Greg looks past Parker long enough to find me, lifting his brows over anxious eyes, silently asking if I'm okay. I nod, gathering the ripped edges of my T-shirt to cover my breasts. Even though my knees are so weak it feels like they’re filled with méringue instead of cartilage.
Parker looks over his shoulder at me, his mouth distorted into a self-assured smile.
"You stupid bitch." He turns his back on Greg, pointing to him over his shoulder. "You think some beat cop can take me down? Even with what you think you have recorded, it won't be enough to keep me. Real power. That's what I have. You have no idea."
"I think I have an idea, son," Aunt Betsy says from the door leading to my bedroom.
All of this was worth it if only to see the consternation and shame briefly flash across Parker’s face.
“Mother, what are you doing here?” His eyes flick between Aunt Betsy and me like she caught us playing house or doctor. Like she caught him with his hands down my pants.
“I’m here to do what your father should have done years ago.” She hands him a manila envelope, her eyes sad and condemning. “I’m here to stop you.”
He doesn’t open the envelope immediately, caressing the seal instead.
“Whatever is in here, Mother, cannot touch me.”
“Your father is a fool who believes our money makes him invincible and above the law, and he raised you to believe the same. I should have intervened long ago.” Aunt Betsy nods her head to the envelope. “I didn’t know all the awful things you’ve done, but I know now, and it’s never too late.”
Parker’s eyes flicker from me to his mother before settling on the envelope still unopened in his hands. I have no idea what’s in there. My mother and Aunt Betsy do, though. It’s their plan, and since the only alternative involved me baring my nether parts for the world’s inspection, I’ve yielded to their infinite wisdom.
When Parker opens the envelope, he pales, his face a white flag of surrender before he’s said one word.
“Where did you get this?” he asks too softly. “Does Dad know you have it?”
“The combination of his safe is our anniversary date.” Aunt Betsy’s laughter is a peal of sarcasm. “He must have been feeling sentimental that day since this is the only way he’s chosen to honor our marriage.”
“When Dad finds out—”
“Then what, Charles?” Aunt Betsy draws up to her full height. “You and your father seem to forget half of everything is mine. More than half since the original hotels came from my great-grandfather. Renaming them ‘Park’ doesn’t change where they came from.”
“When he hears about this—”
“Oh, he’s already heard.” Aunt Betsy comes to join me on the love seat. “I believe there’s a note from him in there, too. Something about you still not learning your lesson and abusing girls. That one was a very costly mistake. It’d be such a waste of the money he spent covering it up if I were to bring it out myself.”
“You could actually leak it through Spotted,” I pipe up. “Parker has a guy on standby. He’s always got a guy.”
“I am deeply sorry I ever thought my son was good enough for you, Bristol.” Aunt Betsy brushes the hair back from my face and drops a kiss on my forehead. “I’m glad you’ve found someone worth your time.”
“Worth her time?” Incredulous rage mottles Parker’s handsome face. “That thug? That . . . rapper? You would give Bristol to him over me? She humiliated me, and she shoul
d pay.”
“What am I paying for exactly, Parker?” I cross to stand in front of him, my anger propelling me just inches from his face. “Did I leak pictures of you drunk to the press? Did I drug you and lead you to believe we had sex when I was for all intents and purposes unconscious? Did I coerce you to have public sex to satisfy my own outsized ego? Did I plant drugs on an innocent man and blackmail judges to manipulate his case?”
“You chose him over me,” Parker says grimly. “With all I could give you, you wanted some rapper from Compton over me.”
“Even if it hadn’t been Grip, it would never have been you,” I
hiss.
“I think this has gone long enough,” my mother says from the same entrance Aunt Betsy used. “We have enough to prosecute you, Parker. Not for life, but you’ll serve some time. We’re only giving Officer James what he has on tape, but we have a never-ending stream of evidence from your father's safe. We’ll just keep sending it to Officer James until enough sticks to keep you behind bars.”
"You've already given us enough to free Marlon and clear his name." The tears gathered at the corners of Aunt Betsy’s eyes leak down her face as she contemplates her only son. “And enough to prosecute you.”
My heart breaks for her. I can’t imagine how she wrestled with this decision before settling on the right course of action to set an innocent man free. I set all the soft feelings aside, though, to step right into Parker’s face, my lips curling with deliberate wrath.
“If you ever, and I mean ever, you cowardly asshole, come near me or Grip again,” I say. "More of that information will come out. Call it our insurance policy. If Grip even has a suspicious paper cut, I'm coming after your ass."