He rolled his eyes even while he moved closer to me, crowding me against a filing cabinet. “I picked Ethan because he was best suited for the job. I picked you because you have the nicest rack in the office. You should feel flattered.” He leaned forward, pushing into my space. His hand reached out to touch me, but I swatted it away before he made contact. He looked mildly annoyed. “You should be grateful.”
I didn’t feel flattered. I sure as hell did not feel grateful. I felt disgusted. “You’re a pig,” I snarled. “And maybe HR is afraid of you, but I’m not. Back off, Henry. Tomorrow your dad can hear all about how you talk to women around the office. I’ve tried to be professional about this. I’ve tried to go through the right channels. But I’m done putting up with this misogynistic bullshit from you. You’re out of your goddamn mind if you think I’ll let you touch me.”
His smile disappeared and his face soured, speckling red with fury. “Why don’t you shut your fucking mouth and let those tits get you a promotion.”
My hand processed his words before my brain fully comprehended how awful they were. My palm hitting his cheek resounded with a loud smack, making him grunt at the impact. His head turned to the side as he brought his hand up to cradle his face.
Mine tingled as it settled back against my side in a fist. My entire body shook with rage and humiliation and unshed tears. “Keep your promotion,” I growled, venom dripping from every word. “And your help. I don’t want any of it. Stay away from me.”
His head snapped back to mine as he repositioned his body quickly to keep me from fleeing. “Relax, Molly, we’re just having some fun.” He slid his finger down the front of my blouse. I knocked it away, but he wasn’t deterred. “You owe me this. You fucking owe me this.”
I had never felt as sickened by someone’s words or humiliated. Fury vibrated through me, chased quickly by panic and frustration. I wanted to cry, but mostly I wanted to knee this asshole in the balls so hard he would choke on them, then run away.
Instead, I pushed him away and scrambled past him. “You’re a disgusting bastard,” I bit out, grabbing my things off the chair and rushing to the exit. “And everyone’s going to know it.”
He slumped against the edge of his desk, running a hand through his greasy hair. His smug smile reappeared, confidence twinkling in his narrowed eyes. “Nobody’s going to believe you, doll. You messed up. This is my company, my house. You’re done.”
I paused at the door, finally speaking the words I had wanted to say for weeks. “Fuck you.”
His grin widened. “That’s what I was trying to do!”
Oh my god, what an asshole. I fled the office, rushing past a desk that I would be happy to never return to. I grabbed my purse, but abandoned my laptop. It was the company’s anyway and I wanted nothing to do with anything that belonged to STS.
Not unless they fired Henry Tucker.
I didn’t take a breath until I was safely in my car and out of the parking garage. My hands trembled aggressively as I tried to see through frustrated tears. My stomach roiled as I fought the urge to puke. My mind spun and spun and spun with the entire spectrum of emotions I couldn’t land on.
I was angry. Furious. Outraged. Anything and everything mad. But I was also shocked in a way that made me feel completely detached from what had happened. Had he really come on to me? Had he really said those awful things? Offered a promotion for sleeping with him?
The whole thing felt violently strange. Should I go to the police? Had he committed a crime? Or was this something the office had to handle.
I loathed the idea of making a scene about this, of drawing attention to myself over his horrific behavior. I hated the idea of having to talk to his dad, confessing Henry’s intentions and sharing the disgusting words he’d said. I knew I had to. I knew that I was right. But that didn’t negate the embarrassment and humiliation on my part. I would have to face both things—doing what was right and owning up to the rumors, reputation and reality of what had happened.
More tears surfaced. I was probably more frustrated than anything. I hated conflict, and I also hated being the center of attention on me, and now I would have to face both. Not because of anything I did, but because of the grotesque actions of someone else.
“It’s not fair,” I hiccupped uselessly in the car. Which, of course, it wasn’t. But what a ridiculous thing to say. Especially in light of everything that had happened. Especially acknowledging all that did not happen, all that I avoided by running away.
Rationally, I knew that it could have been worse. I realized that Henry had held back. He hadn’t physically assaulted me. He hadn’t raped me. He hadn’t hurt me. But that didn’t make his actions more right or less wrong. He still had behaved in the worst possible way. There were just certain things I needed to be grateful for.
I sniffled, blindly grabbing for a tissue from my purse. Wiping my eyes, I tried to decide on my next plan of action, but I couldn’t make sense of my thoughts.
I had likely just lost my job. Henry had his dad’s ear. He was set to take over in the next couple years. He was future CEO, and my boss, and an integral part of SixTwentySix. I was nobody. And before Black Soul, the project Henry had given me, I had worked on the lowest of all the projects.
It was his word against mine.
Which meant I better update my resume.
And even if I didn’t get fired for this, did I really want to go back? What if Henry didn’t take over his dad’s job? What if he only stayed on as an employee? It was no longer a place I could see a future at or even contemplate finishing out the week.
I pulled into the parking lot without knowing where I was heading. I couldn’t remember consciously deciding to drive here.
The wall of ivy was blooming vibrantly green, and the tree in the courtyard had budded with dainty white flowers. The building looked bewitching framed by the golden, setting sun. Bianca was the safe haven I needed.
I didn’t overthink my choice to find Ezra. I didn’t even think far enough ahead to worry if he would be here or not. I just needed him to tell me everything was okay when everything felt decidedly not okay. I needed his calm stability to sooth the fiery nerves exploding beneath my skin. I needed his strong arms wrapped around me, reminding me that there were good, decent men in this world.
And beyond what I wasn’t able to think through and rationalize, I just needed him. It was as simple and as complicated as that.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I bypassed the hostess, the floor manager, an army of waiters, and headed straight into Bianca’s kitchen. Unlike at Lilou where Ezra’s office was separate from the main kitchen, in Bianca, his workplace was tucked in the back of the expansive kitchen area.