Page 77 of Under the Table

“Of course there’s a choice.”

“You’re thinking like a man, Rex. Women haven’t had the choice for generations. And that’s not going to change today.”

“Make it change.”

“What?” Angelica’s stomach dropped.

“Make it change.” Rex looked at the door and then back to her, lowering his voice. “If you want to do something about this, Ange, I’ll support you. I know Hope will. But I’m not going to take away your power by making you do something you’re not ready for. I’m here to tell you that woman, Jennifer? She’s not the only one who has a story like that.”

Angelica’s stomach tightened. She knew that Jennifer wasn’t alone with her stories. She’d heard them over and over again in the last week since she started digging into Julian Tower and his retention issue. But she still had no hard and fast proof. This was the exact reason why women never reported these things.

The knock on the door was light but swift. Hope stepped inside, stopping short when she saw the intensity of the conversation. Her lips parted and quivered. Angelica knew instantly that she thought this was something it wasn’t.

“We were taking about Julian and his sordid history with employees,” Angelica said quickly.

Instantly, Hope relaxed. Her shoulders dropped down, her face went slack, and she even nearly smiled. But still, the awkwardness having only the three of them in the room was strong enough that it was a struggle for Angelica to stay seated and not see herself out.

“I was trying to convince Ange that we need to do something about this problem.” Rex gave Hope a pointed a look. “But she’s refusing.”

“I’m not.” Angelica shot him a glare. “But again, proof. And then you have to deal with Josef.”

“Let me deal with Josef.”

Hope sat down slowly in between the two of them. “I’m not sure I should join in on this conversation.”

Angelica sighed heavily. She didn’t like being pressured into anything, and Rex wasn’t helping that any. Josef pressuring herto do nothing was one thing but now Rex was pushing her to do the opposite. She couldn’t win no matter what.

“Angel?” Hope asked, her gaze soft and imploring. “You’re not someone who backs down, so what’s going on?”

Angelica clenched her jaw tightly. She couldn’t say that out loud. Not in front of Rex. She didn’t need to give him any ideas that he wasn’t already having, and she’d already directly told Hope. Though she’d denied it.

“Okay, maybe we start with this.” Hope pointed at Rex but stared at Angelica. “Let Rex go through the dailies and the footage to see what he can find and if there is any footage of Julian doing something. He can probably have Sy and some of the other crew pull the security footage from the hotel and start to sort through that. If he finds something, then we have proof, and we can confront Julian or turn it over to the authorities.”

That didn’t sound unreasonable, though Angelica had her doubts that they’d actually find anything.

“And you…” Hope pointed at Angelica now “…you said there were former employees.”

“She met with one today,” Rex supplied.

“Another complaint?” Hope waited for Angelica’s nod to continue. “Let’s see if any of them would be willing to confront Julian or join together to make a report. If they are, then we plan for something. Sometimes, we just have to find someone willing to saythis isn’t right.Then someone will stand up and do the right thing.”

Angelica wanted to believe that. She really did. But the way Josef had reacted wasn’t the first time that she’d faced something like that in her past. And with the fact that her relationship with Hope wasn’t that far off from what Julian was doing, she wasn’t sure that she could be that person for these women.

How was she any better than them?

Consent, yes.

Power imbalance? Absolutely.

And Hope ignoring that fact wasn’t going to change it. Angelica might not be assaulting women all over the hotel, but what she and Hope were doing was inappropriate on some level. And Hope had to admit that. Rex knew it, didn’t he?

When she glanced at him, he was looking directly at her. “What do you think, Ange?”

She didn’t have an answer. Because her thoughts were so jumbled and mixed up that she could barely pull a thread out of them.

“All right. Rex, let’s just get to work and go from there.” Hope nodded at him in a dismissal and then scooted closer to Angelica. When he’d disappeared, Hope clasped Angelica’s hand gently to get her attention. “Are you okay?”

“No.” Angelica frowned, shaking her head. “No, I’m not.”