Page 78 of Hide and Seek

“I downloaded them, then I corrupted multiple parts of their system to cover up what I did, but I didn’t do a thorough enough job of covering my tracks.”

“Is that what he blackmailed you with?” he asks. “Releasing the information about your involvement with the charity job?”

“No. Those were just threats he used to get me to click on the link and see what he was actually going to blackmail me with.” My stomach flips over and goes sour at the memories of when I first saw what was behind that link.

“What were they trying to blackmail you with?”

“I can’t say it,” I whisper. “Please don’t make me say it.”

“Was it the deepfakes?”

“You know about them?” Relief and fear fill me in equal measures.

Oh god. Did heseethem? Did he see all the disgusting shit they created to manipulate me and force me to help them?

My stomach roils, and for a second, I think I’m going to be sick.

He must see the change in me because his voice is soft and soothing when he speaks.

“Myles, look at the camera. Let me see your face.”

I lift my eyes and do as he says. Something about obeying him helps calm some of my disgust, and I’m able to take a deep breath when he tells me to.

“I know about the videos. I haven’t seen them,” he assures me. “And we’re making sure no one ever does.”

“What do you mean?” I whisper, not daring to hope that he’s been able to do what I couldn’t.

“Remember how I said you’re not the only hacker I know? The ones I know found out about the deepfakes earlier today, ironically, and they deleted them from the source. The originals are gone, and as far as they can tell, the only copies that were made are also gone.”

“Really?” My vision goes blurry as tears fill my eyes. This can’t be true, can it?

“Yes, really. They’re running checks to see if any of them ended up on the dark web or are being passed around the various chat rooms and social media groups that are known for consuming that shit. So far they haven’t found any evidence that they are, but they’re going to keep checking until they know for sure that they’re gone and no one will ever see them.”

“Are you being serious?” I ask, my voice trembling as more tears fill my eyes. “Like for real serious?”

I’ve spent months desperately searching for the source of the originals and doing checks and sweeps to see if they ended up online or on the dark web. And after coming up empty-handed time and time again, I was beginning to feel like it was hopeless and I wouldn’t find them until someone else did and used them against me and my family.

“I’m dead serious,” he says, and there’s something about his voice that makes me believe him.

I let my knees drop as a heavy sense of exhaustion falls over me.

“Myles?”

“Just processing,” I say and give the camera a wobbly smile. “This is a lot.”

“It is,” he agrees. “But there’s one more thing you need to tell me.”

“What’s that?”

“What they blackmailed you into doing.”

“Oh, yeah. That.” I blow out a heavy sigh. “They blackmailed me into helping Jacob try to kill another student.” I wait for some sort of backlash at my declaration, but there isn’t one.

“Tell me about that.”

“They had me break into the security system at Hamilton House and update them on his movements. Then they picked a time when he—Jacob—would go after him. I was supposed to hack the swipe logs to get him in and out of the building without leaving a trace and alter the video feeds to get rid of any evidence that he was there and what he did to the kid.”

“And what happened when he tried to kill the kid?”