He used his master key to let me into my apartment, gave me one final offer to help however he could, and then he left me alone. I walked around my apartment, inspecting everything. Nothing seemed out of place. Which wasn’t surprising, since they were here to take photos. The photos Sandra Trout had shown in the meeting today, linking the painting above my bed to the one always visible on my OnlyFans page.
The humility of that meeting washed over me anew, and I fell into bed and cried some more.
I had lost everything. My job, my anonymity, my house. My relationships with Michael and August, probably. They wouldn’t want to be with someone who had sex on camera for money. They would be disgusted with me. My professional relationship with Kai was almost certainly over, too. I shivered as I thought about what Sandra might have planned for him. Assuming she knew he was that man in the videos with me. She probably knew, which is why she had chosen to show one of my solo videos. To temporarily blackmail Kai. Or to draw out his humiliation.
Regardless, I had lost everything. All because, months ago, I had decided to create an OnlyFans page. That page was supposed to be my rope out of the bottomless pit of poverty. Instead, I had hanged myself with it.
All of it made me feel powerless. No matter how hard I had tried, life had found a way to kick my legs out from under me, and then keep me down with more blows. There was no point in resisting. All I could do was lay in bed, and weep, and let it all happen.
But it hasn’t all happened yet.
Sandra Trout had already destroyed my job, and my relationships with Kai, Michael, and August. But she hadn’t told my parents yet. Right now, they didn’t know anything.
It was a small thing, but they didn’t need to hear it from Sandra. I could head her off at the pass, so to speak. It would be a small victory, but damnit, it was something.
I won’t let you show them that video, I thought while grabbing my coat.I’ll tell them myself.
56
Kai
We drove back to Sandra’s office in her black SUV. She rode in the back by herself, while I sat up front with the driver. The wealthy billionaire separated from the help by a black glass divider.
She knew. Not just about Ginny, but about me, too. Yet she hadn’t revealed my dirty secret in the conference room. She chose to show one of ThiccGinger’sprivatevideos, even though the ones with me were far more provocative.
But why?
The driver pulled up in front of her office building and held the door for her. Sandra walked out without so much as acknowledging him. “Kai, can you verify the slide deck before our lunch meeting with the dean of the community college? I want to make sure we included the updated blueprints for the new divinity school.”
“How?” I asked. My voice was hoarse, and I had to work moisture into my mouth. “How did you do this?”
If the change of subject surprised her, she gave no sign. “You’re not the only person I send to do my dirty work,” she said, never slowing as we walked down the marble-floored hallway. “And speaking of dirty work. You two have been up to quite the trouble together. Those depraved sexual acts… why, I almost couldn’t stand to watch.”
She turned and smiled evilly. “But I did watch. I’m only human, after all. I didn’t know my assistant had such a variety of talents outside of office work.”
I felt the power dynamic between us shift. It was already unbalanced—her a billionaire through her marriage to Richard Trout, and me a lowly assistant—but now the scales were viciously lopsided.
“Are you going to fire me?” I asked.
A doorman held open the elevator for us and said hello. Sandra strode inside while pretending not to notice him. Or maybe she really didn’t notice. “You aren’t fired, Kai. Oh no. You were my employee before, but now? Now you’re truly mine. A paycheck and benefits can only go so far, butleverage?Leverage is how one attains true loyalty. You’re going to continue doing your job. You will not complain. Nor will you take random sick days. From this point on, you are my loyal servant.”
The elevator door opened, but she made no move to exit. “And if you refuse… well, it doesn’t matter, because you’re not going to refuse. You’re going to be a good boy.” She patted my cheek, then walked out onto the floor.
I felt trapped as I followed her. I had no options, and the walls were closing in. Soon, I knew, it would be too late to escape. But what could I do?
You always have options. That’s something my dad had told me when I insisted I could never see Mom again.You always have options, even when it seems like you don’t. You just have to try harder.
My mind flailed around like a drowning person, fingers grasping for a life preserver. An idea formed. It was flimsy. But it was something.
“The lunch with the dean,” she said when we reached her office. She went behind the mahogany desk and settled into the chair. “We need to leave in an hour, so you should get to work on the slides right away. Why are you still standing there?”
“You showed a video of Ginny alone, not with me,” I said. “And you didn’t just exclude me to gain leverage. You did it because it would makeyoulook bad. Your very own personal assistant, having sex on camera. Right under your nose. If I went public, that would be humiliating for you.”
She laughed mockingly. “Go ahead. Let the world know what you do. I would cut ties with you so quick your head would spin. Neither myself, nor the Trout Estate, would be damaged. If anything, I could cast myself as avictimof your improprieties.”
I knew she was right. I would destroy my own reputation and she would escape unscathed. But I still felt like I had to do something. I needed to protect the woman I loved.
I knew it, then. In that helpless moment standing in front of Sandra Trout, I was certain that I loved Ginny Hanover. It wasn’t like all those other women I thought I had fallen in love with at first sight. This was deep, and real, and bottomless. I would doanythingfor her.