Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 123579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 494(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 618(@200wpm)___ 494(@250wpm)___ 412(@300wpm)
“What?” Sarcasm twists my lips. “Had a nervous breakdown?”
“No, cut your hair.” Stil nods decisively. “It’s kinda Mia Farrow.”
I have to agree. With all the blond hair gone, and the silvery cap of hair close and tight, longer in the front and dipping over one eye, I look sophisticated in a completely different way. And somehow lighter.
“I can see it now.” Stil frames her hands as if around a movie Mylar. “The haircut that everyone’s asking for: the Sofie.”
“Uh-huh, okay.” I stand and brush excess hair from my shoulders. “We can discuss the cultural impact of my hair later. She’ll be here any minute, right?”
“I think you’ll have just enough time to eat whatever that man of yours has smelling so good.” Stil glances at the text message from Geena. “They’re about twenty minutes away.”
I nod, smearing on a little lipstick and sliding studs into my earlobes.
“So he’s the one, huh?” Stil asks softly, meeting my eyes in the mirror.
I can’t stop the smile that splits my expression open. Even with this development, this possible breakthrough in the case against Kyle. Even with the memory of yesterday still lingering, nothing distracts me from the fact that Trevor loves me back.
“Yeah, he’s the one.”
Later, he sits beside me on the couch, holding my hand, eyes set on the young woman seated across from us. She can’t be much older than I was when Kyle raped me. Twenty? Twenty-one? I squeeze Trevor’s hand tighter, the memory of the broken girl I was after that night rising up to mock my confidence.
Geena’s taking her turn grilling Tanya. Next will be my lawyer, Connor. Then I’m sure Karen will have questions of her own. Everyone wants to get this right, to not squander this chance that has dropped into our laps. The chance to bring Kyle Manchester down once and for all.
“So you volunteer with Manchester’s campaign?” Geena probes from beside the young woman, Tanya.
“Yes,” she says softly, not looking up from the flats on her feet. “I signed up about a month ago.”
She gives her head a quick shake, running a nervous hand through her light brown hair.
“I believed in him. I thought he was…I thought he was the real deal, but he wasn’t. He’s not.”
“What happened?” Geena flicks her eyes from Tanya to me.
“One night he asked me to stay back to help him with some demographic projections.” Tanya swallows, closing her eyes. “I thought it would be the whole team, but it was just us in his office. He kept touching me and trying to kiss me. When I finally told him no and that I didn’t think it was appropriate, he lost it.”
She draws a ragged breath across her lips.
“He…he raped me.”
“I hate to be indelicate,” I speak for the first time since we greeted each other. “But he raped me, too. He raped Shaunti Miller, but neither of us has any proof. Do you have any…well, were you examined after the attack? Or do you have proof?”
“I wasn’t examined,” she says, making my heart sink. “But I did take pictures.”
My head jerks up.
“You took pictures? You have proof?” I grip Trevor’s hand probably to the point of breaking.
“I thought no one would believe me.” She bites her bottom lip before glancing up at me. “I saw that they didn’t believe you. Not only do I have pictures, but I have a check.”
“A check?” Geena asks, voice eager and curious. “For what?”
“His campaign manager gave me hush money.” The cynical laugh doesn’t fit anything about Tanya. “He actually thought he could buy me off. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just let him think it was cool. That it would just go away.”
She looks at me, her head tilted.
“Until yesterday, when I saw that press conference, Ms. Baston,” she says. “Did you mean it when you said you’d stand with anyone who came forward?”
I can barely breathe. Finally a break in the clouds. A chance. Our best chance to discredit Kyle. My best chance to get my life back and move on with Trevor.
“I did mean it.” I steel my voice against the tears that would make it waver. “And I’m ready when you are.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Trevor
I place the flat black jewelry box on Sofie’s pillow. Then I move it to the center of the bed. Then to the foot. I’m just about to find some other conspicuous spot on the bed when she walks in, pulling up short when she sees the box in my hand. She walks over to me, hand outstretched, palm up.
“Mine, I presume?”
Her eager smile chases away some of her fatigue. The last few weeks have been tough, but worth it. When Tanya’s allegations came out, she not only toppled Kyle’s chance for a successful senatorial bid, but also Ernest’s hopes of getting the Bennett board to vote against Walsh. The criminal charges filed against Kyle and his arrest have rendered him completely useless in Ernest’s pursuit to lead Bennett. Without the political favors as a bargaining chip, board members fell in line with Martin’s wishes and original intention to pass the reins to Walsh. I can finally taste my future with Sofie. So sweet.