“Yes, you. I can’t even begin to imagine the hell you went through, and yet, here you are, present and not running. You’re a fighter, Lily. You’re resilient, and I couldn’t be prouder.”
“I wasn’t always those things,” I painfully admitted.
“Maybe not, but you had a choice. We all do in life. You bet on yourself, put value in your worth, and took control back.”
“Thank you.” I felt a lump in my throat. No one had ever said something so powerful to me before.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course, anything.”
“Who was he to you? Boyfriend, friend, neighbor?”
“It was my ex-boyfriend, Aiden . . . He started out as my physical therapist after my car accident,” I said timidly, staring out at the lake. “As time went on, we began spending time together outside of the clinic’s hours. Things progressed, but I was never fully invested, and I think he knew that.”
“How did you discover you were being filmed?”
I exhaled a heavy breath, remembering the shock and numbness I felt when I learned the truth.
“A girl I went to school with had been hanging out with her boyfriend and his group of friends. One of them made a comment about this account he’d come across on the site where a girl was being filmed, Truman style, in her home.”
“Wow.”
“Tell me about it,” I said, letting out a soft exhale. “I mean, what were the odds?”
“Likely one in a million.”
“Exactly.”
“Then what happened?”
“I went to the police. My home was torn apart to collect evidence, and all my electronics were seized. The saving grace was that my digital footprint revealed no evidence of ever accessing or uploading any material. The live feeds were connected to a different internet account listed under my address that he’d set up and accessed remotely from an IP address that was traced back to his home. The bank account receiving the payments was also directly tied to him.”
“For such an elaborate plan, I’m thankful he wasn’t the brightest. Sounds like it was an open-and-closed case?”
“It was, all things considered. I hope that by the time he’s out he?—”
“Which is when?”
“Five years this August.”
“I know what Cameron said, but I, too, will take care of making sure he isn’t a threat. You have my promise.”
“Thank you, and I know you will.”
I turned and bent my legs so I could face him. “I’m really sorry for not telling you sooner about my past.” I paused, summing the words needed to explain. “When I first moved to Rockwood, it was a lot to handle. Everything felt fragile, and between changing countries and starting at a new hospital, I could only take things one step at a time. But then I fully admit that the longer I took to process and adjust, the more I convinced myself I had to stay away from you. I was so afraid you’d hate me, and I couldn’t live with that.”
“I know I asked this before, and at the time you weren’t ready, but what forced your hand to come back here on New Year’s?”
When he asked me that the last time, I wasn’t ready. I asked if we could save that story for another day. But today I was ready. I was done avoiding my past.
“I’d come home from my shift to find the front door to my condo wide open.”
“Did you think someone who had seen you online was after you? Is that why you have the extra locks?” he asked.
“It’s crossed my mind more than once that’s for sure.” I nodded, tired of always feeling afraid. “I’m very protective of my space.”
“That’s understandable given what happened to you.”