As the weekend drew in, the dread of spending it with Jamie seemed to make it come faster. I'll get some time on Sunday with Sarah, but other than that, it's just me and him. At least this is the last time.

He's suggested we see a movie and get some dinner. I've no problem with that. It keeps us out of the house, which means it keeps him away from me. A small mercy I was grateful for.

I woke up before him this morning and went for a run. All of these little moments I can spend away from him are what I plan to take advantage of.

The college responded to my email yesterday. They said I can defer for the year depending on what state I plan to complete my training in. I take it as good news in a way, I just have to make sure that wherever Will and I end up takes my current qualifications before I take on a new placement. That side of things we have yet to decide.

I wrote straight back to them, confirming my request to defer. I then sent Layla an email too, explaining that I had to go out of state at short notice and thanking her for all that she did. Im sure she's going to find it odd but I guess I don't really have to explain myself.
Will is the only bonus to the upset of having to give up the career I've worked for yet again. All because of Jamie.
At least this time it's worth it.

While I'm running, I spot a little girl with her father in the park. She's squealing with excitement while her dad tries to lift her into a swing. It's adorable, and seems to slow me down, eventually bringing me to a stop. It
reminds me of similar times I had with my Dad before the accident, when it was all easy.

It might just be the simplicity of it, the little gesture of love. Or maybe this whole messed up situation with my Dad just isn't making sense anymore. Whatever it is, it knocks me off pace anyway. Forcing me to continue the rest of my run wondering if I should see him before I go.

By the time I get home, my thoughts are more muddled than when I left, but I've convinced myself that it's a bad idea to see him, he doesn't want a relationship with me. I must have been feeling nostalgic or something.

Jamie is up and already in the shower, there's steam seeping under the door of the bathroom. Is it too much to hope for that he's scalded himself to death? As morbid as it is.

I pour myself a cup of coffee and toast a bagel.
Jamies phone is sitting on the counter charging, it hasn't stopped buzzing since I got home.
At one point it's going off so much that I begin to get worried that something may have happened to his mom or dad or something so I quickly throw my eye over it to be sure things are okay.

There's a bunch of messages from an unknown number and a few missed calls. When I unlock it, the texts pop up on the screen. They don't make any sense to me, it's message after message from a total stranger, making threats and accusations against Jamie.

UNKNOWN: 'I knew I'd get my hands on this Jamie. Good luck putting it on me now!'

UNKNOWN: 'I'm not the only one that was waiting to see you fall.'

UNKNOWN: 'What's that girl of yours going to think when she finally gets a look at this?'

A video follows some of the messages. I probably shouldn't play it, but I can't help but feel suspicious. I can hear the shower is still running so I decide to take the chance, my curiosity getting the better of me. What plays out in front of me chills me to the bone.

The video starts blurry before coming into focus. There's a girl sitting on the floor beside the toilet in the bathroom stall. Her jet black hair is hanging over her face, falling into the toilet bowl slightly. I can't tell if she's asleep or if somethings wrong with her, I think maybe she's drunk. She can't be anymore than twenty.
Whoever is recording isn't there to help her anyway, that much is obvious. They're pulling at her clothes, trying to get the camera in under her skirt.
Then I hear it. That voice. It's Jamie.

"Take this". He pulls open her mouth and pushes a small pill into it, then he's pushing at her chin, trying to make her swallow it. Her head lulls to the side as she weakly spits it back out. I hear his voice again as he tries to push the pill back in.
"Ohhh, come on now...you had no problem swallowing for me earlier." His malicious laughter follows, its stomach churning.
Why isn't he helping her?

This is disgusting, I knew he was an animal but seeing him like this with someone, it's different.

He starts pulling her arms upward, they look like they're heavy, she clearly has no control of anything.
"Okay, let's get you up, you and me are gonna' have some fun babe."
He puts the phone down, trying to make it face them, I think he wanted to record whatever he's doing. The screen it's a wave of colours, it's hard to make anything out before it seems to fall somewhere and all there's left to see is black. But I can still hear everything as clear as day.

I can hear him lift her up, I can hear her groaning in response to it, then there's the jingle of his belt. Please god say he's not doing what I think he is.
There's some rumbling around before I can hear her say no. It's faint and slight but it's there as he shush's her. There's a tiny gap of silence where I pray he's decided to leave her alone until the unmistakeable noise of what Jamie is doing to her comes through the phone. The same noises I heard when I told him no.

I have to stop the video. I can't watch the rest, whatever he's doing, whatever he did to that girl, it wasn't consensual. It wasn't okay.
My hands shake as I stare at the phone, the noise of the shower still running from the hallway. Why would someone send him that? And those messages...whats is this?

Then it hits me. This is the video. The one he said was Karl. It has to be. At the launch party, Karl was shouting that something was Jamie, I didn't know what he was talking about, but this is it. It can't be coincidental.

The screen lights up again. Another incoming call from the same unknown number. I need to understand all of this, so I quickly press answer.
I hesitate a moment as I put the phone to my ear. If Jamie hears me and finds out I looked at all of this I'm dead.

"Hello?", My voice is just short of a whisper.

"I'm calling to make sure you know that you're not going to get away with this!"

"Karl?"

"You fu-...who is this?"

"It's Izzy...Jamie's...his girlfriend."
I'm ashamed to even say it.

There's silence on the other end.
"Karl, are you there?"

"I'm here. Did you see it? The video I sent him, did you watch it?"

"Yeah. I watched it... Karl, when did that happen?
Was it the night you all had the party in the office?"

He ignores my question, he only wants to know one thing.
"Has he seen it yet?"

"No, not yet. Karl, I don't have long. Was it from that night or not?"

"Of course it is, he obviously told you all about it too to cover himself. Did he tell you it was me who did it?"

"Look, I don't want him to know I'm talking to you, but I really need to know more about this, do you think you could meet me?

"What is he doing? Sending you along to see if you can talk me out of going public with it? That's desperate, even for him!"

"No, it's nothing like that. He hasn't seen it, he won't either, not if you can hold on until we talk, can you do that?"

"This better not be one of his plays."

"I swear, it's only me, I just want to talk."

"When?"

"Tomorrow, can you meet then?"

"Tomorrow then, eleven a.m, I'll meet you at the cafe just off of Thomson, do you know it?"

"I'll find it."

"I swear to god, if he turns up with you..."

"He won't, I promise! I just want to understand all of this...the video, that's all."

"I think you understand whats on that video just fine. Tomorrow. Eleven o clock. Don't be late."
The phone line dies just as I hear the shower turn off.

I don't have much time, I quickly save Karl's number in my phone, forwarding myself the video and then deleting all the messages and calls from Jamie's. I just about get it done before I hear the bathroom door unlock. I plug his phone back in to charge and jump on the sofa, pretending I have the appetite for the bagel after what I just saw.

He comes down the hall to look in on me, a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Hey, good run?"
How can someone so evil put forward such a normal persona?

"Um hum...it was nice."

"Good, you gonna grab a shower? There's plenty of hot water."

"Yep! I'm just going to finish this and I'll jump in."

He heads to the bedroom to get dressed, I eye his phone, hoping I've left no traces of what I found on it and that Karl doesn't try to make contact again.

I find myself sitting in a state of shock. How did I not see this part of him for so long? Who the fuck have I been living with all of this time?

I need to figure out how I'm going to see Karl now too. I'm meant to see Sarah tomorrow to tell her I'm leaving. I suppose I could cross them over, tell Jamie I'm seeing her early. There'd be no suspicions that way.

I know I should really stay away from all of this and keep my focus on leaving, but I couldn't live with myself  if I didn't know what happened to that girl.
I don't think I'll ever stop thinking about what Jamie did to her. Does his father know? Is that why he paid her off? Tom couldn't possibly be alright with his son being a rapist, he's always so set on Jamie being the face of the company, the face of the family for christ sake! But I can't think of a way that he wouldn't know.

I scrape my food into the bin. I go for my shower just to avoid him, staying in there until the water runs cold, scared to death of the stranger in the kitchen.

                      ————————

Jamie holds my hand throughout the movie that night, my palm sweats profusely the whole time. I'm disgusted at myself. I feel like everyone around me knows what he is, assuming I'm his accomplice, complicit in all of his actions.

I'm nervous about my remaining days after seeing what he did. I always thought it was only me who had to experience the worst of him. Turns out that wasn't quite right. I wonder if he ever thinks about what he did to her, or if he's spent so much time trying to convince people it was Karl that he now believes his own lies.

He leans into me half way through the movie, keeping his voice hushed.
"You're really pale again Iz, you doing alright?"

"I'm fine."

"You haven't touched any of the popcorn."

"I said I'm fine"
I can't even look at him. I know I should know better, but all I want to do is scream at him that I know what he did. That I know what he is. A vile piece of scum. Not worthy of the life he has.

He repays my little outburst by squeezing my hand too tightly. Letting me know I'm on thin ice. I hope that ice breaks and sucks him under.

I keep myself quiet for the rest of the movie, mentally preparing myself for the dinner conversation that has to come.
It runs as smooth as I could hope for. He doesn't bring up my attitude and I do my best to hold my food down in his company. Giving polite answers when he asks questions, pretending I'm interest in his stories...counting down the minutes until we leave.

By the time we get home we're both tired enough that I hope he doesn't so much as look my direction. It seems I'm in luck, because he falls asleep on the sofa not even twenty minutes after we get back.

I take a good hard look at him. Wondering how I was so drawn in. He was so endearing when I met him. Calm and collected, like he had it all figured out. I liked his seriousness, it made me feel more of an adult at the time. But of course he was charming too, saying all the right things, making me feel special. I guess that was all part of the act.

I almost feel sorry for him as he lays there, because the version of him that he gave to me at the start was actually the best one of him. It's really sad that he couldn't see that.

I throw a blanket over him and tip toe away, leaving him to snooze there. I have a busy day tomorrow making sense of all of this, so I sneak off to bed alone and get some rest.

                         —————————

Come the morning my knees are knocking together as a sip on some tea. There's a huge part of me that doesn't want to meet this guy Karl at all. It wasn't all that long ago he was threatening me, how am I to know that he won't take advantage of this and follow through on any of that?
Although he's the one that chose a cafe, I can't imagine he'd have picked somewhere so public if that's what he was planning.

Jamie thinks I'm meeting Sarah a little earlier just like I planned. I'm not sure what time he eventually came to bed at last night but I know I woke up beside him. I can't wait until that's not a reality anymore.

He's busy on another unscheduled work call when it's time for me to leave so I shout out to him that I'm going, getting some form of goodbye in response.

I try not to really think about what I'm about to do as I jump into the car. If I do I might back out. Instead I focus on the drive and keeping my breathing steady. I feel that tightness in my chest, but I know I need to keep myself calm. I know I need to do this.

Thankfully the cafe isn't all that hard to find, but it's tiny, there won't be much in terms of privacy here.
I'm a few minutes early so I squeeze myself into a small seat by the window and I wait. There's a red gingham cloth covering the table, it's dotted with small stains and a little sticky. My fingers play with its frayed edges nervously.

I order a coffee from the waitress who seems a little put out that I'm taking up a whole table for just a coffee so I let her know that I'm waiting for somebody, not that I plan to order anything else anyway.
By eleven fifteen there's still no sign of Karl, I'm worried he's changed his mind and has decided to contact Jamie again. I keep one eye on my phone just incase he calls.

The little bell above the door startles me as it dings when the door opens, I only half recognise the guy that walks in. He's shorter than I remember, pudgier too, but it's definitely Karl. I stand to greet him but he looks over to the waitress to get her attention.
"The usual please sweetheart."

He sits across from me without so much as acknowledging my presence. I'm tempted to take a dig at his lack of manners.

"Are you gonna sit or what?"
He finally looks up at me, tapping his fingers on the table edge like I'm the one who's late.

I shyly slink into the chair. His personality isn't a far cry from Jamie's. I can see why they got along.

His chair creeks as he sits back, crossing his arms over his chest.
"So, what did he send you for?"

"I...I told you already, he doesn't know I'm here."

"Honestly?"

"Yes. What do you think I could do for him that he couldn't do himself?"

He purses his lips, a little intrigued.
"Why are you here then?"

"I want to know what happened to her."

"To who?"

"The girl, from the video. Who was she?"

"Hell if I know. One of the girls he hired, I don't know who any of em' were."
My teeth clench at how passive he is about it.

"Is this the girl that went to the hospital afterward?"

His eyes narrow with curiosity.
"How do you know about that?"

"He told me. He had to, I overheard his dad talking about it. Jamie said she took something and they couldn't wake her up so they sent her off in an ambulance. Is that right?"

"You saw the video right? Does it look like she took something?"

I know what he means. I could see how out of it she was already, Jamie didn't need to make it worse by pushing more drugs down her throat.
This whole meet up feels pointless if he can't tell me anything I don't already know though.
"So you don't know if she was alright?"

"She was fine. I don't know if you know much about how the world works hun, but that's her profession, it's part of the gig. The big boss made sure she was well paid for her troubles."

"Rape is part of the gig? Didn't you hear her say no?"

He looks down at the table, it's the first time I've seen any kind of feeling in him since he arrived.
"No...I guess not."
He has the decency to at least act like he's repulsed by what Jamie did, shaking his head at the thought of it.
"Look I don't know about you Izzy, but Ive never known Jamie to be someone that likes to hear the word no."

"Yeah... I know that much from experience."

His eyes shoot up, meeting mine. He might finally be starting to understand why I'm here.
"Hey, I don't know what you expect me to do here? It wasn't me who did it."

"Why were you fired Karl?"

"He didn't tell you?"

"He told me that it was you in that video, and that he had no choice, but that obviously wasn't true."

"That's what he told everyone else too. They all think I'm some kind of monster."

"But it's clear it's him? Did people not realise?"

"Nobody saw it! He sent that video to Simon and I the night it happened, after she had already left in the ambulance. He was boasting about it! I pulled him aside, told him he was out of control. I might be a bit of an asshole but I'm not an animal. I told him I had to report it. Things got a bit heated, I don't know exactly what happened, my phone fell out of my pocket or something in the chaos"

"Wait, you faught him?"

"No! He came at me like an idiot, it was just some pushing and shouting, anyway it fell and he took it and fucking threw it in a punch bowl. Nothing had backed up at that stage, so I lost any proof I had. I left and he must have got to Simon and got him to agree to put it on me.
Next thing I know I'm carted into the bosses office and told my behaviour was unacceptable and I'm being fired. I thought they were talking about the argument Jamie and I had! That's what they made it seem like. But come to find out Jamie and Simon had hatched some kind of fucking alliance or whatever so Simon got to be his number two and they pinned the video on me, telling everyone that I did it."

"That's...that's crazy. Why did Simon agree to that?"

"Look if you offer enough money to somebody, they'll agree to anything. That's why you never heard from the girl either, she had her price."

I'm sad for her. I wonder if she felt she couldn't come forward, or if the pressured her. It doesn't seem fair at all.

We're interrupted when the waitress drops down Karl's order, a plate of fried eggs and mushrooms with toast. I find it bizarre that he could have the stomach to eat during this conversation, but I wait until she's gone before I can ask much more.

"So how did you get ahold of the video now if Jamie destroyed your phone?"

"Ha, that's the best part. It seems whatever he gave Simon to keep quiet, it wasn't quiet enough. He's had enough of Jamie's shit. It's not so easy being his number two let me tell you."

"You seemed to manage fine."

"I knew to tell him what he wanted to hear. Simon isn't made that way."

"I see...so is that why you told him if we got married and didn't have any kids that I'd be whoring around? Those were the words you used right?"

Karl goes red from the neck up, making him pull at his collar.
"Like I said, I was only agreeing with what he already put out there, he never usually shared things like that, I was just going along with him."

"He almost broke my cheekbone that night because he was so convinced of it. I bet he didn't tell you that did he?"

He pauses, his fork coming to a stop half way to his mouth before he puts it back down. 
"I'm sorry. If I'd have thought for a second he'd do anything like that... I have a wife, Rosemarie, I complain about her sometimes, it's par for the course, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna go home and take it out on her! How was I to know that's what he was doing?"

"Well maybe you can think about it the next time you want to tell somebody that their girlfriend is liable to jump on anyone that looks their way."

He picks back up his knife and fork, agitated at my remark but continuing his breakfast none the less.
Our talk of Simon makes me remember that Lainey saw the video too.
"So Simon never got rid of the video then even though Jamie asked him to? His wife told me she saw it when I met her at the launch party."

"Lainey? Boy she loves to talk doesn't she? She couldn't wait to tell Rosemarie all about it."

"What happened?"

"Simon told Lainey it was me when he showed her. As you know, you can't see it is, and she has no reason not to take Simon's word. She couldn't wait! She was straight on the phone to Rosemarie, telling her what I supposedly did. It almost destroyed my marriage."

"Almost?"

"Rosemarie took my word over hers...eventually. She knows me, I'm a lot of things but I don't abuse women, not then, not now, not ever. Getting to finally show her that video was like a weight lifting off of us. I think it did her good to finally know without a doubt."

I consider Rosemarie for a minute, an innocent party in all of this. Her whole world was almost turned upside down because of one lie.
"I'm glad she believed you Karl, neither of you deserved that kind of turmoil, especially not your wife."

"Don't worry, she got her two cents in where Lainey was concerned. She's not one to hold back."

"I'm sure. So what will Simon do now that he's gone behind Jamie's back with this? He'll be out of a job, he does realise that?"

"I'm sure he'll be fine. He didn't sign anything, that was Tom and Jamie's mistake, and there's plenty of work out there. I fell into something easy enough."

That's a small relief if nothing else. I know it may have taken awhile but at least Simon did decide to do the right thing, even if only for himself.

"Did you sign anything when they gave you the money?"

Karl looks around the cafe like he's in the twilight zone.
"What money?"

"From the night of the lunch party? Jamie told me they paid you off with a cheque."

"Paid me off? For what!?"

"He said that you told them you were still going to blow the whistle about the type of party it was, he said that after you saw me there you threatened me, so they paid you."

"What!?"

"He told me they gave you a hundred grand to go away and drop all of it."

His mouth drips open.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
He thumps his fist off the table, getting the attention of the other diners.
"I was drunk! I'd only heard that they were pinning that video on me. I thought I could show up and put everyone straight, it was stupid, that's why I left! There was no money. Tom and Jamie were making all these legal threats and I had nothing!"

I have to sit a minute to take that in. What kind of narcissist is Jamie that he would try to scare me like that? Was it for a moment like this? Did he hope I'd be too afraid to respond if Karl ever tried to contact me and tell me the truth?
Jamie tried to ruin this man's life just like mine and then tried to pit me against him.

Karl is livid, he looks like he could keel over any second.
"I'm going to take that video and I'm going to destroy that whole damn company. I'll take the whole place down. He's going to wish he never fucking hired me."

"No! You can't do that."

"To hell I can't!"
He eyes me up and down.

I have to remain the calm one of us, he needs to know that this could ruin everything for me. I lean forward, looking him in the eye.

"No, you really can't, not yet. I came here because I wanted to know what happened to that girl. But now I need you to hear me out. I'm going to need your help...
I'm going to need you to do something important for me Karl."