Evie
“Evie.”
Evie slowly opened her eyes and looked around in confusion. Her last memory was being cuddled into Thorn’s side while watching the Trolls movie. Now she was in her bedroom in Tommy’s penthouse. She turned over and pressed her face into the pillow. Thorn must have brought her down to bed after she passed out.
“Evie.” A small hand touched her shoulder and shook gently. “Come on, Honey, you have to get up and shower. You have a meeting in an hour.”
“Nissa?” She turned her head and saw the petite woman sitting beside her. “What do you mean, I have a meeting? It’s Saturday.”
“I know. A lot happened last night.” Nissa stood. “Get up, shower, and get dressed. I’ll explain over breakfast.”
Twenty minutes later, feeling more awake after a shower, Evie joined Nissa at the breakfast table. Her stomach rumbled at the smell of French toast and maple syrup.
“What happened last night?” she asked as Nissa set a glass of apple juice beside her plate and sat down.
“After you told Thorn that Alex admitted to watching you on the Tower’s security cameras, he became concerned that Alex might have accessed clients’ systems to watch you while you were there. He came down and told Tommy. Tommy looked into it, and what he found was… disturbing, to say the least.”
Evie frowned as Nissa slid a piece of paper toward her. She picked it up, eyes narrowing at the spreadsheet full of dates, times, and locations. “What the hell…” She scanned the rows. Sherlock’s Pub. Honey Oven Cafe. The only places she went when she wanted out of the Tower.
She looked up at Nissa, holding up the paper. “What’s all this?”
“That’s a spreadsheet of every time you and Aaron went to Sherlock’s or the Honey Oven in the last two months.” Nissa reached out and laid a hand on her arm. “Alex wasn’t just watching you on the Tower cameras. He was having you two followed to Sherlock’s, and he accessed the Honey Oven’s cameras from his office whenever you were there.”
Evie rolled her eyes and tossed the spreadsheet onto the table with a scoff. “Of course he was. Because why talk to me like an adult? What would that accomplish?” She folded her arms,slumping back. She had never felt so violated, so angry, and so embarrassed in her life. Even Oscar selling her horse after “stumbling” onto bestiality porn because he thought she might be tempted hadn’t felt like this.
“Yeah.” Nissa rubbed her arm soothingly. “I’m sorry, Honey. Tommy just left to fire him.”
Evie shrugged. Despite everything she felt, the only thing that truly surprised her was that he’d accessed the Honey Oven cameras. He had to know that was an automatic firing and a lifetime blacklist from security work. “Good,” she muttered. “Is he tossing him out of my apartment, too?”
“Unfortunately, because he signed a lease, you have to give him the thirty days. Tommy and Thorn restricted his access to the rest of the Tower, though. He has to be escorted by a guard at all times. If he wants to leave the apartment, he has to call the security desk and ask for someone to ride the elevator with him.” Nissa smirked. “Tommy’s hoping to shame him into leaving quickly.”
Evie snorted, a small smile lifting her mouth. “Gotta love how Tommy’s brain works sometimes.”
“Right?” Nissa giggled, then her expression turned sympathetic again. “Anyway, because of your high security clearance and because Alex violated a customer's contract and was stalking you, there has to be an investigation to make sure he never accessed anything he shouldn’t have. And unfortunately, that means we have to suspend you, with pay, until the investigation is done.”
Evie stared at her, feeling like she’d been stabbed.
“You think I let him access information?” Her lower lip trembled as she blinked back tears, hurt that Tommy, Thorn, and Nissa might think she would ever allow that.
“No, no, no.” Nissa shook her head and wrapped her arms around her, rubbing her back. “Of course not. But he could have accessed things without you noticing. You can log into your Sloane Consulting account from your computer at home, and if you forgot to log out even once, he could have taken advantage of that.”
She pulled back and held Evie’s shoulders. “Thorn and Harvey also have to assess how much of a threat he is to you and Aaron. So suspending you is also for your safety. You’ll be staying here with Tommy and me or with Thorn until this is over, okay?”
Evie nodded miserably. She wished she’d never met Alex. “God, what was he thinking?” she groaned, leaning forward and putting her head on Nissa’s shoulder.
“I don’t know what he was thinking, but I think he was jealous you had more in common with Aaron than you did with him.” Nissa brushed Evie’s hair off her face. “Come on, you have to be in Harvey’s office at ten, and I have to meet with Aaron and fill him in.”
**********
Evie entered Harvey’s office nervously, feeling like she’d been sent to the principal's office. Harvey and Thorn both stood up and smiled as they greeted her.
“Don’t look so worried, Evie,” Harvey chuckled as she sat down in the chair Thorn had been sitting in. “I’m just asking a few questions to help us figure out if you need a protective detail until all of this is over, and to make sure Alex hasn’t been into things he shouldn’t be.” He nodded toward where Thorn was sitting quietly to the side. “Thorn is going to stay, both for your comfort and to provide insight.”
Evie nodded, clasping her hands in her lap. “Sounds good.”
He set a small recorder on the desk and switched it on. “Okay. Can you go over what happened last night with me?”
Evie nodded and launched into everything she remembered from the confrontation with Alex. When she got to the part about tricking him into admitting he was watching her on the cameras, Harvey’s lips twitched into a slight smile, but he didn’t interrupt. When she finished, he made a small note on the legal pad next to him.
