He'd planned on going another round, maybe two, but this was a problem. A big one. If one of the girls had heard them, it would be a disaster. Worst case scenario: Emily. And from what he could tell, Victoria's earlier dazed, horny expression had vanished completely. She was back to her normal self.
Moving with quiet urgency, he pulled on a simple pair of shorts and a vest from the wardrobe. The soft click of the door closing behind him echoed like a gunshot in the silent hallway. He glanced around. Empty. Then he crept toward the stairs, his bare feet silent against the cool hardwood.
That's when he heard it. The faint hum of the refrigerator. The soft clink of glass against marble. Kitchen light bleeding into the hallway.
He descended slowly, each step deliberate, until he reached the source. The person sitting there wasn't who he'd expected. Jade. Perched at the counter, sipping water while staring into the middle distance, lost in thought. When she noticed him, her lips curved into a knowing smile.
"Well, well," she said, taking a deliberately slow sip. ""The man of the hour finally decided to make an appearance.
"Jade? What are you doing here?"
He hadn't known she was staying over. Emily usually mentioned when her friends were spending the night, mostly to warn him to stay out of their way, which he religiously did. But he'd been holed up in his room since the incident that afternoon, too distracted by his plans to pay attention to household dynamics.
The fact that Jade was here now, after what had just happened upstairs, felt like the universe was actively conspiring against him.
"I'm getting water," she said, as if addressing a particularly slow child. "You know, that clear liquid humans need to survive? Though I suppose someone like you might not be familiar with basic biology."
Isaac ignored the barb. His mind raced, calculating how much she might have seen or heard. "Were you the one at my door just now?"
Jade's smile widened, something predatory flickering in her eyes. "What do you think?"
The way she said it, casual and mocking, with just enough ambiguity to keep him guessing, told Isaac everything he needed to know. She'd been there. She'd heard. And judging by the satisfied gleam on her face, she planned to make this as difficult as possible.
Isaac had never enjoyed dealing with Emily's friends. They all shared the same entitled cruelty, constantly hunting for opportunities to tear someone down for sport. But where Emily's hostility toward him felt personal and targeted, her friends' viciousness was purely recreational. They acted this way toward everyone because it entertained them.
As the saying went, birds of a feather flock together.
When he didn't answer, she leaned forward slightly, her smile widening.
"So how was it?" Jade asked, her voice dripping with disdain.
Isaac tried to play it off, keeping his expression neutral. "What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb with me," she said, setting her glass down with a deliberate clink that echoed through the quiet kitchen. "I know you brought a girl to your room. And I know exactly what you two were doing in there."
She paused, letting that sink in before delivering her next blow.
"You know, I used to think you were just pathetic. Like, genuinely sad. But to think you'd actually score with some chick who's dumb enough to sleep with you?" She laughed, a sound like breaking glass. "I mean, I would have gone for her myself, but I doubt she's even attractive. Any girl desperate enough to sleep with you has got to be absolutely hideous."
The words hit Isaac like physical blows. His hands clenched into fists at his sides, and for a moment he seriously considered slapping that smug expression right off her face. The image was so vivid. His palm connecting with her cheek, wiping away that superior smile, showing her what happened when someone pushed him too far.
But he controlled himself. Barely. Violence would only make things worse, and right now he needed to find a way to contain this situation before it spiraled completely out of control.
"Oh really?" he said, forcing his voice to remain steady. "If what you're saying is true, where's your proof?"
Jade's smile became absolutely radiant, like she'd been waiting for exactly this question. She pulled out her phone with the flourish of a magician revealing their best trick.
"Look at this fool," she said, shaking her head in mock disappointment. "I guess all men really are the same. You don't think with your brains, just with your pathetic little egos and whatever's hanging between your legs."
She held up the phone, finger hovering over the screen. "And as for your question about proof..."
She pressed play and turned the screen toward him. When Isaac saw it, his blood turned cold. The video showed his room door, but that wasn't what made his stomach drop. It was the audio. Unmistakable moans. Groans. The rhythmic sound of bodies moving together. It wasn't explicit footage, but it didn't need to be. Anyone who heard this would know exactly what was happening on the other side of that door.
Isaac's eyes snapped wide as he listened, his mind racing through the implications. What worried him most was whether the audio contained any moment where he'd called Victoria's name. He remembered saying it at least twice during their encounter, maybe more. If that was on the recording...
But as the thirty-second video played out, he realized with immense relief that no names were mentioned. Just the sounds of passion, anonymous and unidentifiable.
When it finished, Jade looked at him expectantly. "What's wrong? Too scared to talk now?" She shook her head in mock disappointment. "Too bad I couldn't stand there longer, but just the thought of a guy and a girl doing it..." She shuddered dramatically. "It's absolutely disgusting."
Isaac's mind shifted into strategic mode. He could see where this was going. People didn't show someone evidence like this unless they wanted something. The question was what, and how he could possibly get out of it. He knew he couldn't use Honeyed Whisper since he'd already used it on Victoria earlier and the ability was still on cooldown. He'd have to wait another thirty minutes before he could use it again. This was a complete mess, but he believed there had to be a way out since it didn't look like Jade planned on taking this too far.
"The fact that you're showing me this," he said carefully, "means you need something."
"Oh, at least you're not completely stupid," Jade replied, sounding almost impressed. "And honestly, I don't need anything from you. But where's the fun if I don't ask for something?"
Here it comes, Isaac thought.
"Emi kept talking about collecting something from you. Your allowance money, right? Give it to me, and I'll delete this video."
"What?" Isaac stared at her. "Why would you want my allowance?"
"You want this video to get out instead?" Jade shot back. She looked around the kitchen, taking in the expensive appliances, the marble countertops, the general air of wealth that permeated the Wilson household. "With how rich your father is, you should be getting at least a couple thousand for allowance."
"That's not true," Isaac protested.
"There's no need to lie about it," Jade said dismissively. "If it wasn't that much, there's no way Emi would bother collecting it from you every month."
That stopped Isaac cold. It was the same question that had been bothering him for months. Why did Emily always take his allowance when she clearly had money of her own? His father only gave him five hundred dollars to last the month, and Andrew was strict about teaching his children the value of money. Isaac was sure Emily received a larger allowance from both Victoria and his father, so he'd never really understood why she bothered with his.
"I honestly don't get that much," Isaac said
"I don't really care how much you get," Jade replied with a shrug. "Just give me five hundred to keep this whole thing under the rug."
"What?" Isaac's voice rose slightly before he caught himself. "Why ask for that much just for a video?"
"Your call," Jade said, examining her perfectly manicured nails. "It's up to you to decide what you want to do. Hand over the money now, or this gets shown to Emily. Or worse, Ms. Victoria."
Isaac had been holding his breath, wondering if Jade knew it was Victoria in his room. Maybe she had seen something. Maybe she was choosing to stay quiet about it. The uncertainty gnawed at him.
But when Jade called out Victoria's name so casually, relief flooded through him. She didn't know. If Jade had even suspected Victoria was in here, she never would have said anything like that.
Her assumption was probably much simpler. She thought he had brought home some random girl. Probably someone from school. From the muffled sounds alone, there was no way to identify whose voice it was.
That was good. It meant the situation was containable.
"Tonight?" he asked. "How do you expect me to come up with that kind of money right now?"
"It's up to you to figure out how you'll get it," Jade said. "But I already told you what happens if you don't."
Isaac looked at her for a long moment, weighing his options. He could try to negotiate, but Jade didn't seem like the type to back down. He could call her bluff, but the risk was too high. If this video got out and the whole household started asking questions about who he'd brought home, it might disrupt the plans he had to take control of things. Worse, he could lose his current hold on Victoria.
"Hold on," he said finally.
Isaac moved to the back of the kitchen as quietly as possible. He needed to end this quickly to avoid any unwanted interference. It was best to just pay up and be done with it.
The briefcase was exactly where he'd left it, concealed behind cleaning supplies in a storage cabinet that no one ever used. Isaac opened it carefully, the smell of leather and money filling his nostrils. Five hundred dollars was nothing compared to what was in there, but he couldn't let Jade know that.
He pulled out the money, then composed himself to look defeated, like this was his last five hundred dollars, something precious he was being forced to give up. When he returned to the kitchen, he made sure his shoulders were slumped, his expression resigned.
"Here," he said, holding out the bills with obvious reluctance. "I had plans for this money because I really needed to get some things, but... fine. But you have to delete it right now. That's the deal."
Jade took the money with a satisfied smile, counting it quickly before stuffing it away. Then, true to her word, she opened her phone and deleted the video right in front of him.
"Pleasure doing business with you," she said, draining the last of her water. "Oh, and Isaac? You might want to figure out what you're going to tell Emily when she asks for your allowance."
With that parting shot, she headed for the stairs, leaving Isaac alone in the kitchen with his thoughts.
He waited until he heard Emily's bedroom door close before making his own way upstairs. The hallway was silent now. He had to figure out what to tell Victoria.