The morning after my phone call, nobody else is home.

I’m creeped out at first, but there’s a note on the kitchen table. Apparently Connor and my mom are out visiting granddad again. I sigh, fix myself some coffee, and head back up into my room.

I don’t know what to think about any of this. Connor goes a week without talking to me, and then last night he takes my phone and looks at me like he’s going to kiss me again. I wanted him to, of course, but my mother got in the way. I don’t know what they’re doing, pretending like everything is normal. Maybe they’re talking to granddad about this right now.

I sit cross-legged on my bed and flip open my laptop. I want to check my email and see if any employers have gotten back to me yet, even though I know I can’t even take a job right now. Once I’m logged in, I’m disappointed to see that there’s nothing but spam.

And one strange email. I cock my head at it. The subject line reads only, “Take this seriously, Sydney.” There’s an attachment as well. I hesitate, wondering if it’s some kind of virus, but with everything that’s happening right now I can’t afford to ignore it.

I click the email and open it up. There’s nothing in the body of the email except for a blurry, grainy picture. I click on it to enlarge it and it takes me a second before I understand what I’m seeing.

It’s the back side of my pool house. I recognize the stones. And there are two people there, one man and one woman. Her legs are spread wide and he’s down between her knees.

My brain doesn’t want to admit that it’s me and Connor in the picture, but I know that’s what it is. It’s a picture of him going down on me outside by the pool. I have no clue how someone got it, but it looks like it was taken from far away. Still, you can clearly make out the expression on my face, though Connor’s face isn’t clear.

My heart starts hammering as the fear comes back to me. I quickly delete the email without thinking about it and am about to close my laptop lid when another email appears with the same subject line.

This time, there’s text in the body, and another picture. I bite my lip and open it, horror flooding through me.

I look at the picture first. This one is of me and Connor, and this time his face is visible. We’re kissing, or at least about to kiss, and it’s obvious who he is though my face is obscured. Between the two pictures though, it’s obvious what’s happening and who’s involved.

I close the picture and read the body of the email.

“We can destroy you. We will destroy you. Get rid of him or this all goes public. Get rid of him or we destroy you all.”

I slam my laptop lid shut and stand up, freaking out.

My room has a desk, a double bed, a dresser, a nice large walk-in closet, and two nightstands, and yet it feels absolutely tiny. I have to walk out through the house, and I want to go out back, but I stop myself.

They’re watching out there. What else did they photograph? They could have thousands of pictures of me in a bikini sitting out there in the sun. They’ve been watching this whole time, taking pictures from somewhere nearby, staring at me.

And I gave them the ammunition they need to destroy us. All because I want Connor so fucking badly, all because he makes me feel good and I can’t say no to him.

This is so fucked. I feel like I’m hyperventilating. I just keep pacing around the house, trying to work this out in my mind.

Why wouldn’t they just go public with these pictures and ruin us? I don’t understand why this person is using it as blackmail. If the end goal is to get rid of Connor and to take my mother’s job, then it would be easiest just to release the photos and ruin her reputation. Granddad would never forgive her, and she’d be through.

I’d be ruined as well, though. I could probably recover, but my reputation would be dragged through the mud. It would be a media sensation, the daughter of a powerful CEO sleeping with her new husband in their own house, all exposed on camera. I’d be painted as a harlot, a home wrecker, a whore. And probably worse, considering he’s technically my stepfather.

Someone is holding back. And if this is really my uncle then maybe, just maybe, he’s not totally insane. Maybe Uncle Evan doesn’t want to destroy me in the process of hurting my mother.

I have to sit down as it all swirls around me. I can barely get myself under control when I suddenly hear a car pull up out front.

I have the irrational fear that it’s my uncle coming to hurt me. I run to the door and peek outside, but it’s just my mother and Connor coming home.

I walk back into the kitchen and think fast. I don’t know what to do, but Connor has made it clear that my mother isn’t letting him take this as seriously as she should. And besides, she can’t see the image of me and him, no matter what.

I’ll have to lie to her and show Connor discreetly. And I’ll have to do it soon. I wasn’t given a deadline, but I suspect that I don’t have long before my uncle decides that I’m fair game and gives up wanting to protect me.