Ridley was silent for a few seconds. “We’re going to go out there and tell the cops this was all big misunderstanding, and we’re going to apologize for wasting their time.”

“Dad…”

Ridley grabbed him by the arm. “You will say nothing. Got it. Keep your mouth shut. Can you do that?”

Upstairs, after the cops left, Chad’s father let loose.

“How did you get so fucking stupid?” he screamed as soon as the elevator doors closed on their penthouse. Chad tried to escape to his bedroom, but Ridley followed him up the stairs, going on and on about all the ways the video could fuck up their lives. “Do you want to go to prison?”

Chad kept walking. Ridley pushed him and he stumbled forward, falling briefly then popping back up, surprised and angry.

“What’s the big deal? It’s just a sex tape.”

Ridley stared at his son for a moment. Chad had seen the same expression on his father’s face last month when he told him he hadn’t gotten the internship with the Brooklyn Nets.

“What happened?” Ridley had asked.

“It was between two of us and they chose the other guy. I think his dad’s a state senator.”

Ridley had shaken his head and looked at Chad like he’d just sung off-key. “At some point you need to start figuring out how to close the deal, son.”

He’d closed the deal with Claudia, though, hadn’t he? He hadn’t kidnapped her. She’d come up in the elevator with him. She knew what was going to happen. She’d known it was coming. It had been coming for a long time.

“Give me your phone.”

“No.” Chad touched the device in his back pocket.

Ridley shook his head. Disappointed.

“Give it to me.”

“I’m not giving you my phone.”

Ridley stepped forward and Chad took off down the hall, sprinting into his bedroom, flipping the lock. His father kicked the door.

“I’m trying to help you, you moron!”

“I don’t need your help!”

His dad was not going to back off, so he decided to wipe the phone. His contacts were in the cloud and everything else was in apps he could log back into. He could probably even find the video if he really wanted to. But he didn’t need it, he thought, as he Googled “erase contents of iPhone”—he’d been there.

When he finally opened the bedroom door, his father was still standing there. Chad pushed the phone into his chest and walked past him, headed down the stairs to the elevator.

“What did you do, Chad?”

“Fuck you, Dad.”

And that should have been the end of it.

CLAUDIA

Lesley showed up late, but looked exactly right. Short black dress, high heels, cleavage, big hair, glossy lips. The full cliché.

“You look great,” said Claudia.