I narrowed my eyes. "What does she have on you?"
Lola’s lips trembled, and she hesitated, as if weighing her options. "You don’t understand..."
"Then help understand," I snapped, stepping closer, my voice sharp enough to slice through the tension. "Because right now, Lola, you’re just another liar caught up in your own ss. And I’m losing patience."
Her shoulders slumped, and she averted her gaze, tears pooling in her eyes. "It’s not that simple."
I folded my arms, glaring down at her. "Oh, it’s simple. You either talk, or I make sure your life becos an even bigger ss than it already is."
"You’re cruel," she whispered, her voice shaky.
"And you’re wasting my ti," I shot back. "What’s the deal, Lola? Why are you working with Jessica?"
She glanced up at , her lips trembling, and finally said, "She promised protection."
I laughed bitterly, my voice echoing in the empty room. "Protection? From what?"
Lola took a shaky breath, her voice barely audible. "From the people using my face to sell nudes."
The words hung in the air like a bomb waiting to go off. I blinked, montarily caught off guard. "What?"
She wiped at her eyes with trembling hands. "Soone’s using my face, okay? They’ve been posting my pictures, selling them like I’m still... doing that stuff. But it’s not ."
"You’re saying soone is impersonating you?" I asked, my voice dripping with skepticism.
"Yes," she said, her voice rising slightly, a mix of frustration and desperation. "I an, I did sell nudes before, but that was years ago! I stopped! And now... now they’re back, and it’s not !"
I leaned against the table, watching her closely. "So why not go to the police?"
"Because whoever’s behind it knows things about ," she snapped, her voice breaking. "They threatened to tell my son’s father about his son and he would take my son away from ."
That caught my attention. I straightened, my gaze narrowing. "Your son’s father?"
Lola nodded, her voice barely above a whisper. "He’s not... he’s not soone you ss with. He’s—he’s a gangster, okay? If he finds out about this, he’ll kill . Or worse."
"Worse?" I asked, my voice cold.
She nodded, wiping at her face. "I can’t let him know. I can’t let my son know. So when Jessica said she could help, I had no choice."
I stared at her, my mind spinning. "Help? How? By dragging you into more trouble?"
Lola flinched, guilt written all over her face. "I didn’t know what I was getting into. She... she said she’d protect . That she knew who was behind it and could make it stop."
"And you believed her?" I asked, incredulous.
"What choice did I have?" she hissed.
I shook my head, exhaling sharply. "So, what? Jessica’s your knight in shining armor now?"
"She’s not," Lola admitted, her voice cracking. "She’s in the business too. Streaming, selling, all of it. And that night..."
"What about that night?" I demanded, leaning closer.
Lola hesitated, her hands wringing together. "I went out with her. I thought it was just a normal party. But I was drugged. I woke up in a room, and..."
Her voice trailed off, and she swallowed hard, tears streaming down her face.
"And?" I pressed.
"I don’t rember much," she whispered. "Just flashes. Faces I didn’t recognize. Jessica was there, laughing. And then... then the pictures showed up. I didn’t know what to do."
The air in the room felt heavy, her confession hitting like a freight train.
"So you let her use you," I said, my voice colder than I intended. "You let her pull you deeper into this ss, and for what? Empty promises?"
Lola broke down, sobbing into her hands. "I didn’t know what else to do. I thought she’d help ."
I stood there, my emotions swirling between anger, pity, and disgust. Whatever sympathy I had for Lola was overshadowed by the chaos she’d allowed herself to create—and drag others into.
I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "I don’t even know what to say to you, Lola," I muttered.
She wiped her face, her eyes red and swollen, but didn’t respond.
"Just go," I said finally, turning away from her. "Go before I change my mind."
She hesitated for a mont, her feet shuffling against the ground, before nodding weakly and walking toward the exit.
The room fell silent as the door shut behind her, and I was left alone with my thoughts.
It was daunting.
Gabriel and Jessica. They were two sides of the sa coin, and both needed to pay for what they’d done to and others. But how? How could I bring them down together, force them to experience the sa pain they had caused ?
I exhaled sharply, my gaze fixed on the door she had just walked out of.
For a mont, I didn’t move, rooted to the spot as a wave of exhaustion hit . It wasn’t just physical, it was the kind of weariness that made your thoughts heavy, tangled, impossible to make sense of.
Gabriel and Jessica.
Those two nas rattled around in my mind like stones in a jar. How could I take them both down? How could I ensure they faced the kind of pain they’d so carelessly inflicted? I clenched my fists, the tension in my shoulders refusing to ease.
"It’s impossible," I whispered, sinking to my knees. My thoughts spiraled, chasing threads of plans that felt too frayed to hold.
The room seed colder now, the silence pressing against . The anger that had been burning inside of for days suddenly felt dimr, replaced by an ache I couldn’t na.
Then it hit .
A sharp, white-hot pain that pierced through my back, so sudden and violent I let out a scream.
"Ahh!" My voice cracked, the sound echoing in the empty room.
I fell forward, my hands scraping against the floor as I tried to steady myself. The pain spread quickly, like fire licking through my spine, consuming every nerve.
"What the... what is—" My words broke off into a gasp as another wave of agony surged through .
I clawed at the floor, my nails scraping uselessly against the surface. My chest heaved, my breaths shallow and rapid, as if I couldn’t pull enough air into my lungs.
The room spun around , blurring into a haze of shadows and dim light.
Sweat slicked my forehead, dripping down the sides of my face. My vision darkened at the edges, but the pain was so sharp, so vivid, I couldn’t lose consciousness entirely.
"Help," I croaked, though I wasn’t sure who I was calling out to. My voice sounded foreign, small, swallowed by the room.
I tried to lift myself, to push through the pain, but my arms gave out. I collapsed onto the cold floor, my cheek pressing against the unforgiving surface.
Sothing was wrong—terribly wrong.
The pain in my back twisted, a sharp, pulsing agony that seed to burrow deeper with every second.
My head swam, my thoughts dissolving into a chaotic jumble as the world tilted and twisted around .
The last thing I saw was the faint outline of the ceiling above before everything went dark.
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