Great, another nightmare—and another reason for Greyson to kill me.
For the second day in a row, I had to cave in and let Meghan satisfy her curiosity. I gave her a brief tour and followed as she looked around on her own. I just wanted her out of the freaking house as fast as possible—although I did contemplate drowning her in the pool as an alternative. I wasn’t just done with the friendship; I was done with her as a person. She no longer reminded me of the girl I used to be—she was much worse. I contemplated calling the police—or possibly calling John to see if he would come forcibly remove her, but I decided against it. I didn’t want to alarm Greyson if I could get her out of the house before he showed up.
“Nice place. I wish I had this kind of cash…” Meghan walked back into the main part of the house.
“You’ve seen enough, right? You need to go before Greyson gets home.” I pointed at the door.
“Fine, but I expect an invitation at some point. You have a heated pool—a jacuzzi—hell, you have a regular swimming pool too!” She shook her head back and forth. “I bet there’s a liquor cabinet around here somewhere…”
“I’m done with this.” I walked up and grabbed her arm. “You have to leave.”
“Hey, don’t be a bitch about it.” She pulled her arm out of my grasp. “Not all of us live in the mouth of fucking luxury with a—family friend or whatever he is.”
“Just fucking go.” I pointed at the door.
“I thought you were friend…” She rolled her eyes and started walking towards the door. “Whatever.”
“If you want me to be a friend, try acting like a friend.” I followed her to the door and slammed it.
I looked out the window once Meghan got to her car. She didn’t leave immediately. She played on her phone and I even saw her open her laptop. I had no idea what she was doing, but I wasn’t going to open the damn door again. After about ten minutes, she finally drove off. I was angry, but glad she left before Greyson got home. It would be hard to explain—and I would probably get a trip over his knee for being careless. At least she was gone—that was what mattered. I just hoped that she would stay gone.
I tried to be civil—well that’s over. I’m not even going to speak to her after this freaking stunt…
Present day
All I needed was Greyson. Nothing else mattered. When I walked into the living room and heard what he had to say, I quickly started to put the pieces together. If his security cameras were hacked right after Meghan came by the house—then I felt confident that she had something to do with it. She got his address and the code for the front gate when she synced her phone with the Porsche. What else would it have given her access to? I needed to investigate, but before I could do that, I needed to take care of Greyson. He was in a dark place, and if that was my fault, then I had to find a way to pull him back from it.
“Do you need anything? Can I call the chef—or order something?” I squeezed the hand that wasn’t hurt.
“No, I’m fine.” He shook his head back and forth. “I just need time to pass—and for Lauren to figure out if we can stop this asshole from leaking the footage once we pay them off.”
“You’re—going to pay?” I blinked in surprise. “Don’t do that…”
Don’t give that bitch a dime—I’d rather the world see me with a red ass than for her to profit off this.
“I don’t really have a choice.” He exhaled sharply. “If this is the same group that hacked all of those celebrity photo cloud accounts a while back—then there’s no way for the cops to track them down. And honestly? I don’t even want to involve the cops at this point because of what is on that footage…”
“Why do you think it’s the same group?” I tilted my head inquisitively.
“That’s who claimed responsibility when we got the call.” He shrugged. “I think I just need to go to bed…”
“I’ll join you.” I stood and reached for his hand. “Maybe I can do something to take your mind off this…”
“Right now?” He sighed and looked down at the floor. “I just want to be alone for a little bit.”
I waited until Greyson was upstairs to grab my phone and head to the garage. I synced my phone to the Porsche, deleted the profile Meghan set up and looked over everything that was transmitted. It seemed that once the phone was synced, several apps downloaded. I checked each of them and found one that was tied to some of the devices in the house—including the security footage. The app was password protected and my pulse raced as I punched in the code for the front gate. The app unlocked and I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I was staring at a screen with all of the security cameras in the house—and a folder with archives of recorded footage.
It was her…
The next day
Greyson decided to stay home from work. He didn’t even get ready to go in. I wanted to stay home with him, but slightly relieved when he insisted that I go to school. I wasn’t going to school though—classes hadn’t started, and I was early. I was going to Meghan’s apartment, and I wasn’t leaving until I was sure that the footage was gone. After that, I would tell Greyson everything—but not until I was certain that it was fixed. Her car was parked outside, so I went to her door. I kept pounding until she finally responded, and the door opened.
“You fucking bitch!” I hit the door with my shoulder and knocked her back.
“Chrissy, what the hell is wrong with you?” She stared at me in confusion.
“Don’t even try to deny it.” I slammed the door. “I know it was you!”