Gilded Cage

Chapter 69

"Oh, my God," I whispered. "What the fuck did we just watch?"

Zac's expression remained emotionless, almost trance-like. It was beginning to scare me. I'd never seen him like this before.

"That's only the tip of the goddamn iceberg, Cate. There are more videos and photographs of Harvey Waldron and Lily on the flash drive. Videos and photographs of Lily when she was older. Closer to sixteen or seventeen."

My gut twisted. I had a nauseating suspicion for where this conversation was headed. "What kind of videos and photos?"

"I-I don't want you to see them," Zac stammered, "but, let's just say, I now understand why a girl like Lily is as fucked up as she is. Walter Sinclair let Harvey Waldron groom Lily right in front of him. He's supposed to be her father. He's supposed to protect her from predators like Harvey. I feel so bad for the girl."

"Do you know if this shit is still... happening... to Lily?"

"I dunno. The most recent videos and photographs I found on the flash drive was dated two years ago. I pray to God that Lily has escaped from Harvey's influence by now."

My mind reeled as I tried to process the fuckery of it all. Everything Zac was insinuating about the vile shit that had gone down between Lily and Harvey Waldron left me wanting to gauge my eyes and retch out my innards.

Clearly, Lily had been groomed by Harvey Waldron pretty early on. Walter Sinclair, her own fucking father, had pushed her into harm's way like a lamb to the slaughterhouse. Whatever favors Walter received in return from a pedophilic monster like Harvey could never make up for the heinous sins he had committed against his own daughter.

Again, I wasn't a very spiritual person, but I hoped that karma would strike down these men with godlike fists of fury. Both Harvey and Walter deserved to be incinerated in the bottommost rings of hell until they were nothing but ash.

My heart thudded heavily in my chest. Everything was starting to fall into place. No wonder Lily hated her father so much. No wonder she was batshit crazy and imbalanced as fuck. Her dark and twisted past certainly didn't excuse her reprehensible present-day behavior towards me or the others, but it justified her psychopathic tendencies to a point where I could see myself forgiving her in due time. And maybe even wishing her well.

Something in my perception of Lily shifted in this moment. She wasn't a she-devil. Not really. Not in the sense that Walter or Harvey were real devils. Men like them were the fiends of society. People who saw themselves as entitled gods. Above the law. Above humanity. They were greedy, soulless, despicable creatures. Pure evil wrapped in human form. Too much money and power gave them the luxury of doing so.

No, Lily wasn't evil. She was more of a bruised and battered survivor. A victim of terrible, horrific circumstances. I began to view all of her past transgressions in a different light.

Were they wicked and wrong?

Yes.

But they were also desperate cries for help.

"You wanna know what the worst part is, Cate?"

The panic in Zac's voice snatched me back from my troubled musings.

"Tell me."

Zac's eyes welled with moisture. His shoulders began to shake as tears streamed down his face. It broke my heart to see him this way. I wanted nothing more than to reach through the screen of my phone and pull him into my arms.

With stunted breaths, he wept and heaved, "I-I heard my dad's voice on some of those clips. From behind the camera. I'm pretty sure he was the one taking all those fucked up videos for Harvey, which means he was, at best, complicit in the sexual grooming and abuse of a minor, and, at worst, it's entirely possible that he participated in that kind of shit as well."

I whimpered softly, "Oh, baby..."

"I can't deal with how fucked up everything has become, Cate! I just can't! It's too much! My dad's pure fucking evil. I don't even care whether or not he's guilty of that insider trading crap anymore. He deserves to rot in prison for what he allowed Harvey to do to Lily. I feel like I'm somehow responsible. Maybe I could've stopped him. How could I not have known what he was really like? How could I have ever looked up to this man?"

I didn't know how to respond to his pain and torment. It felt too deep and raw to be addressed over the phone. My thoughts kept drifting back to the stories Zac once told me of how his dad's imprisonment had sent him into a spiral of depression and self-harm. Suddenly, I didn't want to leave Zac alone in the state he was in.

I stood up and searched for my car keys. "Hang tight, baby. I'm coming for you!"

"What? No, Cate! What about your dad?"

"It's already half past two. I'm sure he's passed out by now. I'm gonna sneak out. I'll see you in a little bit. Don't do anything stupid. Just wait for me, okay?"

"Okay," he whispered. "I'll wait for you. Please come soon, babygirl. I need you."

He sounded so small and lost. Like a helpless child. I got my ass in gear and quietly tip-toed down the stairs. I crept towards the garage and climbed into my car as silently as possible. I opened the garage door, cringing at the loud mechanical whirring sound of the moving gears. I prayed that the noise wouldn't wake up anyone in the house.

I pulled out of our driveway and cheered silently once I made it safely onto the main road. Ten minutes later, however, my phone dinged. It was a text from my dad.

I hope you're not going where I think you're going, Cate.

I groaned audibly. This was why, in the past, I'd never broken any rules or stepped out of line around my dad. The man worked for the fucking FBI, after all. It was his job to outsmart, outplay, and outthink criminals, and it probably didn't take a genius to figure out who I'd go see this late at night after I told him to "go to hell" and that Zac was "ten times the man" he would ever be.

I had a choice: To turn back and face my dad's wrath. Or keep going and face his wrath later. Right as I was about to hit the gas and speed away into the night, my dad messaged me again.

By the way, you forgot to remove the flash drive from your laptop. I see that you and the Mazur boy aren't very good at minding your own business.

My nerves clenched as I read his text. Fuck. In my haste to reach Zac, I'd left everything out in the open. My laptop. The flash drive. I wanted to kick myself for being such a dumbass. I almost deserved to get caught. Before I could figure out my next move, my phone chimed with one last message from my dad.

On second thought, why don't you bring your boyfriend back to the house? I want to talk to the both of you. I'd rather you hear the truth from me than to continue down this path. You need to understand what's at stake here.