Chapter 57 Scarlett
SCARLETT
“You had hot sex in a meadow?” Dakota whispered, her eyes wide.
“Shhhhh!” I glanced frantically at my office door before shutting it with a decisive click.
It was surreal, coming in this morning. Someone had already cleaned up all the mess in my office and put it back together like nothing had ever happened.
For all I knew, Grabby Hands might’ve done it to cover his tracks, but my money was on Jace, wanting me to come in and have nothing triggering me.
“That wasn’t the highlight of what I just told you!” I hissed.
Dakota waved her hand dismissively. “I hear you. I’m saving my barrage of questions about Grabby Hands for a minute, but for right now … you and Jace? Are things getting serious between you two?”
“Seriously? Why is that your focal point?” I dropped into my chair, bewildered by her priorities.
In her defense, I’d left out another headline: the confession Jace had made to me. I didn’t need an NDA to know that was a private thing he’d shared in confidence. It wasn’t my place to broadcast his darkest secret, and frankly, I wasn’t even sure how I felt about it yet.
My heart begged me to move on from his past. It whispered that everyone made mistakes, that he hadn’t meant it, that he’d been only twenty, that he’d spent years tormented by guilt, that it had been one terrible decision in a lifetime of helping people.
But my brain countered that his actions, drunk or not, had cost someone everything.
Then my heart would circle back, asking if people should be defined by one terrible mistake?
Or should they be defined by the whole of their lives?
And who was I to judge anyway? People in glass houses and all that.
Was I seriously considering pushing away the first man who’d made me feel safe and seen?
The first man I’d trusted enough to let past my walls?
My feelings for him ran too deep to simply walk away, didn’t they?
I shook my head, forcing the mental tug-of-war to pause. Focus. I could untangle my complicated feelings for Jace later. Right now, I needed to take down Marcus and somehow get Dakota to stop fixating on my love life.
“Well?” I prompted, waiting for her response to my question about why my possibly dating Jace was the headline in her mind when there were actual crimes to discuss.
“Okay, fine, you’re right. Grabby Hands turning violent is definitely the headline. But we’re going to circle back to this whole Jace thing eventually.” She sat back. “So, what’s your plan?”
I squared my shoulders. “I filed a police report.”
“Holy crap.” Her jaw dropped.
“What he did yesterday meets the definition of assault.” I fidgeted with a pen on my desk. “In hindsight, I should’ve gone straight from the office to the police station, but I can’t change that now.”
“Good. That asshole deserves to be arrested.” Her nostrils flared with righteous anger.
“There’s a chance he won’t be arrested,” I clarified, tapping my pen against the desk in frustration at the words the officer warned me. “Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of evidence.”
“What? That’s bull.” Dakota’s cheeks flushed red.
“I know. I’m not saying it’s not possible. I’m just trying to brace myself for that potentiality.”
“Then why did you go to the police first? Why not rat him out to HR? The guy doesn’t deserve to have a badge after how he acted.”
I gave her a knowing look. “If I went to HR first, there’s a chance they’d try to bury this.
This company is in a massive acquisition with a lot of investors’ eyes on it.
Having a sexual harassment accusation backed up by an assault involving one of their leaders would cause them major problems.” I ticked off points on my fingers.
“They’d have every incentive to bury it, fire me, and paint me as a disgruntled employee. ”
“I’m sure Jace would intervene and insist they fire him or whatever,” Dakota countered.
“I think you’re right, but I’m not taking any chances.” My voice hardened. “I’m not placing that kind of control in anyone’s hands except for mine.”
Not even the hands of a sexy billionaire who made my toes curl. Especially not his.
Dakota leaned back in her chair and arched her eyebrow. “Damn, girl. Smart.” She tilted her head.
“With any luck, he’ll be arrested by the end of the day.”
I could only pray that Marcus was bluffing about telling Jace’s dirty secrets. Or hope that Jace had enough protections in place where it wouldn’t destroy his company.
That guilt, that fear, had kept me up all night. And now, there was no going back.
“Today’s going to be a very interesting day,” Dakota said.