3: 3

In my past life, I'd heard these exact same words.

A ringing filled my head.

My legs nearly gave out.

In a daze, I followed the crowd up to the rooftop.

The wind hadn't died down, and rainwater ran down the railing.

The same scene played out in front of me again.

Lorraine Pruitt stood at the edge of the rooftop, her skirt suit crumpled beyond recognition.

She clutched a wad of torn fabric in her hand.

Her eyes locked onto me in the crowd, tears spilling over.

"Willow, look what Ray did!"

Weeping, Lorraine lifted the shredded strips of underwear.

"Willow, I really didn't want to make a big deal out of this."

"But every time I close my eyes, it's all last night."

"I'm so scared! Your brother ruined my life!"

The murmurs around me grew louder.

Plenty of people turned to look at me strangely.

The boss's face was grim.

"Willow, where's your brother?"

I said nothing. I pulled out my phone and called Ray.

"Sis?"

I put it on speaker.

"Where are you?"

"At home."

"Did you go out last night?"

Ray paused, confused.

"No. Didn't I do what you said and stay in my room all night?"

Lorraine's head snapped up.

"You're lying!"

She screamed at the phone through her tears.

"It was you last night! You wore a black jacket, you drove an SUV!"

She sobbed until she could barely breathe.

The boss's brow furrowed.

"Willow, get your brother down here right now."

"This ends today, one way or another!"

Fifteen minutes later.

Ray arrived at the rooftop door.

Facing a Lorraine crying so hard she was almost fainting, he was terrified.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I was in my room playing games all last night."

Lorraine acted as if she'd suffered some unspeakable disgrace, screaming hysterically.

"Liar!"

"It was you last night!"

"You had on a black jacket, you drove an SUV, you said your sister talks tough but she's soft-hearted, that she'd still sent you to come get me, so I got in your car!"

The tears came pouring out again.

"I'm a decent girl. Why would I ruin my own reputation just to frame you?"

The way my coworkers looked at Ray and me turned even more contemptuous.

"Rich kids really are shameless. He does something like this and still denies it to your face without blinking."

"This brazen? His family's company needs a full investigation!"

"This isn't his first time, I'd bet. Animal!"

Ray was frantic.

"It has nothing to do with me!"

"I really was playing games all last night. I have a witness!"

"Don't believe me, ask—"

Before he could finish, Lorraine burst into loud sobs.

"Willow's your sister, of course she's on your side!"

She cried until she could barely catch her breath.

"Wasn't it enough to bully me, to violate me? Now you have to twist it all around and blame me too. Won't you be happy until you've driven me to my death!"

Seeing her like this, the coworkers worked themselves into a frenzy.

"This is too much! Picking on a girl with no one to protect her?"

"Do something awful and then smear the victim? Is there no justice left?"

A few worked-up male coworkers balled their fists and moved to hit Ray.

"Stop wasting words on him. Beat him first and let Lorraine have her justice!"

Just as I moved to stop them, a familiar voice came from behind me.

"Don't touch him!"

I turned and saw my parents hurrying up onto the rooftop.

"There has to be a misunderstanding here!"

"Our Ray is such a good boy. He'd never do something like this!"

The male coworker who wanted to throw a punch sneered.

"You're the rapist's own father. Of course you won't admit it!"

My dad's face went red with panic.

"No. We have a security camera at our front door. One look and you'll know whether my son left the house or not!"

4: 4

Lorraine shot back at once, her voice shrill:

"What good is a camera at your front door? Who's to say it hasn't been tampered with?"

"You installed that camera yourselves. Doctoring the footage would be nothing to you."

The people around them chimed in from every side:

"Yeah, footage from your own camera proves nothing. You could edit it however you want!"

"No wonder they're so smug. They had the fake evidence ready all along. What a vicious mind!"

My mother was shaking with fury:

"You have no proof. You take her word alone and call my son guilty. This is slander!"

Hearing that, Lorraine gripped the railing and pulled herself upright.

Her eyes were red and full of hatred:

"Ma'am, are you saying I threw away my own good name just to frame your son on purpose?"

"Yes. Your family has money. A regular person like me can't fight people like you."

"Today I'll stake my life on it, but I'll get justice for myself!"

Mr. Finch hurried forward two quick steps:

"Lorraine, don't do anything rash!"

"Whatever you want, just say it. Everything's negotiable!"

Lorraine bit her lip, her voice hard and final:

"I want ten million!"

"They didn't just violate my body. They trampled my dignity too!"

"Pay me ten million, I'll carry all this trauma alone, and we settle this out of court right here!"

When she finished, she edged back half a step toward the roof's edge:

"Otherwise I jump right now and die in front of you all!"

She leaned half her body out over the ledge.

A ripple of panic went through the crowd.

"Holy crap, she's really going to jump!"

"Barnes, it's not like your family can't afford it. Just pay her, don't let this turn into a death!"

"Exactly. What matters more, money or a human life?"

Mr. Finch whipped his head toward me and shouted:

"Willow, a life's on the line here!"

"Just agree to her terms first. The money's nothing to your family. Don't let this blow up past the point of fixing it."

Lorraine swung one leg over the railing and hung there off the edge of the roof, teetering:

"If I die, I'll haunt Ray as a ghost for the rest of his life!"

"I'll make sure that rapist, that murderer, never has a moment of peace!"

Her eyes were wild, like a pitiful woman driven to the end of her rope.

Mom and Dad were terrified.

"Miss, don't jump!"

"We'll pay, we'll pay, just don't do anything rash!"

My father pulled out his checkbook with trembling hands.

I knew he wanted to talk Lorraine back from the edge first, then sort out the truth slowly afterward.

But he didn't understand this: once that money changed hands, the truth wouldn't matter anymore.

Just as my father pinched the pen, about to write in the amount,

a light broke loose in Lorraine's eyes that she couldn't hold back.

"Hold on."

I reached over and pressed down on my father's pen.

Under the shocked stares of everyone, I turned and looked straight at Lorraine:

"Lorraine, I'll ask you one last time."

"You're sure the person who came to you last night was my brother, Ray?"

Lorraine stared hard at the checkbook and nodded with force:

"I'm sure! I'd know him even if he were burned to ashes."

I nodded and pulled out my phone:

"Fine. In that case, what you're after, I'll give it to you."

Lorraine swallowed, an eagerness slipping into her voice:

"Phone transfer? Sure!"

"Ten million, and not a cent less!"

I let out a scornful laugh:

"Ten million?"

"What I said was, the justice you want, I'll give it to you."

I tapped my phone and opened a livestream replay.

"Take a good look. Who is this."

On the screen, Ray's face showed up clear as day.

I looked at Lorraine and said each word slowly:

"My brother livestreamed all night long."

"Face on camera the whole time, dropping a cash giveaway every half hour, pulling in a hundred thousand viewers the entire night."

I pushed the phone forward:

"The witnesses he mentioned aren't just our family."

"They're the hundred thousand people in that livestream."