Page 95 of Betrayal

Anna was close enough for Nick to lash out, so Hunter moved to put himself between them.

“My ex-girlfriend,” Hunter said.“She stole my car when we broke up, then crashed it.Fortunately, her injuries weren’t serious.Lots of bruises though.She looked battered.Battered enough that when she posted photos to her Insta feed, a few people started up a chat about domestic violence.”

“It happens.”Nick shrugged.

“She pulled the photos, when the posts got creepy, and called me.”

“Is there a point to this?”Nick glanced at the ceiling, seemingly bored, but sweat was now trickling down the side of his face.

“Cas got his tech friend onto it.”The tension in Hunter’s gut eased when Nick’s gaze met his, then slid away.“He traced your interactions with Gina, your escalation of the situation.I think the legal term is leading the witness.”

“Which is how I come in.”Anna’s scent swirled around Hunter, a new one.God, he’d missed the game of parsing out her scents to work out why he could smell Anna through them all.“Someone sent me photos of a badly beaten Gina the same day Hunter got naked photos of me.A bit obvious, don’t you think?”

“You’re a trollop; he hands out the occasional back-hander.”Nick must be rattled to issue what amounted to a confession.“Why wouldn’t someone want to let you know?”

“Hints in Gina’s feed that I’d attacked her in a fit of jealousy had your fingerprints all over them.Only you, Gina, and I knew you’d screwed Gina.I use the word screw deliberately.You set her up and bought her off.You knew I’d never mention it.”Hunter was baring his history to his closest friends and Anna’s, and to hell with it.

“That Gina.She wanted a bit more man than you could offer.”

“That’s enough.”Anna sounded in complete control.“You’re pathetic.You told Hunter you remembered the bracelet, the bracelet worn by a woman attacked and viciously sexually assaulted at your party that night.”

“There were no charges laid,” Nick snapped.

“Because you threatened Helen and demanded she insist on my silence.”

“You can’t prove that.”Nick’s gaze darted from him to Anna and back, alerted by the new name.

“I saw you at the hospital shortly after she withdrew the complaint.How did you find her?”Anna studied him.“You had someone follow us from the party, didn’t you?”

“You really are a fantasist.”Nick scoffed, but his gaze slid to Casildo and the door.

“You must have still been worried about that party.The photos were to silence me.Sure, you wanted to make Hunter hate me, but really, the photos were to keep me quiet.Mistake number one—you expected Hunter to show me the photos.He didn’t.Mistake two—you expected me to dump him without checking the authenticity of the photos of Gina.Mistake three—I’m not Helen.I inherited her bracelet.”

Nick’s face turned a bilious green.

“I’m perfectly happy to go public, tell the police you’re targeting me, and remind them they took a DNA sample, which could identify Helen’s attacker.I’m sure they wouldn’t have discarded that.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“Try me.”She leaned toward him.“Funny thing is, I couldn’t have linked you directly to Helen without the photos.The assault at your birthday party led Helen to suicide.I’ve got nothing to lose.”

“Nothing to do with me.”Nick held up his hands, backing away.

“She left a note.She was ashamed.She blamed herself.You denied her justice.”Anna’s voice wobbled.

Hunter caught the flash of fear on Nick’s face, and the pieces fell into place.

“You assaulted her,” Hunter said.He and Anna hadn’t discussed this, but from long experience, Hunter smelled the guilt seeping through Nick’s pores.“You recognised the bracelet at Marygai’s party because Helen was wearing it when you molested her.Anna’s right.You believed Anna was the woman you attacked.

“The purpose of the photos was twofold, to silence Anna and bring me to heel.You picked the wrong victim this time.Anna will shred you.And I’m happy to watch.Anna would have kneed you in the balls, birthday boy or not.I don’t know, or care, about the years you’ve lied to me, but I won’t be silent about this.”

“I’ve had enough of this bullshit,” Nick roared.

“There’s more.”Hunter drew himself up, sensing Anna’s trembling rather than seeing it, his entire attention on Nick.“You’re as near as bankrupt as bedamned.”

Anna, his brave, battle-hardened warrior, stepped up to his shoulder.

“You’ve been trading off the possibility of a merger with me for weeks now.Never going to happen.”

---