know what’s good for you.”
“For god’s sake,” I snarl, moving to go around the car towards him. “You think I care about that right now? Your presentation was boring, Robiye. I don’t like your art and I never have. It’s a commercial dross. Take it to another gallery and get out of my face, before I shove that phone down your throat.”
Robiye makes a strangled noise – whether fear or anger or disgust, I can’t tell – and scampers backward, down the path beside the parking lot and further out of reach. I make another lunge forward and he turns to make his escape, out of my field of reach, blessedly sparing himself from the beating I would give him if I had the time, space, and I could be sure there were no legal consequences.
But right now, time is the last thing I have. Because I have to stop my daughter from getting away before this anger she feels now drives a permanent wedge between us.