Page 106 of Rise After Fall

“I told him what happened and asked his opinion on what we should do,” he says.

“Whatweshould do?” I screech.

“Zoey, sweetheart, let him speak, please,” Mom interjects.

We were having such a good morning. Why do they have to bring this up now?

I scoot my chair away from the table and start to stand.

Morris’s hand grabs my hand.

“Hear him out,” he says.

“Are you in on this?” I ask.

He shakes his head.

“No, this is all me,” Patrick acknowledges.

“Zoey, I have all this anger inside of me. I want to fly to Tobias’s school and rip his throat out, and I’ve only known for a few days, and it didn’t even happen to me. I can’t imagine what it’s taken for you to live with this secret bottled up inside of you for so long. What it was like to live through that violation. I don’t only want to gut the man; I want to rescue any other girls who are training with him. Save them before, God forbid, the same thing happens to one of them. Like I wish I could have saved you from him. I know this wound is still fresh for you, and I’m not trying to rub salt in it, but, sis, he needs to pay for what he did, and he needs to be stopped. You can stop him.”

My hand shakes violently as I reach for my glass.

I take a sip of water and stand.

“Zoey?” Mom’s concerned voice calls.

“Let’s go back to the hotel and talk,” I say before running out of the restaurant and into the fresh air.

Time to be brave.

Patrick calls Grant and puts him on speakerphone. He goes over the steps that need to take place in order for me to file criminal charges against Tobias and his business.

“We’ll want to file a separate civil suit. It will help fuel the criminal case. The civil suit is you personally suing him for damages, and the criminal case would be the state of Colorado charging him,” Grant explains.

“I don’t want anything from him,” I say.

“Then, we can arrange for any monetary settlement to be donated to a charity of your choice, but, Zoey, he made a lot of money off you and your parents. He didn’t deserve it, and we want to hit him where it hurts.”

I look over at Patrick, and he nods his agreement.

“You don’t think it’s been too long?” I ask.

“There’s no statute of limitations on sexual assault or indecent liberties with a minor in the state of Colorado,” Grant confirms.

“Okay,” I whisper.

“Okay?” Dad confirms.

I nod.

“Let’s do it. Let’s nail his ass to the wall.”

Grant fills us in on the next steps, one of which will be that an entertainment attorney with his firm will leak the story to the press. Once the balls are in motion, authorities from Colorado will be in contact with me and probably travel to Tennessee to interview me in person.

Morris takes my hand in his and holds it tight. Pouring his strength and his calm into me.

When the call ends, I look at him.