Whoever the hooded woman is, Twitter has decided, she’s a victim. Specifically, Alec’s victim.
@rosestachio I am devastated. I loved AK in West Midlands but I am never watching that show again. Look at this pic and read this story. I’m gonna be sick. #AlexanderKim #JosefAnders #JupiterScandal Link to: LA Times, Jupiter Owners Caught on Video in VIP Sex Scandal
@tacomyburrito This is why we can’t have nice things. Literally every man is a predator. Read the LA Times story, too, it’s insane. #AlexanderKim #JupiterScandal.
@4KJules2000 These men are SCUM. #AlexanderKim #JosefAnders #TheTilts #JupiterScandal
My words are being used to bury Alec.
“He was helping Sunny, though,” I say through gritted teeth.
Yael says a simple, “Yes.”
“I don’t understand. Can’t he come forward and say that yes, he was there, but he was helping someone get out of the club?” I scroll through the hashtags #JupiterScandal and #AlexanderKim.
“No one will believe him now unless he gives a name. Of course anyone caught like that would say they had a good reason to be there.”
“Then he could explain that he’s helping his sister out of the club on a night she was drugged.” I look over at Yael. “It would take two seconds to fix this. We have it all written up; we could just give names. In ten minutes, he could come clean about what happened, explain what this is. He’s the hero, not the villain.”
I pull out my Batphone and text him, Alec you have to get out in front of this!!
I wait ten seconds while it slowly sends, burning a hole in my phone with my focus. Finally, I hit send on another: Let me help you!
Neither message sends. They turn green, hovering in the void. He’s shut off his Gigi Phone.
Even so, I call, and then call again. I call our room—his room, now, I guess. With a blister forming on my lungs every time I inhale, I wonder if he’ll even sleep there tonight or if he’s already on a plane back to London.
I call his phone again. Each time, it goes straight to voicemail.
I don’t care that Yael is listening to every word, I am frantic; panic eats my oxygen. “Alec,” I say in a final plea to his voicemail. “Call me. Let me help you get in front of this.”
Hanging up, I drop my phone onto the seat and lean my head back, exhaling a quiet “Shit.” Desperate now, I look over at her, willing to grovel. “Can you call him on his regular phone for me?”
Yael finally takes her attention off the road again to glance at me. Her eyes are beautiful; they’re the same reddish brown as her hair. “Georgia, he could have controlled the message had you included his account in the piece. In that case, he would have simply come out as the anonymous source and said he was helping a good friend, that of course he wouldn’t be cooperating with the story if he were one of the people committing the crimes. But we’re behind the momentum now; now it’s about damage control.”
This speech includes more words than I’ve ever heard Yael use at once, and all I can think to say in response is, “We can still fix this.”
“Perhaps, but Alec wouldn’t possibly give Sunny’s name if in the end no one believes him anyway and it tarnishes them both.”
“Why wouldn’t anyone believe him?”
“Revealing that Sunny was assaulted may be no big deal to the American press but it isn’t like that in the UK. And I am not sure how the news would be handled elsewhere. More often than not, the victim is blamed. Given these circumstances, given how this looks, he won’t force her into that position.”
“But—”
“He won’t force her into that position,” she repeats, adamant.
“So he would rather be seen as a criminal?”
“Where Sunny is concerned, yes.”
“Can you drop me at the Times? I need to go into the office.”
She nods, changing lanes.
Two fists come around my organs, twisting. “What now?”
“For you? Hope that no one associates you with Alec.”
I clench my jaw, angry and hurt. “I mean what’s next for Alec, but okay.”
Yael glances over, and I sense the slightest softening of her posture next to me. “For what it’s worth, he’s trying to protect you, too. You work for the Times. It will look very bad for you if anyone discovers you were staying at the hotel with him. You’re beautiful and friendly. One makes you noticeable, both make you memorable. For everyone’s sake, I truly hope no one remembers you.”