Page 59 of Kane
It was the worst thing that could ever happen to a creative person.
‘No! That’s not fair and you know it’s not!’ Cassie cried, this time not lowering her voice. ‘You can’t–’
‘Fine. I’ll just have to take all those private emails and photos and put them online,’ Lyle said, a wicked smirk on his face. ‘I’m sure everyone would love to know about your life as a Little. All those gross things you get up to. Those photos of you naked too. I can just imagine what people would say. And I know for sure you’d lose your fanbase overnight too.’
Cassie let her head drop.
There was no way out of this.
She wasn’t openly a Little when it came to her comics. In fact, hardly anyone outside of her trusted circle knew about it.
Although the world was a lot less judgmental than it used to be, there were still plenty of people who hated anything or anyone who was outside of the mainstream.
Cassie wasn’t naïve enough to think otherwise.
It felt like Lyle had her over the barrel.
There didn’t seem to be a way out for Cassie other than giving in to what Lyle wanted.
‘You Littles are all the same. Crybabies, every last one of you,’ Lyle said, fiddling with his greasy hair as he watched Cassie squirm. ‘I’ll say it again. You give me full rights on all your as of yet unpublished materials. You assure me there will be no comeback. You do this and I’ll let you have your email account back and I won’t reveal your dirty little secrets to the world. Now, how does that sound?’
Cassie felt dizzy.
It was like her head was spinning at a million miles per second.
Her stomach turned over yet gain. And then once more.
She wanted to run to the bathroom and throw up.
‘I… I…,’ Cassie whimpered, not knowing what to say.
‘I can see you need a moment. I’m feeling generous. And it’s also fun to see you suffer,’ Lyle said, standing up from his seat andbeginning to pack his laptops away in his shoulder bag. ‘As I say, I’m feeling generous. You’ve got twenty-four hours to make your mind up. Not a second longer. I trust you’ll make the right decision.’
With that, Lyle finished his Pepsi and let out a long, loud belch. It was gross. The sound and smell of it in equal measure.
Cassie shivered.
She watched as Lyle slung his shoulder bag on and proceeded to walk out of Café Sin.
Cassie was alone. Surrounded by strangers in the least appealing café she had ever visited. She felt totally dejected. Lyle had her in an impossible position. If Cassie stood up to Lyle, it was possible that Lyle would delete all her work and reveal everything about her personal life.
That would be terrible.
But on the other hand, if Cassie caved into Lyle’s demands then she would lose a ton of work and feel utterly heartbroken about it. That’s not to mention the fact she’d be living in fear of Lyle threatening her again in the future.
What am I going to do?
Have I messed everything up?
I wish Kane was here. I need my Daddy.
Chapter 16
Kane
‘I cannot fucking believe I didn’t think of this earlier!’ Kane said, out of breath as held his cellphone in his hand and looked at Google Maps. ‘I’m such an idiot.’
Kane was running out of gas. His cardiovascular fitness was superb, but all of his fitness training was being put to the test in this moment. Breathing hard, he had to take a brief rest to get some air back into his lungs.