Mr. Carlson is setting his phone on the desk, and when he looks back to me, his scowl disappears and I’m rewarded with a smile that’s blindingly white. “Miss Perron,” he says as he walks around the end of the conference room table, hand extended toward me. Shit…hope my hands are dry enough. “I’m so glad you could come over so quickly to meet with us.”
Our hands clasp and I can feel the clamminess of mine against the warm dryness of his. He doesn’t mention my sweatiness, and when he releases my hand, he pulls a chair out for me at the round table.
I take it, thankful to be sitting so I don’t fall if my knees give way on me.
As Mr. Carlson is sitting in the chair adjacent to me, I can’t help the words that come out of my mouth. “Am I in trouble, Mr. Carlson?”
He blinks at me in surprise, his eyes then turning sympathetic. “No, not at all, but we do have something that’s very troubling that we have to discuss with you. And it’s Dominik. Not Mr. Carlson.”
No way I can call him that, so I just won’t call him anything at all. “What can I help you with?”
I’m actually impressed that my voice comes out a bit stronger now that he said I’m not in trouble.
Dominik—and I deem it’s fine for me to use his first name inside my head—nods his head toward the man I have to assume is an attorney according to what Hannah said. His eyes definitely appear sharklike. “This is Fred Gruber. He’s the organization’s lead counsel based here in Phoenix.”
“Hello,” I say politely.
Mr. Gruber just nods at me, his intense stare starting to wig me out slightly.
“Brooke,” Dominik says to get my attention. When I let my eyes slide back to him, he says, “We were served with a lawsuit today filed by Nanette Pearson.”
“What?” I gasp.
“I understand she’s a friend of yours from New York and had been staying with you recently while she visited the Phoenix area, right?”
I nod dumbly, unable to answer the question.
“She’s sued the organization for sexual harassment,” Mr. Gruber says, holding up one of the documents lying on the table before him. “She specifically named Sebastian Parr, Dax Monahan, and Erik Dalhbeck in the complaint.”
“What?” I gasp again, this time sounding slightly hysterical. “I don’t understand.”
“We don’t either,” Mr. Gruber clips out. “That’s why we want to know what you know. We understand you’re directly in the middle of all of this. We figured it would be less…stressful to talk to you informally like this rather than to have to subpoena you to a deposition.”
“Fred,” Dominik chastises the attorney with clear warning in his voice for perhaps taking such an aggressive stance. I get it. They’re going to play good cop/bad cop with me.
“Brooke, we really need to know all the facts so we can adequately protect our players and employees from this lawsuit,” Dominik says gently.
I nod, sort of understanding that, but I’m also sort of starting to feel numb.
From the top of my head, down to my toes.
“Mr. Carlson,” I manage to say past a very dry throat.
“Dominik,” he corrects.
I swallow as I nod, trying to lubricate my vocal cords. “Dominik…I’ll be glad to help in any way I can—”
“That’s not all,” Fred interrupts, and I can tell by the way he’s leaning toward me that he’s been dying to throw this at me. “Miss Pearson’s attorney leaked the story to the news when they filled the lawsuit this morning. Miss Pearson is claiming that your relationship with Bishop Scott is a sham, and that you are secretly having an affair with Sebastian Parr, which is how you got your new position in merchandising.”
That’s when the room starts spinning, and I can vaguely hear Dominik call my name in alarm. I slap my hand on the table in a desperate attempt to stop the dizziness.
To my surprise, it actually works.
I focus in on Dominik and manage to rasp out, “Not true. The affair part with Sebastian.”
“I believe you,” he says immediately. “You see…Sebastian had reported to Christian Rutherford last week that he’d interviewed Miss Pearson for a potential job within the organization. He went to Christian immediately after the interview, quite upset because Miss Pearson made a pretty vulgar pass at Sebastian. He wanted to report it and get it on the record.”
“Do you believe him?” I ask somewhat bluntly. I have to know exactly how Dominik views this, because I know his opinion will matter the most.
“Christian believed him wholeheartedly,” Dominik says neutrally. “And I have to trust Christian. Why? Do you doubt him?”
“Actually, no I don’t,” I tell him. “Nanette had told me after the interview that she had willingly given him a…um…had oral sex with him voluntarily and at his direction. There was something about it…I just…I wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth, but it just seemed really out there. Is that making sense?”