The Professor's Daughter [Part 2 of 2]

3 | Blackmail

Leah's POV

I walk into Jennifer's apartment with her sister and go to the couch and sit. Her sister sits in front of me and sighs hard.

"I'm gonna go make a call. Why don't you go wash your face and put some ice on it or something?" "I'm fine." I say back, too worried about Jennifer to do anything else.

Moments after Danielle steps out to make her call, she comes back and holds her phone out to me. "Here. Make it quick." She says. I furrow my eyebrows and hesitantly reach for the phone.

"Jennifer?" I mutter softly. "Hi Leah..." Jennifer says to me through the phone, her voice a bit shaky and filled with stress. "Baby... I'm so sorry. This was not supposed to happen." I say, beginning to cry. "Look, don't worry so much about things that aren't in your control. It happened. Now let's work on getting me back home. Okay? Work with Dani. Do what she says. I am giving her P.O.A. and she is going to get you set up on my bank account and whatnot. I need for you to handle things until I get home. Do not go back to your parents house, Dani told me what happened." Jennifer tells me, not even sounding sad about any of this. "Jen, I love you." I mutter and wipe my cheek, Dani motioning for me to hand the phone back to her. "I know you do. I'll see you soon." She says to me.

I reluctantly hand the phone back to Danielle and she walks in the other room, still talking to Jennifer. I wipe my cheeks off using my fingers and sit quietly, just thinking. When Danielle finally comes back she sits beside me and carefully touches my knee, "I know it seems sort of impossible right now, but try not to worry. Okay? It'll be alright." She says. I glance at her, unsure if I should believe her or not. "Tell me you have a plan or something. I can't just sit here and do absolutely nothing." I say and get up quickly, starting to pace back and forth.

"I have to think a little, Leah. Just give me a few hours. In the meantime you should really go take a hot shower or something and try to calm down." She says. I sigh hard and nod my head, walking to Jennifer's bathroom.

When I emerge from the shower I look at the time and realize I took a forty-five minute shower. Oops. I feel a little better, but it won't be okay until she's here. I walk out of the bathroom quietly and glide down the hallway in nothing but my towel. I hear Danielle talking, so of course I decide to eavesdrop.

"Jen, I get that you want to protect her and leave her out of this... I do. But I honestly have no clue what to do here. Her parents caught you two together and you've both admitted to the relationship." Danielle says. She's talking to Jennifer again? That must mean she has a plan. "I am trying! You think I'm not busting my ass to make sure that our parents don't find out about this?! I'm surprised it hasn't been plastered across every local news board yet. Do not tell me to do something about all of this when you're the one who decided that sleeping with a fucking child was a good idea in the first place." Ouch.

I clear my throat and Danielle looks at me and freezes. "I'll call you later." She says before hanging up the phone. I push my hand against my chest, holding the towel tightly. "She didn't know how old I was in the beginning." I say. "Leah, I didn't mean-" "I know what you meant. What is the plan here?" I ask, changing the subject. "I- Jennifer doesn't like it. I'll have to come up with something better." "Jennifer isn't here to stop you. Tell me what the goddamn plan is." I say, angry and upset.

Danielle sighs and pushes her hand through her dark, straight hair. "Legally I don't have a loophole. I've called all of my lawyer friends, some of the best I know, and they can't find anything. Statutory rape is a hard thing to fight when it's laid out like this, Leah. You're a minor, she's got twelve years on you. That is what it is." She explains. "I know all of this. You keep telling me the same thing over and over again in different words! Just tell me something good!" I plead. She sighs and pulls her hand over her face.

I can't really see the hesitation in her face right now. She knows this is a bad idea.

"Your dad is the one who pushed this and got Jennifer arrested, Leah. The only thing I can think of is going after your father. Since Jennifer's only been in for less than a day, I'm sure they haven't officially filed any paperwork and they won't until at least two days have passed by." She says. "I don't follow..." "God. You are never to speak of this to anyone. Got me?" She asks, pointing in my face. I nod my head and she sighs, "blackmailing your dad is the only thing I can think of, even if it is illegal as shit. Maybe if we can somehow scare your dad away from this whole thing then I can make some calls and get the state to drop it. I have friends in high places, but it won't be easy either way. Jennifer is totally against it because she doesn't want you any more involved than you are, but I don't have any options for you." She says. Blackmailing my dad? How?

"What would be blackmail my dad with?" I ask, very confused as to how this whole thing would unfold. "Your dad is abusive. We have the photos you sent me today, and I don't know if your mom would be willing to go up against him, but I don't know how much it would take. That's why Jennifer is against it. In order to get enough of anything to blackmail him with, you'd be going back into harms way." "Wait... you are saying that if I can get more evidence, like physical marks, of my father being an abusive piece of shit, we can blackmail him into forgetting about this whole statutory rape bullshit?" I ask. She nods slowly and I cut my eyes at her. "And Jennifer says no to this?" I ask. Dani shakes her head and I sigh, "fine." I mutter and walk away.

I go back to the bathroom and get dressed. Jennifer says no. She doesn't want me doing this, she doesn't want me to do anything at all. I can't just sit here though. Sitting here in her apartment while she is in a holding cell somewhere is not okay with me. Whatever it takes, I am going to do it. Even if it means getting beat on by him one more time.