Hunter's revelation cut close to the bone for Euan. His adopted son, Noah, was Positive and an addict. He was on a good run right now and after a serious relapse that nearly took his life, he was clean again and doing pretty well. He had bad days, but who didn't. Euan was equipped to weigh-in on this whole thing not just as a NYPD Captain with a long history of being a cop and a detective, but also as a father of a kid with issues similar to Justin. There was no way to ever know if Noah got infected by a dirty needle or unprotected sex, because when he was homeless and trying to harbour a drug addiction, he prostituted himself to pay drug debts. He wasn't much older than Justin, so Euan was understandably shaken with what Hunter said too. Even though Noah's HIV was really well-controlled with meds and as stable as it could be with little viral-load, no one would ever wish it on anyone, let alone a young person. He hoped Mark had the strength to hold up here, but Euan wouldn't blame him if he wanted to hit the bottle with this amount of horrible shit coming at him hard and fast. Not just the HIV, but now James and Clint putting Euan's own concerns out there as he had been planning to do. Blackmail was one, but revenge was what he had been learning towards, especially after reading through the woman's criminal record. She had prior convictions for drug possession and prostitution, but they hadn't been able to nail her with drug trafficking due to lack of a chain of evidence.
He nodded and cleared his throat. "I was gonna put the revenge thing out there. But if I had t'put m'money on mountin' a case here, I'd go both. I think she's threatened the kid with blackmail, probably some demandin' some substantial amount o'cash 'cause she knows he's loaded from what he's achieved, but I think she's threatened t'take Mark down f'somethin' unless he coughs up the money. Makes sense she'd make it as filthy as she can 'cause she'll want t'try and make it stick aimin' at an attorney. She'd only get one chance. She knows what Mark's capable of, he got the book thrown at her with a maximum sentence. It's probably why the poor kid got so spooked and it messed him up mentally. It ain't a secret he's always been terrified o'losin' Mark. He ends up having a bad episode every time Mark's been poorly. Somethin' like a pedophile accusation sticks f'life, whether ya' innocent or not. She mighta told him it's what she was gonna do. Somethin' 'bout this whole thing has made him remember these parts o'his past now. And honestly, I think the first thing ya' gotta do, Mark, is get on the phone and ask Sash if he had sex with Justin that night. He's only got a small window for PEP. Chances are slim, but these slim chances ya' don't wanna fuck 'bout with."
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He nodded and cleared his throat. "I was gonna put the revenge thing out there. But if I had t'put m'money on mountin' a case here, I'd go both. I think she's threatened the kid with blackmail, probably some demandin' some substantial amount o'cash 'cause she knows he's loaded from what he's achieved, but I think she's threatened t'take Mark down f'somethin' unless he coughs up the money. Makes sense she'd make it as filthy as she can 'cause she'll want t'try and make it stick aimin' at an attorney. She'd only get one chance. She knows what Mark's capable of, he got the book thrown at her with a maximum sentence. It's probably why the poor kid got so spooked and it messed him up mentally. It ain't a secret he's always been terrified o'losin' Mark. He ends up having a bad episode every time Mark's been poorly. Somethin' like a pedophile accusation sticks f'life, whether ya' innocent or not. She mighta told him it's what she was gonna do. Somethin' 'bout this whole thing has made him remember these parts o'his past now. And honestly, I think the first thing ya' gotta do, Mark, is get on the phone and ask Sash if he had sex with Justin that night. He's only got a small window for PEP. Chances are slim, but these slim chances ya' don't wanna fuck 'bout with."