Razor: A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance(12)

In the video, a darkened alley could be seen. After a moment, a man and woman came into view. They appeared to be arguing bitterly, with the woman gesturing wildly in the man’s face.

Suddenly, the man seemed to have enough of her bitching and began violently choking her. The woman fought valiantly, even appearing to grab something and slamming the man in the face with it. It allowed her to break free from him briefly and she stumbled off. He quickly recovered, though, and caught up with her. While struggling to contain his victim, he managed to produce something from his pocket and slid it across her neck. She clutched at her neck in horror as blood poured from her wound.

The man brutally shoved the woman to the ground and delivered a solid kick to her ribs. After a moment, she grew still and he bent down, placing a hand on her neck. Satisfied, he got up and began walking off, but not before the camera caught a good glimpse of his face.

Carly had her hand over her mouth, her expression horrified. “That is Mayor Bradley,” she whispered. “I can’t believe it.”

“I can. He’s a slimeball and is as corrupt as they come.” I took the flash drive out and stuffed it back in my pocket, turning to face Carly. “And that, my dear sis, is why I have tracked you down. I need you to help me expose him for the dirt bag he truly is.”

Carly was silent for nearly a minute, appearing lost in thought. “We need to take this to the police,” she decided finally. “Tell them that you made a mistake hacking into their servers and stumbled upon the video by accident.”

“Haven’t you been listening?” I demanded. “They’re the ones covering for him. If I do that, I’m liable to be locked up and never to be heard from again. Meanwhile, the video will just disappear.” I shook my head. “No, what we need to do is get the evidence out to independent sources, that way there’s no way they’ll be able to stop it once the video starts circulating all over the internet.”

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Carly muttered.

“Believe it,” I said firmly. “This is no time for hysterics, Carly. The sooner you get over your shock, the better.” I pointed at her laptop. “How much traffic do you get to that news blog of yours?”

“Not much. Just enough to cover the bills here, actually.”

“What about analytics. Do you know about the type of people visiting your site and where they’re from?”

Carly shrugged. “I assume that they come for my genius reporting,” she replied jokingly. “But I have no idea.”

“Hmmm, I’ll look into that,” I murmured thoughtfully. I scratched behind my ear. “If we put this video on there, I think I could increase traffic to your site ten-fold. After that, I’m sure the video will spread like the Z-virus.”

“How do you expect to do that?” Carly demanded.

I gave her my most cocky grin. “I’m Razor, that’s how.”

Carly snorted with derision. “Please.”

“Seriously, though. Can I count on you to help me see this through?” I don’t know why her aid was so important to me, but it was.

Carly’s response wasn’t immediate, and I must admit that it stung a little. I know she was angry with me for not even a phone call, but shit, cut me some slack. My freedom was at stake here.

“I’ll do it,” she said finally, filling me with relief. “But I have a feeling I’ll regret it.” The last words she uttered under her breath but I still heard it.

I wiped at my brow. “Damn, for a moment there I thought you were going turn me in.”

“Don’t be silly. I’d never do something like that . . . even if you do deserve it.”

“You sure about that? You were going to blow me when I walked through the door.” I gave her a mischievous grin so she could catch my meaning.

Carly scowled. “In your dreams. You almost got your head blown off, though, that’s for sure.”

In my dreams. Well she was right about that one. She most certainly had blown me in my dreams. On more than one occasion.

“So what now?” Carly demanded worriedly, not waiting for a reply. “Are we just going to throw the footage up on my website or are you going to . . ?”

“First,” I said rising from my seat and nodding towards her little couch. “I’m going to pass out on your sofa.” The thing looked too small to house my large muscular frame, but after nearly forty-eight hours of no sleep, even resting on a bed of rocks seemed like a good idea. “I’ve literally been running on fumes for the past two days.” I yawned, suddenly very tired. “I need a good sleep to refresh myself.”

“Okay,” Carly agreed. “I want to get this done. I’m going to be on pins and needles around here.”

“Right,” I replied drowsily as I made my way over to the couch and flopped down on my back. The fatigue that I’d been dodging for what seemed like forever was finally catching up to me.

“One last thing,” Carly said.

“Yeah?” My eyes were already closing.

“What was the victim’s name?” Her voice almost sounded like it was underneath water.

The last thing I remembered before the darkness took me was sluggishly uttering, “Ashley Collins.”