This was her pathetic excuse for a father. This was the man who had threatened to take everything from her because she wasn’t exactly who he wanted her to be.
And look at him. He expected perfection from a girl who had just lost her mother, and here he stood with his body wrapped around someone who was the exact same age.
Someone who was underage. She was underage, and she most certainly wasn’t his wife.
"What the fuck are you doing?" His voice held so much power even as he was being quiet and trying not to be overheard.
But that power in his voice was nothing but bravado.
I clicked Stop Recording and tucked my phone deep into my pocket before I answered him. "It looks like I’m getting a free show on the clock." I leaned back against the door and crossed my arms. He tracked the movement, and I loved the way he fidgeted as he watched me.
I had caught Mr. Vos with his pants down, and now he feared me. It was a heady and dangerous feeling, and I let myself bask in it for a few moments before looking over at Cami.
She had a pathetic look on her face as if she wanted to say something to
me. As if she wanted to explain what I had just saw, but both of us knew that nothing she could say would ever make this better.
She had chosen her side. She had chosen it and made me look like a fool.
A fool who had believed she was sleeping with a fucking teacher this entire time.
Cami was a good liar, and she had hidden her lies so well in almost truths that I had never questioned her. Because why would I?
Why would this gorgeous girl ever lie about sleeping with a married man?
But now I knew.
"Delete that video now, Beckham."
My gaze snapped back to Mr. Vos, and I couldn’t believe he had the nerve to think he could actually tell me what to do. After everything this man had done, his audacity was astounding.
"Let me tell you how this is going to go." I drummed my fingers against my arm.
"This isn’t his fault." Cami rushed out before I could continue. "Joseph had nothing to do with this. I made a move on him because I’ve been infatuated with him forever." She pushed her hair out of her face as her gaze bounced between me and him.
"Do you ever stop lying, Cami? Do you ever stop being anything other than a malicious bitch?"
"That’s enough." Mr. Vos came to her rescue and watching him be so fucking weak tasted so sweet on my tongue.
"Let me tell you what’s enough." I pushed off the door and stepped toward him. I didn’t cower at the way this man still somehow made me feel smaller than him. I held the power now. I could destroy him so quickly, and we both knew it. "Stop fucking with Josie."
His back went ramrod straight as her name passed my lips.
"Beck, what are you talking about?"
I ignored Cami’s question and stared right at him. He and I both knew exactly what I was talking about. We both knew how fucked up he was.
"You’re going to sign over the deed to her mother’s house now. Not when she turns eighteen, and you’re going to give her all of her money."
He straightened his suit jacket and tucked his hand in the front pocket of his slacks. He seemed so nonchalant, so unworried by my demands, and I knew that this was the businessman that I had always heard of standing in
front of me. His emotions disappeared, and what was left was nothing short of ruthless.
But I didn’t care.
"Or what? You’re going to blackmail me?" He shook his head before looking back at me. "And what exactly are you going to want after that? How long do you think you can keep this little charade up?"
"I want nothing else." I tapped my fingers against my pocket. "You give Josie what she wants, what is hers, and I’ll hand over the video."
"Just like that?" He didn’t believe a word I was saying, and I knew it was because if he was in my shoes, he would use the video for far worse. But I wanted to be nothing like him. I had already hurt Josie once by trying to stoop to their level, and I knew how insane that was. I wouldn’t do it again.
I would make sure that he didn’t hurt her like he had planned, then I would step away. I would give him the video just like I promised, then I wouldn’t think about the two of them ever again.
"I know this is a hard concept for you to understand, but I love Josie." I looked him in the eye and made sure he heard what I was saying to him. I wanted to make sure that he knew that I loved her when he didn’t. "I will do whatever it takes to make sure that she’s happy."
I could tell he wanted to argue with me, but I refused to let him.
"Even if that means destroying you. How do you think your wife will feel when she sees this video? Cami’s dad? Your investors?"
"Beck, you wouldn’t." Cami stepped toward me, but then thought better of it as I let my gaze snap to her.
"I will." I nodded and made sure she could see the truth in my eyes.
"You’ve done nothing but lie to me and I’m done protecting you. It’s time for me to protect Josie, even if she’ll never forgive me after what he made me do.
I’ll protect her regardless."
"Fine." Mr. Vos ran his fingers through his hair. "I’ll do what you demand, but I want that video, and I want proof that you’re not keeping it anywhere else. I want a legal agreement."
"That’s fine. You give Josie what’s hers then I’ll let you keep your dirty little secret."
"Don’t talk about me like I’m not standing right here." Cami stepped toward Mr. Vos, and I almost winced at the look on her face as he stepped away from her.
"I need to get out of here." He didn’t even spare Cami a glance as he
headed toward the door, and I could see the heartbreak in her eyes.
And even though I knew she made the bed that she lied in, I still felt sorry for her.
She had lied to me and everyone else, and I somehow still felt sorry for her.
"Beck, please." She sounded so broken as I looked up at her, and I wondered what she truly thought was going to happen. Did she think she would somehow end up with Mr. Vos? Did she think he was her ticket to a happily ever after?
"How dare you?" I took a step back and put distance between us. "You’ve been lying to me for how damn long? How long has this been going on?"
She twisted the ring on her finger as she stared up at me. Mr. Vos's hand was on the door, and I knew that he was waiting for her response. "I didn’t mean for it to happen."
"How long?" I demanded an answer from her.
"Since sophomore year."
Mr. Vos ran his hand down his face, but I didn't give a shit what he thought.
"This whole time you had me believe that you were with Mr. Weston but you were with him. After everything he has done, you were with him."
Cami searched Mr. Vos's face for something, but I had no idea what she was looking for. I had no idea what she thought he would give her. "You don’t know him like I do. You think you do, but you don’t." She shook her head, and I wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince me or herself. "He’s not the monster you think he is."
But he was. He was every bit of what I had painted him in my mind.
Cami was the one who didn’t know the man who was leaving her standing there like she meant nothing to him.
"You can’t share the video, Beck." She reached forward and grabbed my hand in hers. "You know what my dad will do."
Cami knew how to manipulate me as easily as she did everyone else, and even though I knew that was what she was doing, it was working. Because I knew that her father would die if he ever found out. He would lose his fucking mind.
But Cami had made that choice. Not me.
And I couldn’t protect her from her own fucked-up decisions anymore.