My fingers tighten into fists as I read between the lines. “So you not only taped Hadley without her consent, but you are the reason the video exists?”
The congressman nods, eyes cast downward.
Hadley speaks up in a blatant attempt to defuse the situation. “But did this man request that you videotape us? I mean, if you didn’t know him, then how would he know you even had a video?”
Westhaven’s jaw muscles tighten before he explains, “Six months ago, I almost faced voyeurism charges, but somehow the women making the allegations recanted their statements before charges could be made.”
The pieces finally begin to come together and I’m not liking what’s being laid out before us. “You’re basically telling us that you were contacted recently and threatened to hand over the video, and if you didn’t the world would know about you being a voyeur?”
“That’s right,” the congressman says.
I watch him for a long moment. A man who appears to have it all, and yet has far dirtier secrets than I could possibly fathom. I came here tonight hoping he was our guy and this would be over. I stare at him, looking past all his defenses, searching for signs that he’s lying.
There are just none to be found.
It guts me that I finally have to say to the congressman, “Go.”
“What?” both he and Hadley snap in unison.
I glare at the congressman. “Get out of here before I change my mind and go back in there and tell your very sweet wife about all the things she doesn’t know you do.”
He leaves without further enticement from me or a final look at Hadley, indicating just how little she meant to him, which annoys me even more. Oh, the things I want to do to that man. Not only for Hadley, but for violating all of the women he taped without their consent.
The second the heavy door slams shut, Hadley spins around to me. “Please tell me why you told him to leave. We have nothing more than what we came here with.”
I sigh, fighting against wanting so desperately to protect her and knowing there isn’t a damn thing I can do right now. “He’s being blackmailed, too,” I tell her gently. “I believe what he told us, and wasting any more time here is not going to get us anywhere. But he did tell us something important.”
“Which is?”
“Whoever is doing this has access to police records, which means we’re dealing with someone in the highest levels of power.”
I instantly regret what I’ve said, as the color slowly begins to drain out of her face.
“And we have what?” She gasps, eyes darting from side to side. “A little over twenty-four hours to not only find them, but stop them.”
Right then, I realize three things simultaneously.
One, twenty-four hours doesn’t seem as long to Hadley as it does to me.
Two, her strength does have a breaking point.
Three, I’ve just reached it.
Chapter 11
Hadley
The stairwell begins to somersault around me, and I can’t tell the difference between the cement on the floor and the cement above me. I grip the cool railing to remain upright, my skin flushing hot. “What are we going to do now?” I ask Ryder. My heart slams against my chest, sweat gathering along my spine, and my throat squeezes tighter and tighter. “We know nothing. We have nothing. Tomorrow the video’s going to hit the world, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”
“Hadley.”
I hear Ryder call out to me, but he sounds so far away. My feet move to get help, to run away, to do something instead of standing here doing nothing. “We have twenty-four hours, that’s it.” I spin around and stride past Ryder, who’s standing calmly at the door, arms crossed. “And now we have nothing to go on. No names. No leads. Nothing.”
“Hadley.”
Again, his voice is there, yet off in the distance. Calm in the middle of a raging storm, but my head is swimming. “Soon, the world is going to see me doing things…” Sweat begins to form between my dress and my skin, and the room spins wildly again. “Oh, God, my father is going to see it. My mother…”
“Hadley.”