Chapter 27 Keaton
KEATON
Ifeel sick. I feel physically ill. But I keep my eyes trained on her. I try to keep my body language relaxed so I don’t make Ally uncomfortable, but I am grasping here. I want her to go on. I need her to finish her story. But in the same breath, I want to cover my ears and run away like a child.
Just as my leg starts to bounce, I feel a warm hand on it. I look down at Evie’s perfect hand clutching onto me, her other arm wrapped around the brave woman in front of us. My eyes meet Evie’s.
“I’m right here,” she mouths. I nod subtly then fix my gaze back on Ally.
“I…I felt like I couldn’t say no,” she says.
“I felt like if I told him no, I for sure would have lost my job. But there was also something…maybe the fact that I felt so alone? I don’t know.
There was something that told me that even if I said no, the answer would still be yes.
So I did it. Mr. Everett left the room, and I had…
I sealed the deal with Rocky. When we were finished, he left two thousand dollars cash on the nightstand.
I left it there and ran. I have never felt that unimportant in my entire life. ”
Evie wraps her arm around her tighter. Ally takes a break and lets slow, quiet sobs run through her body before she collects herself.
I have the urge to reach out and hug her too.
But I get the feeling that the last thing she needs is another Everett man initiating physical touch without her consent.
So I just sit here quietly. Julian and I catch each other’s eye several times.
And we keep listening. We listen to her tell us how this happened more than a dozen times over the course of the year with more than a dozen different “colleagues” or “board members,” none of whom are actually employed by Everett Enterprises.
Then one fucker got too rough with her, and she threated to go to the police.
Cato let her leave, but reminded her about the motherfucking NDA again.
Just like he did with the first one. And God knows how many others.
After a year, she had finally had enough.
She didn’t even put in her two weeks. She just stopped showing up.
We listen to her tell us that, a few months after she stopped working, she had a breakdown.
She checked herself into a facility when she had some suicidal thoughts and that her therapist has been super helpful.
She still hasn’t told anyone else in her family or any of her friends about it, because she wasn’t sure how much the NDA covered, and she’s been afraid.
So this woman has just been sitting on this.
She tells us how she pays for her therapist out of pocket and is still paying the bill from the hospital stay because she hasn’t been able to hold down another full-time job since. I make a mental note to have money wired to her accounts as soon as possible.
When she finally finishes, Evie wraps her in a long, hard hug. She cries on Evie’s shoulder, and Sawyer and Wren surround her, rubbing her back and hair. Julian and I just sit there, helpless. When they finally come apart, we all stand.
“I think our lawyers explained to you,” Julian says, “that we can’t offer financial help yet because it could be considered a conflict of interest for the case.
But I can assure you that we will be going after financial compensation for each and every one of you.
And as soon as we can figure out a way to safely do it, all of your medical expenses will be covered by our family. ”
She nods.
“Thank you,” she says. Then, to all of our surprise, she hugs him. He pats her back gently. When she lets go, she turns to me and does the same. I hold her a little longer. I squeeze her back, letting her tears soak my shirt.
“None of this is your fault, Ally,” I tell her. “And you have just helped us in making sure that he never does this to anyone else again. We can’t thank you enough.”
She looks up at me.
“Thank you for listening,” she says, and my heart breaks.
Listening. The bare minimum. That’s all she wanted.
Before she leaves, her and Evie exchange numbers, and I hear my beautiful woman tell her to call or text her anytime.
They make plans to get coffee next week. Before they leave, Wren turns to us.
“Thank you both for doing this,” she says. “It’s nice to know that there are good men in the world.”
“Thanks for giving us a chance to try to fix this,” Julian says. She nods, but before she follows Ally out, Julian stops her.
“We have a problem,” he says, then he looks back at me. “Well, another one. One of my assistants has been looking into job postings. Another assistant position was posted last week.”
All of our eyes grow wide. I look at my brother, then to Evie, then to Wren.
“Fuck,” I mutter.
“Yeah,” Julian says, rubbing the back of his neck.
“What do we do?” I ask. “We can’t let some unknowing woman walk in there and take that job knowing what we know now.”
Julian nods slowly, walking toward the huge windows. He puts his hands on the sill, his arms straight. I can see the weight on my big brother’s shoulders, and I’m desperate to help him carry it.
“I’ll do it,” Wren says, and all our heads whip to her.
“What?” I ask.
“Absolutely not,” Julian says.
“No fucking way,” Sawyer chimes in.
“I don’t know that we really have a choice,” she says.
“If we do nothing, then some other unsuspecting woman gets hired and goes through this same shit. It can’t be one of you two,” she says, motioning to Evie and Sawyer, “because they know you.” My body recoils at the thought of sending Evie off anywhere near those fucking creeps.
Wren looks at me then Julian. “It has to be me.”
I see Evie rolling her lips together next to me. Then her big eyes meet mine.
“I think she’s right,” she says. “We know the signs of what’s going down. We can keep her safe. She can get intel while she’s in there. It’s the only way.”
I swallow. This feels wrong, but I don’t know how to make it right.
I can tell Julian is running through the same process I am. He slams his hand down against the wall then pushes himself up.
“Okay,” he finally agrees. Wren nods.
“We just have to figure out how to make sure I get hired,” she says.
“Brooks can help with that,” I chime in. “He still works in the office. He can keep any eye on you while he’s there.”
She rolls her eyes.
“Yeah, right. The brother who hasn’t even bothered to show. No offense, but I won’t be relying on him for security measures.”
I nod. She’s right.
She turns back to Julian.
“I’ll submit my application tonight. Maybe we can catch up next week? Figure out some tips for getting your father to pick me.”
Julian nods.
“Good call. I’ll give you a call,” he says. She nods and walks out of the room, then Todd escorts them out of the apartment. Once we know they are safely gone, I sink back into the chair and cover my face with my hands.
“Jesus Christ,” I mutter. I hear the leather of the chair across from me scrunching when my brother does the same.
“That was heavy,” Julian says. I scoff.
“You’re fuckin’ telling me,” I say. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
Julian nods.
“I know. But I am out of ideas. You guys want another drink?” Julian offers, but I shake my head. I stand back up and reach for my girl.
“Nah,” I say. “I just want to go home and lie down with my woman.”
Julian smiles.
“Fair enough,” he says. “That doesn’t sound too shabby.
” Sawyer smiles at him and makes her way across the room.
His demeanor immediately lightens, and I can’t help but smile too.
I love what she’s done to my big brother.
She’s softened him in the best ways. We say our goodbyes, and Julian promises to call me when he hears from Wren.
And then Todd leads us back downstairs, and we make our way home.
Before I even fully undress, Evie has a bowl of popcorn made and a cup of tea for me waiting on the nightstand.
She takes off her clothes, puts on one of my t-shirts, then climbs into bed, patting the spot next to her.
I smile as I pull the comforter back farther and slide in.
We finish off the bowl, and I sip my tea while she curls up on my chest. And as I stroke her orangish-reddish locks, all I can think about is her.
Not the atrocities I spent all night learning about.
Not about the predator that raised me.
Not about the women he degraded and used like he was a pimp.
Instead, I get lost in Evie’s hair. It feels like our heartbeats are in sync. Our bodies mesh together so well, even when we’re not having sex. She just fits.
After another hour or so, I hear her breathing shallow out, and I realize she’s fallen asleep. She rolls slightly so that she’s on her own pillow, her hands tucked under her cheek like a child, and I just stare at her.
This week, we will meet with more of my father’s ex-employees whom he put through hell.
And then we will start really working with our legal team to take down our father.
We will figure out how to find out more information.
We will build a case against him. And we will make a plan to dismantle Everett Enterprises as it stands and rebuild it from the ground up.
It might not work.
People might think we knew about it—or worse, that we were fucking in on it.
But we have to try.
I might lose everything. We might become the most hated family in the country—in the fucking world.
But if I have her right here on my pillow, our noses practically touching, then I can handle the rest.
I stroke her cheek with my thumb, but I freeze when her eyelashes flutter.
“What’s wrong?” she mutters, her eyes closing again. I don’t answer her, waiting to see if she falls back to sleep. But those green eyes flash open. “Hmm?” she asks again. “What’s wrong?”
“Go back to sleep,” I whisper, leaning forward to kiss her forehead, but her eyes stay trained on me.
“Not until you tell me what’s on your mind,” she says. I sigh. She’s relentless.
“You are,” I tell her. She blinks a few times, clearing the sleep from her eyes.
“What about me?” she asks. I lift my hand back to her face, stroking her cheek again.
“Before you came back to me, I had given up on trying to change the world, Eve. It felt impossible. It felt like, no matter what I did, people were still suffering. It was too much. Too big. So I zoomed in. I focused on smaller things. Things I knew I could take on. But since I’ve been with you again…
you make me feel less scared. You make me feel like I can handle the big stuff again. ”
She smiles against my hand, turning her head to kiss it.
“You can do anything, Keat,” she says. “You are changing the world every day. And the little stuff matters too. Ally is just one person, but you are going to make her life so much better. One person is still one person. One neighborhood, one town. It all matters. And the things you do are important,” she says.
God, I love her. “And even if nothing you ever did ever worked again, you changed my whole world.”
I smile at her, staring at her in awe.
“How did I do that?” I ask.
“You became it.”