"It's a misdemeanor in New York," Luke said, sighing heavily. "Even if someone is convicted, they would only get up to a year in jail. Most likely less, depending on their criminal history. You still have to get police to charge the person sharing the images. We'll do what we can."
"That's all we can do," I said and closed my eyes. "Why is he still doing this? It's been several years. Why can't he just move on?"
"He's obsessed," Luke said, his voice disgusted. "He wants you and he knows he can't have you, so he's going to try to hurt you and the people you care about. He's a psycho."
"I'm so sorry this all happened. It's the last thing we need."
"Shh," Luke said. "Let me take care of it, okay? You need to sleep and take care of yourself."
"Okay," I s
aid. "Thank you."
"I love you, Alexa. I'd do anything for you. You have to know that."
"I do know it," I said, my voice catching in my throat. "I love you."
We said goodbye and I ended the call, lying back on the bed, tears in my eyes.
I felt suddenly sick about it -- about Blaine and the bad choice I made when I met him. How could I have been so blind to what he was really like? I was so young and foolish...
Blaine was such a charmer at first, an older guy, so attentive and doting on me, praising me. He knew just what to say to make me feel desirable and important to him. Then, he started tightening the noose, little by little. Controlling what I did and who I spent time with. When I realized he was getting too controlling, when the sex became almost like punishment, I started to pull away. Finally, I left him. I had no idea he had been secretly filming me while we had sex. It wasn't making love -- far from it. For a while, it was almost rape, although I consented because I figured we were boyfriend and girlfriend. I didn't think I could say no and I didn't understand why he was becoming more and more rough during sex, like he was angry with me.
He must have had a hidden camera he used to film me, but if so, I never knew about it. I had no idea.
In the end, when he finally attacked me, I had no idea what he was planning. I was so glad to be free of him, I didn't ever think he'd actually try to hurt me. Then he did. I thought he was going to kill me. I was lucky that my neighbor saw what was happening and put a stop to it. Blaine had to know he was hurting me.
Then, when he finally let me go, I went right home, told my parents what happened, and went into hiding.
I hid from everything and everyone for two weeks, staying with friends of my mother's, a doctor and her husband, who let me stay in a guest suite in their huge house while I recuperated. The only people I spoke to where the police and my benefactors -- Janice and Nick -- and of course, my bestie.
I wouldn't have survived without Candace, but we had to be careful in case Blaine was watching her to find me. But we talked every day for as long as we could. She helped me get through it.
But Blaine's words stuck with me.
"You're mine, no matter what you do, Alexa..."
Those words were inscribed indelibly in my mind. I feared that I'd never forget them, or the tone of Blaine's voice when he said them.
My only hope was that, eventually, police would find him and charge him. He'd have a trial and would be behind bars. Then, I'd be safe. The police were ready to charge him, once they found him.
Blaine would spend the rest of his life in jail for attempted murder.
I might finally get some kind of peace.
Chapter Twelve
Luke
Pete wasn't all that encouraging about how to deal with the videos.
"We can contact the web hosts and demand they take down the video, using the threat of a lawsuit, and usually, that's good enough to get the host to remove the content."
"What if they won't?"
"We can go to the police, asking them to charge the individuals and companies involved, but they likely won't want to because of how hard it is to be successful. These websites are just hosts, most of them located outside the US in countries with no laws that prohibit the distribution of pornography. They aren't responsible for what members post. They ultimately will take the video down if I send a demand letter, but that won't stop Blaine or whoever has the video from reposting it somewhere else in some other equally obscure location that is out of US jurisdiction. Plus, once a video goes up, other people can easily copy it, and it will get shared on other websites. The video could be on hundreds of obscure websites already."
"What can we do about it?"