“You can’t be serious? One game? He jumped the bench and practically threw me into the plexiglass and then choked me out,” Eric says in a flustered and exasperated tone, his hands waving all over the place.
“You put your hands on my sister and left a nasty bruise on her. You’re lucky Jake was the only one who had a chance at you because if it was me or Brayden, this conversation would be completely different,” Brandon says, an anger like I’ve never heard lacing his tone.
I know when it comes to family, Brandon is extremely protective, but I’ve never seen this aggressive side to him. He’s normally more reserved, leaving Brayden to be the fighter and protector in the family. I’m just grateful to have two brothers who always have my back and will protect me.
“And now, I’m being threatened. If anyone should feel unsafe here, it’s me. They filed false harassment charges against me and then threatened me when I was cleared. They’re the ones harassing me, assassinating my character and reputation,” Eric whines.
Eric’s trying everything he can to flip the narrative and pin this entire story on us. I just hope that Mr. Preston can see through his bullshit.
“If anyone should feel unsafe, it’s all of the female staff that work here. You have been nothing but a misogynistic, chauvinistic pig from the beginning. I don’t know how you’ve gotten away with it for this long, but it ends today,” Emilia spits in his face, the anger pouring out of her in waves.
“In all of my years on this team, I haven’t ever once gotten a complaint against me. Not until Kailyn walked in.” Eric practically spits my name. “I’ve worked with Hannahfor two years here and we’ve never had any issues, but all of a sudden her and Kailyn start to become friends and I’m harassing them? It doesn’t make sense to me.” His words raise alarm bells in my mind. I had asked him last night when he cornered me, but he never answered me, so I decide to use his own words against him.
“How do you know who filed the charges?”
“What?” The smirk that had started to form is instantly wiped away at my question.
“How do you know who filed the charges? It’s a pretty simple question. Because as far as I’m aware, any charges filed with HR remain anonymous. You also said the same thing to me last night about knowing I filed the complaint, so I’m just curious how you know who actually filed them?”
He’s silent for a few moments, obviously caught off guard by my question. His eyes grow a fraction in size and he stiffens in his chair, not knowing how to answer the question. Finally, after taking a moment to gather himself, he responds. “Isn’t it obvious?”
You can tell by the tone of his voice that he’s flustered and thinking on the spot.
“You’re the only new employee here, and since I haven’t had any other complaints, it’s logical to assume that you’re behind all of this. Plus, I know that you and Hannah are close friends, so it only makes sense that she’s involved.”
“Okay, I could see that. But there’s about a million holes in your theory.” I pause, waiting to see his reaction, and he doesn’t disappoint at all as the color starts to drain from his face. “Hole number one, I’m not the only new employee. Emilia is also new.”
“But she?—”
I cut him off, holding my hand up. “I’m gonna stop you right there. You’re about to say that she works in PR, sothere’s no way it was her. But it’s possible right? We all work together, and we share a bus and a hotel, so you can’t really claim that it could only be me.”
The smirk is completely wiped from his face, his face becoming more pale by the second. I can see that he’s trying to remain unaffected, but the more I talk, the more he gives away.
“Hole number two, while it’s true that Hannah and I have become friends, I’ve also become friends with the other women on staff, like Alyssa, Grace, and Sarah. I could keep going. Who’s to say that one of them didn’t file it?
And finally, hole number three, and my favorite one of all, how do you know that more than one person filed a complaint? The complaints are anonymous as are the number of people that filed them. Even if it was only one, HR will always say it was numerous complaints. So how do you know it’s more than one person?”
“Damn, she got you there.” Beckett muses, a laugh escaping him that has us all smiling, well except for Eric that is.
Again, we’re met with silence as Eric tries to grasp around for any explanation that he can. Before he can try to weasel his way out of this, Mr. Preston intervenes. “How about I help you answer her questions?” Mr. Preston smooths his hands down the front of his pants before pushing his chair back and standing. “I might not be as involved as I should be, and like I said before, I regret that. But I always know when things around here happen. And when my staff and players say something, it’s wise that I listen to them. So I’m going to tell you a story, and you're going to listen.”
“But…”
“And you’re not going to interrupt me again, Eric.” Hewalks over and stands right next to him as Eric sinks into his seat.
“Here’s what I think happened, and you can correct me if I’m wrong at the end. You’ve spent your entire career thinking that you were the best, that you deserved to be at the top of your field. But you’ve never had to work a day in your life, have you, dear nephew.”
Gasps echo across the room as Mr. Preston reveals this.
“I’m sorry, did they not know that bit of information?” He questions, a smile crossing his lips knowing exactly what he just did.
“You’ve always gotten by just because of your last name, Eric. With your father being a powerful businessman in town and your mother’s social circle’s, when you messed up, you had them to take care of it. Given this, I was a bit skeptical about hiring you to the team, but after you reassured me that you were changing your ways and that this is really what you wanted, and showing me your impressive school records, I decided to give you a chance.” He slowly starts to make his way behind Eric’s chair and toward the door.
“For the first year, it seemed to be working out really well, and when Dr. Sanders offered to mentor you, I was so proud of the changes you’d made. Fast forward to now, where I receive notice that numerous staff members have filed harassment charges against you, and I’m a little shocked. I thought to myself, there’s no way this could be about my nephew, could it? So I decided to do my own digging.” Eric is practically as white as a ghost at this point, and I know that it’s only a matter of time before he gets what’s coming to him.
“I opened my own investigation, looking not just at this team, but every program you’ve ever worked at. And guess what I found?” He stops his movements and stares directlyat Eric who won’t lift his head to look at him. “Over the past five years, I’ve found dozens of women who have allegedly filed harassment charges against you, only for their complaints to be swept under the rug and told there was not enough evidence and nothing they could do. Women who were berated, harassed, sexually assaulted, you name it. Every time it got bad, your parents used their money and influence to buy these girls off so that none of them would speak out against you. The problem is, they still knew what you did, so you couldn’t stay in one place for long.”
He shakes his head, a look of disgust crossing his features before he finally makes it to the door and opens it, revealing two police officers followed by Dr. Sanders. They all enter the room and stand by the wall, waiting for Mr. Preston to finish his story.