Page 76 of Under the Table

Angelica’s heart broke. “How long did you work here again?”

“A year. The pay was good. The benefits better. But I had to leave. I just couldn’t keep coming in every day knowing that he was going to be here. Walking in here today was hard enough.”

“I understand.” Angelica breathed slowly. She’d heard similar stories, though she had a feeling that Jennifer was interested in sharing far more detail than the others were. Otherwise she wouldn’t have come all the way down here.

They talked for the next hour, and Angelica was surprised when Rex popped his head back in to catch her attention. “Josef.”

“I need to get back anyway,” Jennifer smiled at Angelica. “Thanks, though.”

“Would you file a report? If you had the opportunity?” Angelica asked.

Jennifer shook her head and then stopped. “I don’t know.”

“Think about it. I think it could benefit more than just you, but you have to do it for you.”

“All right.” Jennifer gave her a half smile before standing up.

“Sy and Lyric will escort you out.” Rex nodded at Jennifer. “Julian is currently occupied in the kitchen with my wife anyway.”

“Good.” Jennifer grinned at him, and it was so nice to see.

Angelica waited for the room to clear before Josef and Rex came back in. Rex shut the door and gave Angelica a hard look and shook his head at her. When they were all sitting again, Angelica wasn’t quite sure where to start or what exactly they were there to tell her. Usually it was something she’d done wrong, but they’d already had that discussion today.

“I think we need to expose Julian Tower,” Rex said.

“Expose him?” Josef shook his head wildly. “There’s no proof, Rex. Nothing he’s being accused of has happened unless we can prove it did, and we’re not in that line of work.”

Angelica’s heart sank. She was so tired of hearing this same line from Josef. He was always trying to protect himself and the company, which she understood, but sometimes, there was more at stake than that. She crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat.

“If we don’t stand up for what’s right, then we’re not better than Julian.”

Josef barked out a laugh. “I’m not trying to be better than Julian. I’m trying to make a show and make money.”

“At what cost?” Angelica fired back.

“There’s no cost.” Josef shook his head at her. “Absolutely none. He’s not doing anything because we have no proof of anything. And that means, we continue as planned.”

“As planned?” Angelica leaned forward, finally ready to say her piece. “He touched me, Josef. I told you that he did. And you’re still going to say there’s no proof?”

“There isn’t.” Josef’s beady eyes locked on her. “Where’s the video? Where’s the confession? How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”

“Why the fuck would I lie?”

Josef canted his head at her. “I don’t know, Ange. But I’ve seen you lie about relationships before.”

“So now you’re accusing me of being in a relationship with Julian? Your attacks on me have no bounds, do they?” Angelica stared at him in shock.

“Proof or it didn’t happen.” Josef looked directly at Rex. “Proof of any inappropriate relationship, not just Julian Tower, to be clear. I won’t talk about this any further.” Josef stormed out of the room, leaving Angelica and Rex in his wake.

“Fuck,” Angelica cursed, throwing her pen onto the table and rolling her eyes.

“I’m not sure I ever realized just how much he hates you,” Rex muttered.

Angelica choked out a laugh of agreement. “Me either.”

“So…Ange…what are we going to do about this situation?” Rex looked at her directly. “Because I don’t like Julian. I haven’t seen anything that I can say was harassment or assault one way or another, but I’m also not willing to put anyone on the line to experience something when they don’t have to.”

Angelica frowned. “I don’t think we have a choice on that one.”