Chapter 77: Nudes

A ringing noise yanked Octavia out of sleep. She had forgotten to set her phone on silent before she went to bed. Now she was paying for it.

Squinting at her bedside alarm clock, she saw that it was 3:12 a.m. She almost panicked at the thought of waking Gracie and Sierra.

Then she remembered that Gracie was at Quentin’s that night and Sierra had gone off to attend a string of parties with the assurance that she wouldn’t be back till morning if she could help it.

Also, the size of her new place made noise transmission less of an issue.

Octavia felt around on her bedside table before eventually finding her phone.

“Hello?” she mumbled into the receiver.

“Octavia, you’re awake! Thank goodness.”

Octavia’s brow creased at the frantic voice. “Lila? Why are you calling me?”

“I…I…need your help, Octavia.”

“Can’t this wait till morning?”

“No! It’s an emergency. I need your help. NOW.”

Octavia’s eyes fully opened when she heard the panic in Lila’s voice.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know what to say…”

“What is it?” Octavia repeated forcefully.

Lila sniffed. “I…I took some pictures a while ago. And I sent them to…someone. And now I got a message saying if I don’t give him money, he’s going to put those pictures all over the web!”

Octavia sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

“Have you talked to the cops?”

“I can’t!” Lila sobbed. “If word about this gets out to anyone…I’m done for. My career is over.”

“I understand that, Lila, but someone’s blackmailing you. This is a serious crime. You should go to them.”

“No! You can do things with computers, right?” Lila asked. “Can’t you try to fix this?”

“Lila…,” Octavia started.

“Please! Just come over and try. And if you can’t…well…I’ll go to the police, then,” Lila pleaded.

Octavia sighed. “Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Sitting in the backseat of an Uber on her way to Lila’s hotel, Octavia stared idly out the window.

The near emptiness of the streets and the forlorn look of stores closed and locked up in the middle of the night greeted her back in silence.

It had been a week since she last talked to Raemon, back then in his office. Since he had left for Tokyo, he hadn’t bothered to text or call her the past few days.

Octavia was secretly relieved. Maybe this is just how it would end. He’d freeze her out, and she’d slowly extricate herself from his life. And get her own life back in the process, she hoped.

The hotel receptionist looked Octavia up and down warily, frowning at her black leggings and oversized sweatshirt.

Octavia ignored his judgmental stare as she rang up Lila’s room to verify the identity of her guest. Finally, Octavia walked through the doors to the grand suite of Lila’s lodgings.

“I’m here,” Octavia said. “Show me the message.”

Lila was sitting before a laptop at the writing desk. She jumped up as soon as Octavia walked in. Octavia took in the sight of her red, puffy eyes as she hugged the silk bathrobe to her slender body.

“Here it is,” Lila said, motioning to the computer.

Octavia sat down before the screen and scanned the open page.

“Bastard,” she muttered after reading the message.

“Can you fix it?”

Octavia was silent. Whoever sent that message didn’t seem to be much of an expert. Already she had an idea of how she could connect to whichever device the message had come from.

“Maybe,” Octavia said, “but it might take a while.”

Lila nodded. While Octavia began typing, she stood behind her looking over her shoulder.

“Would you like something to drink? Coffee maybe?” Lila asked.

“Sure,” Octavia answered distractedly.

She was still typing away ten minutes later when Lila set the frothy steaming mug before her.

“Thanks,” Octavia said.

“Don’t mention it.”

Octavia took a sip from the mug. The coffee was warm with a bold, rich flavor. She was grateful for it; she needed the focus and energy that the drink would give her.

It didn’t take long for her to down the entire cup.

She entered another prompt onto the keyboard and peered hard at the screen.

Something was wrong.

Octavia squinted at the laptop. The screen was getting fuzzier. Black splotches danced before her eyes.

Octavia blinked furiously, realizing it was not the computer screen glitching but her vision. A heavy feeling overwhelmed her body as if she had no choice but to drop into a deep sleep.

“What the hell…?” she started.

She looked toward the empty coffee mug. Then she noticed the change in Lila’s face, how her face was still anxious, but she couldn’t bring herself to look Octavia in the eyes.

“What was in that coffee?” Octavia managed to say. She tried to stand but only got an inch out of her seat before some invisible weight dragged her back down.

“Sorry,” Lila said bluntly, finally forcing herself to meet Octavia’s gaze. “But I had to. I didn’t have a choice.”

A wave of anger flooded Octavia’s body, and she made a move to leap out of her seat. She made it one step before her body went crashing to the ground.

The last thing she saw before the darkness swallowed her was the sight of Lila’s fuzzy, kitten-heel bedroom slippers. Then she passed out.