Page 83 of Sergeant O'
“Son of a bitch.” The words came out in a low growl.
Jade’s ice cream was dripping all over her hand, but she didn’t even seem to notice. She looked stricken, like the ground had just given way under her. And seeing her like that—seeing her hurt because of me—hit harder than the bullet in my leg.
I wanted to snatch the phone, smash it against the sidewalk, track down the asshole who’d leaked the footage and make them regret it. But there wasn’t much I could do from Alan’s cottage on the Cape.
The worst part? Jade had been dragged through it right alongside me.
“Oh, Sunshine. I’m so sorry. I should have never kissed you in front of Rachel like that.”
That’s when it dawned on me.
Rachel did this.
I wondered how much that little bitch got paid for the picture. Probably not even a decent amount. Hell, she’d probably have done it for free. She loved making trouble wherever she went; she always had. This had her fingerprints all over it.
A new wave of anger washed over me hot and fast. I didn’t want to think about smashing a phone or dragging someone into the gutter; I wanted to know how it happened and who Rachel had to sweet talk to get the footage. But whatever the source, the immediate thing was Jade—she was the one blinking at me like she’d been punched, and I had to make that right first.
“Hey.” I kept my voice low so only she could hear. I wiped her hand with a napkin, then curled my fingers around her other wrist. “I’ll handle this. I’ll find out who did it.”
My head was already mapping out people and places—the bank, the security feed, who had access, who was close enough to Rachel to give her the footage—while my jaw throbbed from clenching my teeth so hard.
“Come on, Bri. We both know who did it. But really, does it even matter?”
“Yeah, it matters. I’m not going to let her get away with this.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Get her fucking fired, for starters.”
“For what?”
“Sunshine, I guarantee she isn’t authorized to evenviewthe bank footage, let alonesellit.”
“We don’t know she sold it.”
“Please. Of course she did. But let’s say for the sake of argument, she gave it away for free. There’s no way Manny authorized her to do that.”
“No, you’re probably right.”
As if my dad was listening to our conversation from a thousand miles away, my phone dinged with his text ringtone.
Dad: I’m not sure if you’ve seen the photo of you and Jade circulating. First, congratulations. She’s a sweet girl. Second, Manny from First Federal has already contacted me about opening an investigation how that footage from the bank was leaked to the press.
Me: I’d start with Rachel Goodman.
I told Jade about my dad’s text, but her reaction surprised me.
With a shrug, she said, “That’s great, but it’s not like it changes things. You can’t unring that bell.”
She was right, of course. The damage was already done.
Chapter Forty
Jade
By the time we got back to the cottage, the silence between us had settled into something thick. Not angry, not cold—just heavy. The kind of silence that made every sound louder: the squeak of the screen door, the thump of the keys when I set them on the counter, the hum of the old fridge.
I set my phone face-down on the table, like that could keep the world out. For a second, I almost let myself pretend we were just a normal couple winding down after ice cream, but the knot in my stomach wouldn’t let me.
