I’d had another full schedule today but had Mrs. Silverstein clear a couple of meetings and I coaxed Tilly out for food. Then John Woods had called for another meeting over drinks. The guy was getting relentless like he wanted me to be his wingman ever since the nanny had quit or gotten fired because maybe Mrs. Woods wasn’t as clueless as her husband thought she was.
Tilly didn’t need to suffer a place like this, but I wouldn’t be done until who knew what hour, and it’d be too late to make sure she’d taken care of herself. This way, she met me here and got out of her house, and I could still have my meeting.
A stranger wouldn’t know anything was wrong, but I did. Seeing her so dejected tore me up, no matter what she wore. Her butter-soft leggings with the Wonder Woman logo on them must’ve come from Arcadia. Mara wore similar ones. Tilly’s shirt was oversized and as bold as Tilly usually was.
Not today.
The ensemble didn’t stop the business-formal crowd from ogling her. The men’s gazes traveled up and down her legs. Like me, they probably envisioned peeling them down and uncovering the present underneath. I made sure to glare each one down. The women, too, if their gaze was anything beyond, hey, where did she get those awesome leggings?
Tilly set her fork down with a resigned sigh.
“You don’t like the chicken?” I asked. She didn’t have much time to eat before John arrived. Tilly didn’t need to deal with his presence, and I didn’t feel like warding off comments from the guy. I couldn’t delude myself into thinking that the man would quit with sexual references when he saw I was taken. John was married and open, to me at least, about his trysts with the nanny. He could be lying, but I doubted it. Men like John didn’t have to lie. They had the looks and the money and knew how to target those with similar ambitions or morals.
It was likely what had attracted John to me.
I scowled across the bar at that thought.
I hadn’t been the only company bidding for the project. An international corporate construction company had fought hard for John’s business, but I had wined and dined the man while pushing my company hard. We’re local. I understand what you need.
Had John only seen a young man willing to sell out for money?
No. Because that wasn’t me. No matter my personal life, I made sure my work was tight and defensible. I’d sell out for my company. There’s a difference.
“I’m just not hungry.” Tilly caught the server. “May I get a to-go box?”
Tilly slumped in her seat after the server left. “You don’t mind, do you? I don’t want to waste your money, but I also need to be thrifty since I have no income.” Her eyes glistened.
“Tilly…” What could I say? It sucks. Shit happens but you’ll get through this. Look at everything you’ve gone through. You got this. It all sounded inane. Her career was destroyed, and she had nothing to fall back on.
“So I’ve been looking up legal jargon. I haven’t been arrested yet and I think that’s a good sign.”
“I can always help with that, get a recommendation from my legal team for a good lawyer.”
Hope infused her gaze and it was the most life I’d seen out of her since the weekend. Then she glanced at her phone. “Oh, I gotta get going. I don’t want to tank your career, too.”
I shook my head to tell her not to worry, but then my gaze caught on a man striding through the restaurant, an arrogant smile on his face as he checked out a millennial with mile-long legs sticking out from her skirt. Damn, he was early.
John jutted his chin up when he saw me.
“I’m sorry, Tilly. My client’s here. And don’t worry about food. I’m not going to let you starve.”
“Oh, no problem.” Tilly gathered her tote. “Anyway, he can ruin my career, but I don’t think he can get me arrested.”
John drew even with the table, the arrogance fading from his expression the closer he got until it morphed into menace. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Miss Johnson.”
Color leeched from Tilly’s face. My stomach bottomed out.
These two knew each other? And what the hell had John’s comment meant?
“Mr. Woods?” Tilly’s eyes widened, a mixture of emotions making her irises gray. She turned her stare on me. “You two know each other?”
“This is who I was meeting,” I said.
A cruel sneer twisted John’s face. “I can’t stand even looking at you, Miss Johnson, but I shouldn’t be talking to you. My lawyer might be upset with me.”
Oh shit. John Woods was the guy accusing Tilly of child abuse? How could that be?
A cold wave of dread washed through me as I sat by and watched the two interact.
“Your lawyer,” Tilly sputtered. “Wasn’t scaring all my business away enough for you? How could you think I’d do something like that to Charlie?”
“I didn’t at first, I’ll be honest. But the week you were on vacation, he was fine. You come back, and he has black-and-blue marks all over his torso. I guess the ‘he hit his head during one of his fits’ excuse only worked a couple of times.”
“I only helped Charlie. I would never hurt anyone.” She rose to face John. I made to stand, but John held up a hand, his gaze calculating.
“Have a seat and let me tell you both how it’s going to go.”
I bristled at the man’s tone, but John didn’t operate by the same moral compass as everyone else. I had Abe’s advice running in a steady stream through my head about everything, but my mind was silent. What would Abe
