Page 7 of Snowed Inn For Christmas

“Thank you again for letting us stay.She’s out like a light,” Julie said as she sat down beside me on the couch and curled her legs underneath her.

“It’s not a problem at all.”I grabbed the remote and turned the TV off so I could have her full attention.I didn’t want to force it out of her, but I needed to know what happened.I needed to be able to protect them, and I could only do that if I knew what they were up against.

“I know you don’t want to, but I need you to tell me what happened,” I said softly, hoping it would encourage her to talk to me.I knew that my rough exterior tended to keep people away—the way I liked it.But I didn’t want that with Julie.If anything, I wanted her closer so she could feel the strength of my protection and know that I would do anything in the world to keep her and Daisy safe.I wanted her to hear my heart as it beat steadily in my chest, beating for them, because reconnecting with Julie sent shockwaves through my body, reminding me of the feelings I had kept hidden from her for all these years.

“I don’t even know where to start.”She pressed her lips together and let her shoulders drop as she exhaled heavily.“When I first met Joel, my boss, it was when I was in between jobs right after Mike died.Daisy had just turned one, and I was lost trying to figure out how to be a single mom while grieving the death of my husband and trying to pay our bills.Joel offered me a position where I could work from home so I didn’t have to worry about finding childcare.”

I shifted slightly on the couch to see her better, but stayed quiet so she could continue.

“I didn’t have family close by to help out with my parents living in Florida and Patrick moving to New York for his new job.He offered to come help us, but I couldn’t do that to him.I knew how hard he’d worked for that promotion, and after Melanie called off their engagement, I knew he needed a fresh start.He didn’t need to be tied down with taking care of his little sister and her child.”

“I know that Patrick and I have our differences, but I can assure you that your brother would have dropped everything to help you, Julie.He loves you more than anything.He was so thrilled to be an uncle.Nothing could ever keep him from you guys.”

“I know,” she said with a soft smile.“But I just couldn’t do that to him.I think part of me wanted to prove to myself that I could do this on my own.And for a while, I did.Things were going great and I was able to work from home while taking care of Daisy.Then everything started to change this year when she started kindergarten.It was hard having her away from me all the time, but I loved how happy she was about going to school.She would come home and talk my ear off from the moment I picked her up, telling me every single thing that happened that day.”

She laughed softly as the memories replayed in her mind, and I grinned because I could absolutely see that happening.I had only spent one day with Daisy, and she had been the most lively, most animated child I had ever met.The passion that sparkled in her eyes when she told me about her hobbies and how much she loved school was so intense that I couldn’t imagine going through the rest of my life and not hearing about hers.

“But then once she was in school, I started to notice that Joel was acting differently.We’d had the same schedule for almost four years, and suddenly, things didn’tworkfor him anymore.”She tipped her head back and rolled it slowly on her shoulders before looking at me.“At first, I thought it was because I was able to work more hours, so it made sense that he needed me more.But then, a few months ago, he started just showing up at my apartment for meetings.It was really weird because we never did in-person meetings, and when I asked him about it, he said that it was mandatory for all employees.I offered to go into the office for the meetings now that Daisy was in school, but he insisted that we do it in my office, which of course was in my living room.”

My jaw tightened as I listened, already knowing that I would hate where this was going.

“It was little things here and there, most of which I tried to ignore.When I asked him to mark all our meetings on the shared calendar in advance, he got angry and said that I didn’t get to choose how he ran his company.While it seemed weird, I didn’t question it because I didn’t want to lose my job.I was able to take care of Daisy and make ends meet, so I didn’t want to press my luck.But last month, I went out and did my grocery shopping during my lunch hour, and when I got back, he was in my apartment waiting for me.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“No.I wish I were.”

“How did he get into your apartment?”

“He told the superintendent that I said it was okay for him to have a key.When I questioned why they would just give it to him, he told me that he explained that I was using the apartment as office space and that I was his employee.He showed the superintendent the paperwork confirming my employment and that the office address listed on my employee record matched the address of the apartment.”

“Julie, that’s fucking illegal,” I growled, ready to go find this asshole.

“I know.Trust me, I was already trying to figure out how to get out of the situation before it got worse.I couldn’t just quit my job and leave because I didn’t have any money in savings, and we had nowhere to go.But then he started making it a point to show up unexpectedly during the week when Daisy was in school and made excuses about why he needed to see me.He never gave me any advance notice, and when he came in two weeks ago while I was in the shower, that was my final straw.”

“Fucking hell, Julie,” I said as I sighed heavily and shoved a hand through my hair.

“It’s been a mess, and I’ve been doing everything I can to try to get us out of it.I’ve been buying extra non-perishable groceries and storing them in the car so he wouldn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.I had to leave most of our stuff behind because I couldn’t let him on to us leaving.I knew he wouldn’t allow me to.He had made it apparent that he thought I was his property because I was his employee.As long as I lived in that apartment, he felt he could come and go whenever he wanted to.”

“You should have called the police or—”

“And what?Tell them that my boss was being inappropriate?I did, Gage.I talked to someone about him stalking me and knowing where I was when I wasn’t at home.I told them about the creepy notes he started leaving me on work documents when he would come by to drop them off.I told them about the unwanted touches that he refused to stop doing.And do you want to know what they said?”

“Probably not,” I admitted, already knowing it would piss me off.

“They said that I could file a complaint with the HR department at work.Ournon-existentHR department.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah,wow.Trust me, I have been beating myself up over my stupidity for so long that there’s nothing you can say that will make me feel worse about this than I already do.What kind of person goes to work for someone who doesn’t even have an HR department?I mean, I should have seen the red flags sooner.I worked for him forfour years, Gage.Four years.I never noticed anything was wrong until Daisy started school.”

“He was probably just waiting for her to start so he could start moving in and going after what he wanted,” I said angrily.

“Yeah, he made that glaringly obvious when he tried to kiss me the other day.I pushed him off, and he got angry.I saw a side of him that I hadn’t ever seen before.He’d always been so nice and soft-spoken.But something changed, and he snapped.He pinned me against the wall and rubbed himself against me, telling me how he could tell that I wanted him.He insisted that I was playing hard to get.When I told him that I wasn’t interested and that he was making me uncomfortable, he hit me.He held me by my throat until I couldn’t breathe.I tried everything, Gage.It wasn’t until I started crying that he backed off.He was so pissed that he threw my vase across the room and left the broken glass on the floor as he stormed out and told me he would be back to finish what we started.”

“Did you ever consider changing the locks?”

I didn’t want to make her feel worse than she already did, but I also couldn’t wrap my head around all of this without wanting to murder the bastard.