Chapter 26 Evie
EVIE
The ride down to the garage level feels like it takes forever, but I use that to my advantage. I slow my breathing down, trying to calm my own nervous system down before I talk to her.
Ally.
I don’t know a single thing about her other than, at some point, Cato Everett hired her, wreaked havoc on her life, and then either did away with her like she was disposable or made her life so miserable that she had to leave herself.
Oh, and I know that she’s twenty-four.
I take in one more breath as the doors open into the garage.
Todd is waiting for me outside the black SUV.
He opens the door, and I slide inside. He closes the door to give us some privacy but stays right at the perimeter.
I hear the doors lock. I turn. In the way back is a woman with long, black hair pulled back into a perfect pony.
She’s wearing jeans, a blazer, and has some super-cute heels on.
Her look says “all business,” but the way she is clutching onto the hand of the other woman in the car says that she’s a girl’s girl. She’s not letting go.
In the seat next to me in the middle row sits a woman who looks scared shitless.
She has a short blonde bob that’s pulled back into a clip, but the front pieces have fallen out and are daintily framing her face.
Judging by her tear-stained cheeks, I’m going to guess this is Ally, which would make the other woman Wren, the journalist.
“Ally?” I ask. She looks up at me and nods her head slowly, sniffing. I stick my hand out.
“I’m Evie,” I tell her. “Thank you for letting me come down.”
She doesn’t say anything, just nods. I turn to the back.
“And you must be Wren?” I ask. Wren nods slowly but looks a little unsure of me, which is definitely fair because based on the knowledge she now has of Cato and the inner workings of the company, I wouldn’t trust an Everett or anyone close to them if I were her. I smile at both of them.
“It’s really nice to meet you both,” I say.
“Thanks for coming down,” Wren says. “We’re just having some trouble getting out of the car. I let her know that I’m happy to take her back home. She doesn’t have to do this. We’re just thinking things through, I think,” she says, reaching up to pat Ally’s knee. I smile and nod.
“I get that,” I tell her. “Ally, I just want to start off by saying that I don’t know your whole story.
But I don’t need to. I just want to let you know that I am so sorry about whatever has happened to you.
And that even if you never step foot in this building, you should be so proud of yourself for getting in this car and even coming down here. That’s a huge step.”
She looks up at me briefly, nodding slowly, then her eyes drop to her lap again.
“The man who did this…the man who hurt you, I have known since I was fifteen years old.” At that, her eyes flick up to me.
I choose my words carefully. Technically, these conversations are supposed to be off the record, but I still can’t say anything disparaging.
I won’t hurt Keaton any more than he’s already been hurt.
“I know that when a man has power over you, it can be incredibly hard to convince yourself that you have any at all. But I want you to know that those men up there…” I say, pointing up into the building, “those men up there are good, decent men. I’ve known them since I was fifteen too.
” She just stares at me. I clear my throat and go on.
“Not too long ago—actually, very, very recently—I was in a situation where a man had a lot of power over me. So much so that it felt…dangerous. And Keaton Everett? He’s the man that showed me I was strong enough to get out of it.
He gave me a safe place to land. But most importantly, he told me—and has reminded me, over and over again—that none of it, not a single part of it, was my fault. ”
I see her eyes start to fill with tears.
She bites her bottom lip as her eyes narrow on mine.
I reach out and take her free hand. She flinches slightly, but then she turns her hand and locks it in mine.
“So I am here to tell you that no matter what happened to you, no matter what decision you make tonight, no matter how you decide you handle this…none of this was your fault. None of it. And whatever decision you make has to be the right one for you. No one else.”
She sniffs again, nodding slowly. She blinks, and tears fall from her eyes.
“I’m sorry about what happened to you too,” she says, looking up at me. Then she looks at Wren. “I think I want to try to talk to them.”
Wren smiles softly and nods. We get out of the car, and Russ escorts us to the elevator. When we get inside and the doors close on us again, I feel her stand closer to me and take my hand. Before we get to the penthouse, she turns to me.
“Will you sit with me?” she asks. I turn to her. “While I talk to them. I think I…I’d just like it if you were there.”
I squeeze her hand.
“Of course,” I tell her. “Wherever you want me to be, that’s where I’ll be. And if you need a minute, you let me know. I’ll kick all those rich pricks out.”
At that, she actually cracks a smile, and Wren snickers next to her.
Finally, the doors ding and open. When we walk in, the only person waiting for us is Sawyer in the living room. I smile at her.
Women really are the fucking best.
“Hi,” she says calmly. “I’m Sawyer. I’m Julian’s fiancée.”
Ally waves shyly, and then Sawyer and Wren shake hands.
“The guys are up in the study,” Sawyer goes on, “but we thought maybe you would feel a little more comfortable if you got your bearings before you had two Everetts staring back at you.” She gives a little nervous giggle, and to my relief, Ally does too.
They are about the same age, so it was smart for Sawyer to be out here waiting. Another person in Ally’s corner.
I turn to Ally.
“What do you think?” I ask her. “You ready?”
She nods quickly, and then we lead her through the penthouse and up the floating stairs.
“Is the other brother still not here?” Wren asks as we make our way up. Sawyer and I flash each other a look.
“Unfortunately, no,” I tell her. She nods slowly.
“He’s…uh, he had a conflict,” Sawyer adds. Wren scoffs behind us.
“I wonder what could be more important than the future of his family?” she adds coyly under her breath. Sawyer and I shoot each other a look as we get to the top of the steps—because we’ve been wondering the same damn thing.
We walk down the hall, and I knock on the study door.
“Come on in,” Julian calls, and we all take a collective breath and walk in, Ally’s hand still with a death grip around mine.
As far as I’m concerned, she can break my fingers right off, because I’m not letting go until she does.
When we walk in, Keaton’s eyes find me like magnets.
His eyes are on me and me only. He’s surveying the situation, making sure I’m okay, then moving his gaze to her, taking her in and seeing how she is acclimating.
Julian speaks first, moving slowly across the room toward us.
“Hi, Ally,” he says, his voice low and gentle. “I’m Julian, and this is my brother, Keaton. I’m sorry that Brooks couldn’t be here tonight. But our legal team will be filling him in on anything necessary.”
Ally nods as she shakes both of their hands, and I watch as Keaton takes hers. He looks deep into her eyes, and he gives her a swift smile.
“Hi, Ally,” he says. “I can’t thank you enough for coming here to talk to us.”
She nods slowly, and he stands to the side so Julian can lead us to the sitting area inside the huge study.
It’s a crystal-clear night, and you can see the entire city from this room.
Ally sits on the larger couch, and Wren and I flank her.
Julian waits for Sawyer to sit in one of the chairs and takes the one next to her, Keaton taking the other.
“Can we get you anything to eat or drink?” Julian asks. Ally clears her throat and shakes her head.
“No, thank you,” she says. He nods then claps his hands and leans forward.
“Ally, I just wanted to start this off by saying how sorry my brother and I are for what has happened to you. A member of our legal team will be joining us, but she will just be taking notes. If you want to stop at any time, or if there is anything you don’t want to get into, you just let us know.
Whatever you want to tell us, we are here and ready to listen.
Just as a reminder, anything said in this room is confidential until this is brought to court. ”
She swallows and nods.
“I understand,” she says.
I pat her hand, and she scoots closer to the end of the couch.
“Well,” she says, “I got hired as an assistant at Everett Enterprises three years ago.”
“Okay,” Julian says, “and who hired you?”
“A man named Larry Cramer,” she says. Keaton and Julian shoot each other a look.
“Did you go through HR at all during the process?” Keaton asks. She rolls her lips together and shakes her head.
“No,” she says quietly. “I realize now that I probably should have thought about that. That was pretty stupid of me.”
I squeeze her hand, and she looks at me.
“None of this is your fault,” I repeat to her. Her eyes are wide, and she nods.
“I had applied for another office assistant position and got a call from Larry himself, saying they were really impressed by my resume, and could I come down to the office for a quick interview. I was scheduled the following day, and Larry met me in the lobby and brought me back to the conference room. I ended up meeting…” She pauses for a moment.
“I ended up meeting Mr. Everett that same day. The interview was only with him and Larry. They asked me a few questions and then offered me the job within minutes.”
Julian and Keaton stay calm and collected, but I know Keat. I know his blood is boiling in his veins.
“Do you happen to remember any of the questions they asked you?” he asks her.
She thinks for a moment.
“It was a lot about how old I was,” she says.
“Not really about my prior work experience, but my age. And then they asked me what I liked to do for fun, and if I would be willing to work nights and weekends. When I said yes, they offered it to me. They also paid me by check every two weeks, but the money came from another account, not Everett Enterprises.”
She looks up at Julian.
“Again, I should have thought… It was my first real job out of college, and I just really needed the money. They told me that I was being hired under Mr. Everett’s personal account, not by the company, and I just thought…” She pauses for a minute, rubbing her temple.
“Hey,” I say, “this is his fault. Not yours.”
Keaton clears his throat and scoots toward the edge of his chair. He looks right at Ally.
“Ally,” he says, and her eyes flick to him, “Evie is right. You didn’t do anything wrong here. I just want that to be out in the open, that no one in this room thinks you are responsible for anything that happened.”
She nods slowly, and he nods back.
“Okay,” she goes on. “I started working the following week. At first, it felt fairly normal. A lot of scheduling of meetings. My office was in the same wing of the building as Mr. Everett’s suite, so I was pretty separate from the rest of the employees.
He gave me my own parking space in the private garage with his car, and I had my own key card to get in the executive entrance of the building.
I was…” She lets out a sad laugh and shakes her head.
“I was actually pretty excited about it at first.”
I squeeze her hand, and Wren puts her hand on her back.
“A few weeks into it, he asked me to join him for a board dinner at a hotel nearby. He asked if I could come to take notes. It was late at night, around ten, and he told me to ‘wear something that showed off my age.’ And you know what? I did.”
“It’s okay, honey,” Wren says to her. She sniffs, and the tears start to stream down her cheeks. I start to worry that this might be too much for her, but she keeps going.
“That night, we ended up in this massive penthouse suite at the Landry Hotel downtown. It started off with dinner then drinks. Then a few of the board members started leaving, then a few more, until it was just Mr. Everett and one other board member.” She bites her bottom lip to keep it from quivering. “His name was Rocky Breckard.”
Julian and Keaton flash each other another look, but this time, they look confused. Like maybe they don’t know who this guy is.
“Rocky spent the next few minutes rubbing my shoulders, telling me how ‘tight’ my body was, and telling me I could model. I thought he was just drunk, until Mr. Everett got up to leave. He pulled me aside and asked me if I could do him a favor.”
She pauses again, and it feels like the room is so quiet that I can hear my own heartbeat. Finally, she collects herself and goes on.
“He asked me if I could ‘make Rocky more comfortable.’ He said he had flown in from Miami, and they were close to reaching a deal. He was pretty sure that if I threw myself into the ring, he could get Rocky to close it.”
Her voice cracks, and I throw my arm around her.
“Oh, sweetie,” I whisper.
“Do you want to stop?” Wren asks her. But she shakes her head.
“No,” she says. “I need to say this.”