They arenotgoing there.
“Today we found out what that was about.” Dominic folds his arms over his chest, making his biceps bulge. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Tell you what?” I shrug defensively.
It’s safe to assume they know everything. Especially if my mother was the one who spoke to them. My heart sinks thinking about her. I’ve avoided her ever since that day and that isn’t normal. All she is doing is looking out for me and I’ve stayed away, haven’t bothered calling her.
I didn’t even know she’d gone to New York with Waverley. I miss my mom. Then I remember she sicced these two on me.
“He was waiting for you outside your office,” Eli says, reading my hesitation.
“Who?”
“You know who,” he takes a step toward me. “The asshole who scared you.”
“He didn’t scare me. I can handle myself. And I made a mistake pressing that damn SOS app.”
I shake my head. That was always gonna come back and bite me in the ass, I never thought it would be in this way. My head catches up to Eli’s words.
“What do you mean he was waiting for me?”
“The night I came to get you, when King asked me to bring you to the compound. There was a guy in a car outside. He’d been there since before I got there. He was waiting for someone.”
“You don’t even know whoheis.”
“Vance Roderick,” Dominic says, walking to the couch and sitting down. “Millionaire property tycoon, richer than God, has connections out of his ass. The kind that can get him out of rape and assaultcharges.”
“The guy your firm is representing.”
“Okay, maybe you know who he is,” I try not to sound too much like a sulking child. “I doubt he was waiting for me.”
“I might have thought the same thing, before I knew who he was and what he’d done. And that by the time we came back downstairs, he was gone.”
“Coincidence.”
“Cassie.”
That tone of voice shouldn’t make my insides quiver. I’m mad at them. I’m mad at mom for telling them, at Vance for being a colossal prick if hewaswaiting outside for me that night and, most of all, I’m mad at myself.
For years, I’ve fought for my independence, wanted to prove to everyone I’m good at what I do while being more than that at the same time. I’ve built walls around me that no one has ever penetrated, and I was good with that.
I really was. And I still believe I can protect myself. Mom and dad taught me how. They also taught me when it was time to ask for help, but I’ve never taken it. Till I hit that damn SOS.
“He isn’t going to do anything to me, I’m his lawyer. He needs me to win his case.”
“Do you really want to do that?” Eli asks. His insinuation is clear, they’ve looked into everything and don’t like what they’ve learned. “There is nothing more dangerous than a powerful man, Cassie.”
“Then you’ve never met a pissed off woman, Eli.”
“I’ve come across one or two,” he says with a tilt of his head, taking some of the animosity out of the room. “There’s nothing wrong with accepting help.”
“And there’s nothing wrong with taking control of your own destiny and doing it your damn self. You think I don’t know what I’m doing, that I’m a damsel in distress who is going to let an asshole get the better of me. Or I’m happily defending that sick, demented fucking prick.”
They exchange a glance.
“That’s right, I don’t need either of you, or my mom, or anyone else at the club to tell me the difference between right and wrong. And as of this morning, a plan I kicked into action three days ago started and Vance doesn’t stand a fucking chance.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Eli asks.
