All the Little Secrets

CHAPTER 22. GRAVITY

Chapter 22. Gravity

I ignore what everyone keeps telling me: that Cage is falling for me. My mom, Seth, Jasmine, Jason... he's good at what he does, and we both know it. We never talk about what we're doing, we just play it off as if we're the happiest couple at school. We haven't kissed since that kiss at the dance, but I have no complaints. That kiss caused a lot of damage - if we were to do it again, what else would come of it?

Cage and I hang out at his castle most of the time to prove to Anika and Henry that we're for real, and I truly believe Henry believes us. It's Anika that makes me feel uneasy, as if she can see right through me into my soul to know that her son is not the one I want to be with.

I avoid Liam and Becca like the plague. I have no idea what their lives are like right now. I only have one mission: to keep Liam alive. I don't have the time or energy to wonder what else, or who else, he's getting into. I also don't have the heart to worry about how Becca's feeling. I numb myself to feeling anything at all so I don't crumble to pieces.

February and March fly by as we near Spring Break at the end of March. William plans to take the whole family to the Hamptons. It'll be our first vacation with the Winters, where we'll be forced to spend time together as a family. By the silence at the dinner table, I know I'm not the only one wishing to disappear.

Cage, Seth, and I meet up at the cove the night before Spring Break. Seth's already there when Cage and I walk down the path to him. He's pacing, his face pale, his hands moving fast as he mumbles to himself.

"Seth?" I ask, nervous to approach him.

He looks past me to Cage. "I think I found something..."

"What did you find?"

Seth pulls out a manilla envelope from his backpack.

"Turns out our families have a lot of secrets," Seth whispers as he hands Cage the envelope. "This one was found in my dad's safe."

"How did you get into his safe?"

Seth tries to smile at me but fails. "The code was my mom's birthday."

Cage opens the envelope gently as we hold our phones to light what's inside. A stack of photographs fall into his hand: photographs taken through the blinds of a room.

"Where is this?" Cage says quietly as we begin to flip through the photographs.

"Somewhere cheap and off the beaten path, I think," Seth responds.

Cage stops at a photograph of Henry; Henry with Seth's mom, Ellen.

"Wait - your dad knew about them?" I ask Seth, surprised. "I thought he just discovered the affair from the letters?"

"I have a feeling everyone's lying to us. That's not the worst of it," Seth mumbles.

There's another photograph with Henry and Ellen, but this time a girl is tied up on the bed. A girl no older than me, naked, shackled in a sexual position, her mouth covered. The look on her face is pure terror. Henry stands over her, his bottom exposed, as Ellen sits in the corner of the room.

"What the fuck?" Cage asks as he stares, but I look away. It doesn't take an expert to know that what was happening in the photo to that girl was not consensual.

"She doesn't look that much older than us," I say, suddenly nauseous.

Seth nods. "Yeah... which would make this child pornography. Possibly rape of a minor."

"My father would never do this," Cage snaps at Seth, throwing the stack at him. Some photographs fall to the floor. "There has to be an explanation for this."