Page 68 of Kane

‘Okay, I give in,’ Cassie said, determined to get this wrapped up as fast as she could. ‘You want my work. You can have it. I promise I won’t ever say anything. It’s yours. Just please let me have my email account back. And don’t ever share any of the emails or photos.’

Cassie let out a huge sigh.

As much as she didn’t want to lose the work, she knew by agreeing to this then Lyle would be out of her life. After all, if Cassie came up with those ideas and material, she could always think of more.

Cassie could see that Lyle was smiling.

But it wasn’t a pleasant smile.

It was a cruel, devious smile.

‘Hmmm. There’s been a change of plan,’ Lyle sneered. ‘I’ll take your work and that means you can have your email account back. But if you want me to keep my mouth shut about your…Little… secret, that will cost extra.’

‘No fair!’ Cassie bawled, realizing that this wasn’t going to be anywhere as easy as she’d hoped. ‘You can’t change the deal now!’

Lyle giggled.

‘Oh, I can. And I have,’ Lyle said, barely able to contain his laughter. ‘If you want me to keep your secret, I’ll need to see that lovely body of yours naked. And I’ll be backing my own memories up with a few photographic memories too.’

‘N-n-n-no! That’s disgusting,’ Cassie said, her voice full of tearful defiance. ‘I won’t do it!’

‘You’ll do it, or I’ll tell the world. Career over. Just like that,’ Lyle said. ‘Look at it this way. It’s my own insurance policy over you. You know just in case you ever felt like telling people that I had re-purposed your work and ideas for my own usage.’

Cassie wanted to break down and cry.

She wanted to run away.

Not just from Lyle’s disgusting apartment, but from New York City too.

But she felt too weak to put up a fight.

No matter how yucky it made her feel.

Cassie felt ashamed.

Maybe Kane wasn’t being too mean to her. Maybe all Kane had been doing was protecting her from horrible people like Lyle.

In that moment, Cassie felt like she had blown everything.

But now wasn’t the time to think about Kane.

Or the decisions that she had made to lead her to this point.

Now was simply the time to do as Lyle wanted…

Chapter 18

Kane

Perhaps sensibly, the pace of the drinking had slowed down.

With the help of some large glasses of water and a couple of swift espressos, Kane’s head was clearing.

Leon couldn’t resist the opportunity to poke some good-natured Daddy fun at his friend…

‘Maybe you can’t deal with the liquor like the old days,’ Leon laughed. ‘You nearly fell off your barstool… twice!’

Leon was teasing of course.