Page 100 of The Unknown

“But not to us,” Violet intones. “Those of us who knew and loved her got together with one goal—to make Ronan pay for what he did.”

“Wait,” I say, struggling to keep up. “Let me get this straight. You did all of this toscareRonan?”

Violet sighs. “It’s not quite like that.”

“It’s exactly like that,” Heather says. “I told you there had to be an easier way.”

“It wasn’t just about fear,” Violet tells me. “We wanted to strip him of his emotional defenses. Get him exhausted and desperate and to a point where he’d say anything to get off this island.”

A laugh bursts out of me. A single disbelieving bark that echoes across the lake. This is, without a doubt, the most Scooby-Doo thing I’ve ever heard.

“Why would you go to all that trouble?”

“To get him to confess,” Julianne says.

“To what?”

This still seems too silly to be real, and I’d be certain they were joking if not for Violet, whose expression is as serious as a tombstone.

“Killing Elise,” she says.

“Not directly,” Julianne adds.

Heather confirms it with a nod. “But it was all his fault.”

“I don’t understand,” I say, overwhelmed to the point of wooziness. It’s so much information. Too much. “You just told me she overdosed.”

Violet steps away from the others, taking center stage. “She did. After learning that one night, without her knowledge or consent, Ronan recorded a video of them having sex.”

“Are you sure he’s the one behind it?” It’s not that I don’t believe it happened. It just doesn’t seem like something Ronan would do. The fact that he’s likely a heartless lothario doesn’t mean he’d also film a woman without her permission. That’s a whole other level of villainy. “Maybe someone filmed them without his knowledge.”

Susie whips out her phone, and I realize she’s had it the entire time. All of them have. It’s just me and Ronan who’ve gone without ours this whole week, a fact that nudges me closer to his side.

But then Susie shoves her phone in my face and I know that would be the wrong choice. Because flickering across the screen is a video ofRonan. Despite the grainy quality, its clearly him, naked and looming over a blond woman lying on her stomach. Although a pillow obscures most of her face, she doesn’t seem to be aware of the camera.

Ronan, though, absolutely is. He looks directly at it, flashing a dirty smile and a wink before entering the woman from behind.

“Yeah,” Susie says, putting the phone away. “We’re fucking sure. And then he sent it to one of his friends, who sent it to others. If I have it on my phone, imagine how many other people have seen it.”

“When Elise found out, she was devastated,” Violet says. “Ronan used and humiliated and exploited her.”

“But she wasn’t the only one,” Heather says. “He’s filmed himself with others.”

Susie folds her arms across her chest. “Five, that we know of.”

For a moment, I think I’m going to be sick. I recall the video Susie secretly took—which, in hindsight, was clearly an attempt to trap Ronan. He’d gotten so mad when she suggested filming them having sex. Most likely because he feared she knew all about those five other women.

“None of them are willing to go public,” Violet says with a judgmental sniff that I find unwarranted. Yes, it’s disappointing, but I can’t blame them. I think about how I’d react to such a thing happening to me. Horror. Revulsion. Enough shame to scar me for life. I’d be reluctant to come forward, too. I know how these things go. The woman always pays a price, even if she’s the victim.

“If we went to the press, no one would believe us,” Susie adds.

“We didn’t know what to do,” Violet says. “Until a year ago, when Ronan introduced himself at a party. Imagine the trauma of that moment. There I was, face-to-face with the man who’d destroyed Elise’s life. Only he didn’t know that I knew.”

She tells me how Ronan tried to draw her in with the same easygoing charm he used on me. Saying that Violet was his idol. That he would do anything to work with her. On any project she wanted.

At that moment, she came up with a way to expose his misdeeds.Get her producer sister to pitch him a movie he wouldn’t be able to resist. One based on a story they’d been obsessed with while growing up in Vermont. One that allowed plenty of opportunities to blur the lines between the real and the supernatural. Violet would, of course, star, and to sweeten the deal, they also offered to let Ronan write the screenplay. Once it was finished, they enlisted three other actresses who had known and loved Elise—and were eager to make Ronan pay for what he’d done. After that, Loretta started floating the idea to Ronan that spending a week on the real island of New Avalon would help the cast develop their characters and lend authenticity to the movie.

Now we’re here, engaged in some weird revenge mindfuck. It makes me think about Lindy Garrett, her texts, how she was completely right. I should have never set foot on this island. Because I do indeed regret it.