Page 55 of Power

“I’ll uncover the truth. One way or the other.” His voice carried the weight of absolute certainty.

“Perhaps I’ll reschedule my meeting with HR.” I kept my tone light. “You know, until I have that NDA.”

His chest expanded with a sharp intake of breath, jaw tightening. Poor billionaire. Probably the first time today someone hadn’t jumped to fulfill his command.

“Even if you don’t report him, how many bosses can you have?”

I smiled, slowly and deliberately, before raising an eyebrow. The old owner had loved his “horizontal” org structure, which meant, technically, I had quite the collection of bosses. Eight, if you counted “dotted line” reporting relationships. Seven of whom were men. And let’s not forget, Grabby Hands, who wasn’t even officiallyone of them.

The power shifted back to my court like a perfectly executed chess move.

“More than you think,” I replied sweetly.Good luck solving that puzzle, Mr. Lockwood.

“I will find out who did this to you.” His words came out like a promise. Or a threat.

We’ll see about that.

27

SCARLETT

Tell her. Tell her what he did to you.

No. Protect yourself. You need to be careful, Scarlett. Now that Jace is the owner, you need to tread very carefully. You can’t be the sexual harassment accuser AND the woman who slept with the owner, for God’s sake.

I shifted in the chair across from Diana’s desk, my heart hammering against my ribs. Seven years of working together had taught me one thing: if anyone in HR could be trusted, it was her. I’d seen her fight for employees when no one else would.

“I need to ask you a question,” I said, forcing my voice steady. “Off the record.”

Diana set down her pen, giving me her full attention. That was another thing about her: when she listened, she really listened.

“You and I have worked together for a long time,” I continued. “I believe I can trust you with something off the record, even though you’re HR. But I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable position, so if you can’t field an unofficial question, just tell me.”

She leaned forward, concern flickering across her features. “Okay … off the record, what’s your question?”

I cleared my throat, weighing each word carefully. “Hypothetically speaking, if a woman experienced sexual harassment and came to HR, what exactly would take place after that?”

Diana’s body tensed with a micro-reaction that spoke volumes.

“Well,” she said, her professional mask slipping into place, “the official company policy is that any sexual harassment needs to be investigated thoroughly, and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken against the perpetrator.”

Oh, thank goodness.The relief lasted approximately half a second before her expression registered.

“But?”

She sighed, the sound heavy with years of experience.

“But, practically speaking, sexual harassment is … difficult to prove.” She met my eyes. “In my career, I’ve seen three instances of accusers come forward. All three of those accusers were on unemployment very shortly after their accusations.”

My jaw hit the floor. The room suddenly felt too warm, too small.

“How can that possibly be?”

Diana leaned forward, her voice dropping. “There’s always a supposed motive behind the accusation. Maybe the accuser didn’t get the raise they believed they deserved. Maybe there’s workplace conflict and it’s a way to reclaim power.”

Power. That goddamned word. My hands curled into fists.

“In any case,” she continued, “there’s always been reasonable deniability, lack of evidence, and an ulterior motive presented for why the accuser was making those claims.”