Rage boiled over, scalding Rafe from the inside out. “What did she do when she found out?”

“It tipped her over the edge and she spiraled into a depression I couldn’t pull her out of.”

Rafe waited for Farrah to say more, frowning when it became clear that she didn’t plan to. Fucking hell. “What about the video?”

Farrah’s body sagged. “Prescott was arrested for attempted rape, but he made a plea deal with the DA. Got the charge reduced to harassment, on the condition that he relinquish the video. He got a suspended jail sentence and Mercy didn’t have to go through a court trial. We thought it had gone away.” She swallowed. “But he must have kept a copy.”

“Sonofabitch.” Rafe lurched to his feet, only to crash back into the chair when his bad leg buckled.

Sasha moved from her perch on the desk to the arm of his chair, her arm sliding around his shoulders. “Dad called his lawyer to get the story taken down. They’re working on it.”

That was something, at least. Karl Sokolov had started his career in radio but had long ago branched out into marketing. Between the marketing agency and his media outlets, he and his lawyers knew more than a thing or two about managing negative press.

“I called André to get a message to the DA who filed the bastard’s plea deal,” Farrah said. “I’ll let you know as soon as I hear something. I can only guess that someone paid Prescott enough for the video that he thought it was worth the risk.”

Rafe drew a breath, needing the facts before he lost his fucking mind. That someone would do that to Mercy—to anyone—but especially with all Mercy had already been through . . . “What about the second encounter?” he bit out, because there was no way he was going to be able to read that trash. Even if he could, he didn’t think Mercy would get over it if he did.

Farrah’s jaw was tight. “Peter Firmin is just an opportunistic jerk. They went on a few dates after she’d started at the NOPD lab, but he broke it off, saying that she was the coldest fish he’d ever tried to kiss. He was pretty vocal about it at the time, telling everyone they knew. Mercy was so embarrassed. André stepped in and paid the asshole a visit.” Her lips firmed. “André convinced him that it would be detrimental to his health if he talked any more, so he stopped.”

Rafe was surprised. “Your fiancé, a cop, threatened him?” Although that was fine by him.

Farrah’s chin lifted. “Firmin is a cop, too.”

“Well, shit,” Rafe muttered, and Farrah nodded.

“That’s the reason Mercy felt safe going out alone with him to begin with after the video nightmare, but the bastard rushed her and then humiliated her when she said no. After that little chat with André, Firmin left her alone. We hadn’t heard a peep out of him until this article.” Farrah’s eye twitched. “He said that if he’d known roofies were what ‘turned her crank,’ he’d have tried that. Then he laughed and said he was just kidding, of course.”