When I reached Logan, he tried to hit me. Since he never was a fighter, though, he was not just slow, but also clumsy as hell. I easily evaded his punch with a simple step to the left, raised my left arm, and slapped him across the face as hard as I could muster. Which wasn’t as much as I would have preferred, since, sadly, my ribs didn’t allow that. As soon as I strained my muscles to move my arm inwards, the pain in my chest made me slow down considerably.
My hand still connected perfectly. The heel of my hand landed square on his jaw with my cupped fingers across his ear, yet not nearly as hard as I had intended, which probably saved him from being completely knocked out. He went to the floor and just sat there disoriented for a while, unable to focus his view and disoriented from the beeping he was undeniably hearing in his left ear now.
“Damn.” I said in wonder, looking at Aunt Danielle. “That felt really good.”
The family stared at me in shock. I really meant it, though. Not just bitchslapping the douchebag, but finally letting out all the shit I had held bottled up within me for the last four years. Just then, Claire jumped up and ran to Logan to check on him. I watched her frantically dote over her fallen darling.
“Why am I not surprised you don’t see this as a
“Timothy! That’s enough!” Grandpa shouted at me. “I know you’re angry, and I admit it’s warranted, but throwing punches goes too far!”
“I disagree.” I said, as I stood in front of him. I guess he saw how much of a threat I was at that moment, because he took a quick step away from me. “The little pissant should thank the heavens that I’m not like him. Because, if I were, I would’ve called two of my friends over and told them not to stop when he was on the ground!”
He paled slightly as his eyes darted from me to Logan.
“If you want to call the cops on me, I’ll be waiting for them at home.
I couldn’t believe how they still cared about the asshole so much, especially after everything I had just pointed out. He even had videos of quite a few of their little orgies on his phone, placing them all in danger if he ever lost it. Or had it stolen. Or got hacked. Which happened. I hacked him...
I froze.
My hand hung immovable in mid-air, halfway to the doorknob, as all those little pieces of information suddenly fell into place. After I had summarized the past four years to my family and gotten it all off my chest, I could finally connect the dots!
Logan had talked the parents into giving him money. They had never touched any of my savings before, despite having access to it for years, so they probably didn’t do it out of disrespect to me, but because he needed more money than they could afford. And his explanation about it being loosely related to his education made them comply.
He never told any of us what he needed the money for specifically, making me think it was embarrassing for him. But the way he reacted now, when I pointed it out in front of the family, made me think he tried to hide the reason from the family in particular.
The people who came after him for that money were armed and had no problem making threats, so he was probably involved in something illegal.
He had lied to the police about not knowing them. If he was just scared, he could have asked anyone for help, like John, who was best friends with the owner of a security company. But he didn’t, so they probably had something over him to keep him in line.
The people who came after him recognized Ava and Claire just by looking at them.
They made clearly indecent proposals to those two.
Logan had videos of them fucking.
“You. Fucking. Muppet!” I shouted out, after turning back towards Logan. I was staring at him with amazement, big eyes and open mouth, after the realization hit me. The others looked at me like I had turned crazy, staring like that after I had just attacked him. “They’re blackmailing you!”
Logan, suddenly fully conscious again, looked scared as all hell when I said it. That was the confirmation I needed.
“Blackmail? Who? What are you talking about?” Claire asked in confusion, but still cradling his head.
“They got hold of your videos, didn’t they?” I asked Logan with a calmness that surprised even myself, while a strange smile grew on my face that must have looked quite unnerving to the others. “That’s how they recognized Ava and Claire.”
Logan freed himself from Claire’s hold, stood up, and stepped away from everyone else, frantically looking from face to face like a scared caged animal.
“What is...” Aaron started after seeing Logan’s reaction, but I just kept talking.
“You pay them, and they don’t publish the videos? Or are they threatening to send it to the police instead?” I asked him.
