CHAPTER 55: SEXTORTION? WHAT IS THAT?

Myla.

“Sextortion?” I asked, baffled. I’ve never heard the term before. Sitting on my hotel bed, sobbing like a baby and staring through watery eyes at Sophia, I wondered who I must have angered to keep getting such incredibly bad luck. I mean, this was getting out of hand and it was getting out of hand fast.

“It was that dude I bet. The one that…uh…you know what? Never mind. I’ll shut up now.” That came from Su who’d still been with Sophia when I had called her and begged for help. Fortunately, even though it was kind of late, the two had still been awake. Despite our history together, there wasn’t any awkwardness between the three of us. The complete emotional wreck I was being might’ve had something to do with that though.

I looked over at her as she started talking, a surprising heat of anger coming to the forefront of all the other hideous crap I was dealing with. She didn’t mean Fabian, did she?

“Fa-fabian?” I asked, the anger making the word come out harder than I intended even with all the blubbering. “Is that who you’re talking about?”

Su suddenly looked very uncomfortable and Sophia didn’t look any better. She shot her…girlfriend?...friend with benefits?....I don’t know what…a warning look but Su pressed on ahead anyway.

“Fuck me, are you two serious? You DON’T think it was him? I mean, come on. Who else would have access to camera footage? A bit of advice too, and this advice might serve you well in the future Myla if you do this kind of thing again. Always, and I mean ALWAYS, look for cameras first.” She leaned back on both hands and had the air of someone full of sage wisdom. “Learned that the hard way a few times before the lesson stuck.”

“Okay, I’m actively choosing to ignore that, but you do bring up a good point,” Sophia said. She turned to look at me fully and I could see she was trying to choose her next words carefully. “Do you think…you know…he might have…uh…”

“Seriously?” I asked, that anger blowing up into full outrage now. “Come on. Are you joking? Why would Fabian Ness resort to…what was it?...”

“Sextortion,” Su supplied.

“Sextorion?” I asked. “He’s a multi-millionaire.”

“How should I know?” Sophia asked. “You said you two went to high school together? He harboring some kind of longtime grudge or something? Did you make fun of him?” She paused at that though, actually thinking about it, and laughed the idea off. “What am I saying? Ain’t no way you snubbed that one. I bet he was fine even back then. Right?”

“You want to help figure this out or mentally fuck the guy too?” Su asked, annoyed.

“Sorry, babe,” she replied with a slight smile.

“I’ll forgive you, this time.” Su shot Sophia an intense look and if I wasn’t in the room, I was sure they would have been making out in less than a minute. Which actually did start to make things awkward for me, even through all my other emotions.

“Wait,” I said, a sudden fear hitting me. “If we think Fabian had something to do with it, do you think that means he would think I did it?”

“You think Fabian is going to believe you sextorted yourself?” Sophia asked, a questioning look on her face. “No. I think you’re good on that front.”

“No, no,” I snapped, way more harshly than I intended. “I mean if I got these pics sent to me, what if they were sent to him too? And if he did get them, what if he thinks I’m the one doing the…uh…sextorting?”

Neither Sophia or Su had any comments on that. In fact, the both of them just sat there with stunned looks on their faces. That did NOT make me feel any better. It was clear they hadn’t considered the fact that Fabian might have gotten the pics too.

“Shit,” Sophia remarked. “Uh…good point. I guess, and I’m just being totally honest here, that if he got pics sent to him too then…” She shrugged her shoulders before continuing. “...uh…yes. I’m pretty sure he would jump to that conclusion too. But I don’t think he’ll really believe you did it. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, right? You just picked a random spot to screw?”

My heart sank.

“Actually, it’s kind of my own personal, secret space to go to at work that I found on a floor that’s empty.”

Again, Sophia and Su didn’t say anything and just looked at each other. I felt even worse because, if Fabian did get the pics then I could only guess what he might be thinking. I mean, I led him straight to that place! And then a few hours later, I get sent pics of us having sex in that same, supposedly secret, place. This was even worse than I originally thought.

“Okay, let’s look on the bright side. He probably didn’t get any pics, right? Because if he did, I’m sure he would have at least called or texted you or something?” Su chimed in, trying to be the optimist for once.

But when they saw my face fall, they both looked concerned.

“Did he try to call or text?” Sophia asked.

He had. With everything that happened, I forgot to check the messages. I immediately went into frantic mode, searching my bed for my phone. It took a lot longer to find than it should have. My fingers felt big and clumsy as I searched and with everything going on in my head, it was hard to focus. Finally, I saw a bit of it sticking out from underneath one of the pillows and I pulled it to me. I quickly unlocked and opened it and went straight to my messages, my heart skipping a beat when I saw the unfamiliar number glaring up at me.

There, I mentally had to tell myself. Here's his message. Open it.

But I didn’t want to. I really, really, really did not want to. Visions of words flittering past my mind and what they were saying made me freeze.

You think you can do this to me, Myla? You think you can extort me with pics of us together? Bitch! Fuck you! You’re fired! We’re done! If I see you again, I’ll have you arrested!

There were A LOT of other things as well but that was the main gist of what my imagination was feeding my overtaxed brain. Honestly, it was one of the lowest moments in my entire life, even worse than having a crazed lunatic point a gun at me.

I looked at Sophia, my eyes overflowing with tears, and handed her the phone.

“Can you…look? Please?” I asked.

Without another word, she took the phone and immediately opened up the message. My heart was beating so fast. It was suddenly getting harder to breathe. I tried to pull in air but it wasn’t working. There was a dizzy, lightheaded sensation next and for a horrifying second, I thought I was going to pass out.

“Myla?” Su asked.

“Easy, okay? Just breathe,” I heard Sophia say next.

I wanted to scream at her that that’s what I was trying to do but nothing came out. Why couldn’t I breathe? I’ve had panic attacks before but this one…this one was on a whole other level. I must have looked really bad because Sophia took one look at me and darted over, my phone dropping out of her hand and onto the bed. A second later and she was holding me in strong, reassuring arms.

“Breathe, Myla,” I heard her say. “With me, okay? Breathe just like I am. Can you do that?”

She forced my head toward hers so I could focus only on her. As soon as I did, she took in a deep breath. When I didn’t immediately follow her lead, she took in another breath. She didn’t stop until finally, I was breathing in deeply and exhaling in a steady rhythm. The lightheaded sensation and the feeling of needing to pass out gradually began to fade. A second or two later, the panic attack was over.

“Thank you,” I said in a breathless whisper.

“You would do the same for me,” Sophia answered.

“Okay,” I replied. I looked over to where Su was sitting. She now had my phone in her hands, the screen casting a bluish tint onto her face. “I guess I’m ready now. What did he say?”

“And you are sure you want me to look at your phone?”

“It’s fine. You can open the text.”

I didn’t have anything embarrassing on there. Well, I didn’t used to anyway. The naked photos of me in that text thread counted now, I supposed. I hated that this was happening to me. I’ve never done anything like having sex in a semi-public place before and the minute I do, someone records me. This was a nightmare.

I forced myself to calm down otherwise I was going to be headed right back down panic attack road again.

“It says,” Su began. “Uh…”

“What?” I asked, thinking the worst.

“It says a bunch of super mushy stuff and that’s it. Then he tells you good night.” She handed the phone back to me. “You’re good.”

“Wait, it does?” I asked. I didn’t think Su would lie to me but there was a nagging doubt clinging to my mind anyway. I took the phone and stared down at Fabian’s message.

Fabian: I want you to know that today was truly amazing. You are amazing. I don’t normally text people. I didn’t want to interrupt your time with Sophia. But I couldn’t help letting you know that every second I spend with you is more valuable to me than anything else I have. Money. Possessions. My company. All of it. Enjoy your night.

“See? Super mushy,” Su said as I started to tear up.

That was the most romantic and touching thing anyone’s ever said to me. The seconds spent with me are more valuable to him? Really?

Sophia took the phone and read it too. A few seconds later, she gave it back to me.

“Okay, well it’s a text message so I can’t gauge how truthful he’s really being but that doesn’t scream sextortionist to me. And, again, you are right. He’s a multi-millionaire so as motives go, he’s really got none. I definitely don’t think it’s Fabian,” she said. “And either he didn’t get any pics or he did and hasn’t said anything yet. The message from the sextortionist came like two hours later than that one.”

“So he could still have gotten them too then?” I asked, my voice small. “I don’t know what to do. And I have no idea what this person even wants. All they’ve done so far is send these pics. They haven’t said anything else and haven’t asked for anything. What do you think that means?”

“They are definitely trying to scare you,” Sophia explained. “They send the pics first, let them really marinate with you and then when you’re stressed the fuck out and can’t take it anymore, they send you their ultimatum. Classic psychological torture.”

Su shot her an amused, questioning glance.

“Or so I assume,” Sophia added.

“Remind me not to make you angry. Damn,” Su remarked.

Sophia leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth.

“That’s always a good idea.” She smiled broadly as she said that.

“Okay, as fun as your back and forth is, what am I supposed to do?” I asked, nearly shrieking. I have zero, and I mean ZERO, experience with anything like this. Is there someone to call? “Do I talk to the police? Is that something they can help with?” An idea popped into my head. “Oh. Maybe they can trace the phone number like in the movies.”

“It’s probably a burner, Myla,” Su said. “You don’t send that kind of shit to someone from your actual phone. Not unless you’re the world’s dumbest criminal.”

Dammit, that was a good point. Still, maybe the cops could be helpful anyway?

“And I doubt your uber-wealthy and very private boy toy, Fabian, would like the police to get involved,” Sophia mentioned. “He’s already been shot. And then there was the attack. Getting the police involved now will only feed the tabloids even more. I don’t think he wants to add to the headlines.”

“So I’m just supposed to let it happen?” I asked, my voice high and piercing.

“I didn’t say that,” Sophia answered, her voice calm and placating. “I say we try to find out who sent them on our own and then handle business ourselves.”

There was an intense and wildness to her eyes all of a sudden. I felt a nervous quake ripple through my stomach.

“How do we do that?” I asked.

A somewhat sinister smile was added to the intense gaze.

“We start with who has a motive,” she said. “And there’s only one person at the top of my list.”

She paused dramatically.

“Grace Motherfucking Steyner.”