“N-not all of them.” He glances around the table, looking like he might shit himself. “Other people post stuff, too.”
“But you posted this one here,” Mike says, pulling up the beach photo from the broadcast. “You want to tell us how Greg fucking Wallace ended up with this photo?”
“Maybe he’s a member of the community.”
Mike sighs, looking bored.
Three clicks and a few keystrokes later, up pops a window displaying Jeremy’s email exchange with someone from the Davis family’s public relations team.
“You sent the photos of Holly and McKenzie to the Davises. What’s more, you sent them the link to her leaked cam video.”
“I didn’t leak the video—”
“That’s not what I said.” Mike frowns. “The video was posted to your community by a user going by the name TNRipHer. But as we can all see fromthisemail, you were the one who passed it on.”
Jeremy shakes his head frantically. “This is illegal. You guys hacked into my personal shit!”
“Pretty sure harassment is illegal, too, Jeremy.” Mike links his fingers behind his neck. “Or did you think we missed the fact that you’ve also been leaking her email addresses?”
I clear my throat and fight to keep my voice measured. “I’m curious, Jeremy. If McKenzie had gone home with you that night, what was your plan? Wait till she’s asleep and take some pictures? Maybe fuck her, then jump online and tell all your friends about it?”
“I didn’t have a plan. I just wanted to hook up—”
“That used surveillance camera you bought wasn’t part of your plan?” Mike asks, smirking.
After a tense pause, Jeremy groans and asks, “Does this mean I’m fired?”
“The fuck do you think?” Jonah barks.
The younger man winces. I check the time on my phone and then motion for Mike to speed up the presentation.
“Here’s what’s gonna happen,” Mike says. “Your online community is going away. In fact, this isn’t even the live site. It’s an archive. The site is gone. You can try to log in, but it won’t work.”
Jeremy sighs. “Great...”
“Furthermore, if you attempt to look up McKenzie Sommers, or Holly Larkin, on any search engine, your computer will crash and become unusable.”
Jeremy snickers. “Yeah, fucking right.”
“Go on,” I say. “Try it.”
“Fine.” He pulls out his phone and thumbs at it, then goes still. He hits the power button. “What the... The hell’d you do to my phone?”
“Turned it into a paperweight,” Mike says.
“This is bullshit!” Jeremy hurls his phone at the floor like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
“On the contrary,” Jonah says. “I think we’re being more than generous here.”
“Generous?” He laughs, but there’s no humor in the sound. “Are you fucking insane?”
“Considering Austin wanted to break both your hands?” Mike says. “I think you’re getting off easy.”
Jeremy tries and fails to stare me down. I rise from my chair and brace my hands on the table, leaning forward.
“You will stay the fuck away from McKenzie,” I growl. “In fact, you’re going to leave Knoxville. Maybe even Tennessee. Because if I ever see you again, there won’t be an HR department to protect you. I will make you regret ever having Googled McKenzie Sommers. Now pack up your shit and get the fuck out.”
I nod my thanks to Jonah and Mike for the assist and then exit the conference room. I’ve got a few minutes to kill before I need to pick up Kenzie, and I spend them in my truck, tensing and relaxing my muscle groups, trying to calm down.