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injured.
    “It’s all my fault,” said Becca, sinking into her misery. “None of this would have happened if I hadn’t been so stupid.”
    “I doubt it’s your fault, darling. Men have a way of getting into trouble all on their own. Start at the beginning and tell me what happened so we can fix it.” There were advantages to being a senator’s wife and a Walker, and she’d do anything short of involving herself in a scandal to help the young woman sitting beside her. “How badly is your brother hurt?” she asked, hitting the most important question and hoping the answer was one she could live with.
    “Not too bad. Mostly bruises,” said Becca. “The other guy is in worse shape than Matt is.”
    “Other guy? He was fighting?” Something felt off. Unless he’d been really provoked, Sandra had a hard time imagining Matt in a fight.
    Becca nodded, blinking back a fresh onslaught of tears. “It’s all my fault. He was just trying to protect me. He never should have been there.”
    Sandra’s stomach turned icy and she had a moment to wish for the heat of the desert. “Tell me what happened, Becca,” she said, lacing her voice with command. She had a feeling this was one of those truths she wouldn’t want to know but she wasn’t about to turn away from the young woman sitting beside her.
    “A couple of weeks ago, I went to a party at one of the fraternities on campus. You don’t know me, but I don’t normally go to parties. And I definitely don’t drink.”
    “But that night you did both,” said Sandra, keeping her tone neutral so she didn’t spook the other woman.
    Becca nodded, tears spilling from her eyes.
    Sandra took her hand and held it between both of hers. “Did someone hurt you, Becca?” Sandra had a flash of her best friend from high school, sneaking into Sandra’s bedroom window, her dress torn and dirty and her eyes haunted. It was the same look she remembered seeing in Becca’s eyes the first time she met her. “Were you raped?”
    The tears fell freely as the other woman nodded. She swallowed hard, choking back a sob. “I think so. Yes.”
    “You think so?”
    “I passed out. I don’t remember. I woke up naked on a mattress upstairs at the frat house. The bastard posted pictures online.”
    She shuddered.
    Sandra squeezed her hand tighter, but as she talked, anger seemed to replace some of her vulnerability. Good. Anger served a woman better than sadness. If she could find a way to channel her pain, then she’d find a way to survive.
    “I scrubbed the pictures as soon as I found them, but somehow Matt must have found out. He beat the guy up. Bad enough that they filed assault charges.”
    “Is your brother okay?” Sandra weighed the risk of getting tangled up in a potential scandal with the need to help the poor girl. Either way, she’d make sure Becca and her brother got what they needed. The question was how close could she personally afford to get to the situation and was there an upside she wasn’t seeing?
    “He got knocked out. Somebody came along. Saw them fighting and assumed Matt was the bad guy. He’s at the hospital. They want to watch him for twenty-four hours because of the head injury but he should be okay.”
    “You said you scrubbed the pictures,” said Sandra, remembering what she’d said earlier. “What does that mean?”
    “I’ve been watching to see if anything showed up. When it did, I made it disappear. I’m good with computers,” she clarified and Sandra filed the information away for later. That kind of skill could definitely come in handy.
    “When Matt’s released, they’re going to take him to jail. I need a way to post his bail and I don’t even have a car to get to him. I know it’s not your problem. I’m embarrassed to have to tell you any of it.” Her voice caught again and Sandra gave her hand a quick, sharp squeeze before letting go, not willing to see her sink back into the pain.
    “You don’t have anything to be