Page 74 of Betrayal

He wished he had the balls to burn them.He wasn’t prepared to gamble on Anna’s privacy, her reputation, her employment—hell, even her physical well-being could be under threat if a troll decided to track her.His set of photos and the note were concrete evidence of Nick’s threat.

Pushing the shots back into the envelope, his attention snagged on her right arm.The photo had been cropped to cut off her right hand and wrist.Looking more closely, he could see a fragment of the charm bracelet dangling below where her hand should be.

Nick had claimed he’d recognised the bracelet.Anna didn’t normally wear bracelets, said they interfered with her work.But she’d worn the charm bracelet the night of Marygai’s party.Strange that it was almost deleted from the shot if Nick was relying on it for his evidence.The scar was more damaging.She hadn’t disguised it.Anna had said she and a friend burst from the cake.Had they been holding hands?Could her friend be wearing the bracelet?He’d never get the chance to ask now.

“Doesn’t matter,” he muttered.

Except it did.He back-handed the papers off his desk, then crawled around the floor picking them up.Nick’s note had spelled it out, he’d put his disgusting hands on Anna.

Hunter wanted to throw things, smash things, get drunk.Instead, tears stung his eyes.

Anna owned the bracelet, making the threat to her real.Digital images could be broadcast in an instant, and Anna’s reputation would be trashed.Aside from the cops, getting the social media juggernauts to remove images was a near impossibility.Getting justice from them was even harder.

Locking the front door, he climbed to his apartment.The safest place for the photos was his safe.He wouldn’t let Nick Richardson’s latest attack slide, but it would take time to work out his defence.Time for Anna to move from devastation to rage to never wanting to see him again.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Anna found her wayhome on remote.One minute she was staring blindly where she knew a park should be, the next she was running until her breath sobbed in her lungs and she could run no further.Bent double, one hand on her knee, her other clasped around her bag so tightly her knuckles bled white, she pressed buttons on her phone.When the ride share arrived, she was upright, dark glasses jammed on her nose.

The journey passed in a blur.

Setting her bag down in the hall, she wandered into her kitchen.She filled the kettle, turned it on, opened the fridge door, then closed it.

Can I come over?she texted her sister.

Of course, came the immediate reply.

Can I stay tonight?Within seconds, her sister’s ringtone bounced around the room.

“Do you want me to come and get you?”

“I’ll call a ride share.”Anna swallowed a sob.

“We’ll be here.”

I will not blubber in front of a ride share driver, even if he’ll never see me again.

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