Chapter 32
Charlie
“Sheila!” I yelled down the hallway. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
I watched the blonde hair poke out of her office as I barreled down the hallway. I didn’t know who the fuck Ellison James thought he was speaking to me the way he just did, but I’d had enough. If he wanted proof I cared about him and no one else, then this was the only means I had at my disposal. I had Sheila, a false accusation, and the fire in my gut spurring me on.
I knew I could back even the toughest shark into a corner, and I intended to do just that.
“Miss Charlene, what a pleasant surprise. How are you feeling? We all know you’ve been out for the past couple of days,” Sheila said.
“I’m feeling just fine, though I came into the office today with a startling realization,” I said.
“Uh oh. What seems to be the problem?” she asked.
“Apparently, someone is accusing Mr. James of something he didn’t do.”
I watched her reaction carefully as her face faltered slightly. The smile she was giving me faded to a weak grin before her shoulders rolled back, and the icy stare that riddled her eyes told me she was preparing for a fight.
But, if there was one thing I did well, it was fight.
“Come in here to defend your boyfriend?” she asked.
“I’m not sleeping with Mr. James,” I said. “And, your accusation could bring down this entire company, meaning I’d be out of a job, so it’s a bit personal.”
“Funny. I figured Ellison would be right on your heels,” she said.
“‘Mr. James’ is the professional name he prefers, I believe,” I said.
“But I bet you call him ‘Daddy’ in bed, don’t you?” she asked.
“Is that what you would wanna call him?” I asked.
“Look, it’s not my fault your boyfriend has a wandering eye and some groping hands. I went into his office yesterday to hand him some files and I tripped over a bump in his carpet. I fell in his general direction, he practically leapt out from his seat to catch me, and when he was helping me stand back up on my feet his hand groped my breast,” she said.
“I don’t know. Based on your reputation in this company, I’d say you’d enjoy something like that,” I said.
“Maybe,” she said, shrugging. “And, I had to admit that I was thrilled when he told me he was into me. But, his rules are his rules, so I told him I wasn’t interested in breaking them. That could cost me my job, and this jobs means the world to me.”
“I’m sure. So, what was the part in all this that was sexual harassment?” I asked. “You know, since there’s obviously something you didn’t enjoy.”
“He ignored me when I told him I wasn’t interested, and I don’t like men that don’t listen. He thought he could impress me with the size of his cock, I guess, so he exposed himself to me in his office to try and sway my mind.”
“You know damn good and well Mr. James would never do that to one of his employees,” I said through gritted teeth.
“I ran out of the room crying, Miss Charlene. Honest to goodness, I didn’t take you to be the type of woman who would defend a man guilty of sexual harassment instead of siding with the woman. What with climbing the ladder the way you did without throwing yourself at any, you know, bosses or anything,” she said.
I could feel my blood boiling behind my eyes. She was not only tarnishing and completely destroying L’s character, she was mocking mine in the process. None of this sounded like L, not for one fucking second. Even with his flavor-of-the-month ways, the only things those women ever had to say about him still portrayed a gentleman. How he opened doors for them and treated them lavishly. How the was a good listener and had a beautiful smile. If L was guilty of sexual harassment, some woman somewhere would’ve filed a complaint we would’ve heard about before now.
Especially with the type of media and press coverage his company gets.
Right?
I felt my confidence in him waver ever so slightly, and I could tell Sheila was enjoying every second of it. I watched her sit down on the edge of her desk before she folded her arms across her chest, and the way she was posturing threw me back to Helsinki.
All the way back to the steam room.
And that’s when I got an idea. The only issue was that it required me to fake sympathy for a story I knew wasn’t true.
“He exposed himself to you?” I asked.
“Yep. Dropped his pants right then and there,” she said. “It was absolutely enraging. I couldn’t fucking believe he’d done it. I mean, can you imagine the women he’s probably done this to before?”
“You don’t seem too torn up about it,” I said. “You’re not crying, or having any sort of visceral reaction. Your pupils aren’t dilated, which means there’s no adrenaline rush with this supposed negative memory you have of a man who push his intentions upon you.”
“I’m still in a bit of shock, to be honest,” she said.
“Then, you obviously won’t have an issue explaining what he looks like down there in court,” I said.
“What?” she asked.
“Well, you know Mr. James won’t just sit back and let you sue him. He’ll probably countersue and take you to court. It’ll be behind closed doors, of course. But, you’ll probably have to describe to people—in incredible detail—what he looked like down there. You know, just to prove you actually saw it,” I said.
“They—they would make me relive something like that?” she asked.
“Terrible, isn’t it? It’s awful what the court system does to women who’ve been taken advantage of by men. They try to do all this good by putting men who pull this kind of shit behind bars, but do you know why they have to go through all this, and traumatize the woman all over again?” I asked.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because of women who make false accusations. They make it worse for the actual sexual harassment and rape victims,” I said. “So, you’ll have to describe exactly you saw.”
“Oh, my God,” she said. She was trying to pull fake tears from her eyes, but I wasn’t buying it. Her nose wasn’t running and her eyes weren’t growing puffy and red. Every single thing about this was fake, and all I was doing now was preparing the corner for her ass while I slowly and gently backed her into it.
“I’m sorry, Sheila,” I said, shaking my head. “Oh. Oh, God. I—holy shit. I’m so sorry. I just—I had to make sure you were telling the truth. So many women would cry wolf on someone like Ellison James for numerous reasons. Forgive me for being heartless, I just—I had to know.”
“It’s okay. I—I get it, I guess,” she said.
I reached out for her hands and took them as a forced tear trailed down her cheek. I took her hands and tugged on them, pulling her into me as I rubbed her back. I could feel how steady her heartbeat was. Not the heartbeat of a woman who was suffering from the embarrassment and shame that comes with pressing sexual harassment charges.
“Do you want to practice with me?” I asked.
“Practice what?” she asked.
“Describing what he looked like. I know it sounds weird, but sometimes if you rehearse something, it makes it easier to recall. You might not be able to remember all of it at first, and the last thing you’d want would be to have the case dropped because you couldn’t provide the detailed information required.
“Has this happened to you before?” she asked.
“No. But, it did happen to my best friend,” I lied. “And that’s what happened to her. It was so traumatic to relive the experience that her entire testimony was thrown out. She got hysterical on the stand and they had to restrain her.”
“I’m so sorry, Charlie. But gosh, it’s so nice to have someone on my side,” she said.
“Michael and Ellison are sharks. They’ll come after you hard. Let me help you.”
“What made you believe me?” she asked.
“Your tears,” I said, reaching up to brush one away. “You can’t fake these kinds of tears. You’re a strong woman, Sheila, but you can only be strong for so long.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” she said, snickering.
“Do you want to try? Just you and me?” I asked.
She started this fake tremor in her hands and all I wanted to do was vomit all over that pretty little blue shirt of hers. What she was doing was disgusting, but I was about to pull it all out of her without her ever realizing it.
“I don’t know if I can. That—”
“If you can’t respond, you can’t prove your allegations. They’ll tear you apart,” I said. “If you don’t want to describe it, that’s fine. But, were there any distinguishing features about him down there? Anything you could pinpoint in court that would be unique just to Mr. James?”
I watched her look into my eyes while her mind whirled with my question. I tried to keep my mask on as long as I could, but I was on the brink of proving she was lying. I already knew I could’ve come at her with a catty attitude, all bitch and no respect and pulled out of her everything I needed.
But, if she felt the need to manipulate, then I was going to manipulate her right back.
“No, there wasn’t. Absolutely nothing. I guess that was the funny thing about all this, if there even is anything funny about it. For a man that walks with the attitude and demeanor Ellison James does, there was nothing about what he showed me that stood out,” she said.
“Absolutely nothing? No moles, or scars, or marks of any kind?” I asked.
“No. Nothing. That much I’m sure of,” she said.
I’ve got you, you stupid bitch.
It was then that I heard something shift behind me. My eyes flickered over to the window, where I saw a shadow move down the hallway. Two shadows, to be exact, and that’s when I realized what was happening.
Michael and L had followed me and listened to this entire exchange.
But, Sheila also caught the movement, and she hopped off her desk and pushed me away.
“Who is that?” she called out. “Who’s out there!?”
“Funny, when I was sucking my boss’s dick, I found some very distinguishing marks,” I said.
“What?” she asked as she whipped around to face me.
“Did you know that Ellison James has a funny little tattoo on the inside of his thigh? I saw it for the first time in Helsinki in a sauna room, but I really didn’t get a good look at it until I wrapped my lips around his thick cock the first time I got him in my bed,” I said.
“You fucking—”
“Want to know what the tattoo is of?” I asked.
“You little bitch! You’re fucking sleeping with Ellison!” Sheila roared.
“It’s a tattoo of the company’s logo,” I said, smirking. “And yes, I really am sleeping with L. As much as I possibly can.”
“Did anyone hear that!?” she exclaimed. “Now, the entire fucking company is going to know exactly what the two of you have been up to behind closed doors, and I’ll take this entire place down with it!”
“You won’t do a damn thing, and no one’ll believe you at this point anyway. Your paperwork has officially been filed, and I just proved that it’s all a sham. No one will believe the woman who cried wolf on Mr. James after they figure out that is exactly what happened. It’s simply how the mind works,” I said with a smile.
Michael and L emerged from the hallway, standing in the doorway of Sheila’s office with smirks on their faces. Sheila’s face was turning red with anger and her entire body was shaking with fear. I clocked her dilated pupils, looked at the way her legs were trembling, and sighed with relief as I slowly registered the physical truth of her visceral reaction.
This was a true emotional reaction from Sheila Brown, and I basked in the moment.
“I’ll fucking have all your jobs,” she said, as she reached over her desk and grabbed her purse. “I’m done with this bullshit company and the assholes that work here. I’ve made this company billions, and this is how you treat me!?”
She shoved me in the shoulder, striding by me before she pushed Michael and L out of the way. We listened to her heels stomp down the hallway, cursing and yelling about my affair with L and that we would all see her in court. But, I knew she didn’t have a case. She’d have to settle the one she already filed before opening a new one, and by that point no one would believe her.
She didn’t have a case for sexual harassment, and she didn’t have a case for anything else going forward.
That’s what happens when you’re a lying, conniving, disgruntled ex-employee.
I turned my gaze back to L, who was already staring hard into mine. I drew a deep breath through my nose, trying to ease my swirling mind, then I smoothed my hands over my shirt. I could see Michael’s eyes darting between the two of us, obviously uncomfortable with where this scenario was going to go, but you could see the relief that had taken a weight off of his shoulders when he’d heard the truth for himself, and seen Sheila publicly exposed as a liar.
And now? It was time for me to make my grand exit.
“Well, that settles that little debacle,” I said. “If you’ll excuse me, I believe it’s my lunch break.”