Page 78 of Under the Table

Chapter

Twenty-Six

“You ready?” Rex stood next to Hope, and she nodded at him.

“Yeah, I am.” It was an understatement. She was ready to get out of Las Vegas and move on from this shoot. Julian had plagued her every waking thought lately, and she was damn sure that Angelica hadn’t slept a wink since they’d arrived.

“I added extra stationary cameras around the hotel, ones that Julian wasn’t aware of.” Rex put his hand against the small of Hope’s back and guided her toward the conference room. “You’d be shocked at what we saw.”

“What?” Hope blinked at him.

“He’s handsy.” Rex stepped into the conference room with Hope. No one else was in there except Angelica, and she didn’t exactly seem pleased to see them. “Ange, I want to double check that you’re okay with the footage.”

“I’m fine with it.” Angelica didn’t even look up at him when she answered. It wasn’t until Hope put her hand on Angelica’s shoulder that she stopped working and made eye contact. “Is it time?”

“Yeah.”

Angelica pulled herself upward to stand. She swayed lightly, so Hope put a hand on her arm to steady her. Angelica pursed her lips and shook her head. “I’m sorry for what you’re about to see.”

“What?” Hope didn’t have a chance to say anything because Julian stepped into the room with Josef.

Angelica stiffened instantly.

Hope tried to stay as relaxed as possible, but it was a struggle. And she was tired. She just wanted to protect Angelica from everything that was happening or about to happen. But again, that was impossible. She stood shoulder to shoulder with Angelica, facing off against the two men that were giving them the hardest time over the last week.

“What’s going on?” Josef asked, immediately on the defensive.

“I wanted to show you some footage that we’ve taken.” Rex pulled the laptop over and pointed at the projector and screen.

Angelica drew in a sharp breath, but she held perfectly still. Hope wanted to reach over and entwine their fingers to show Angelica support, but with Josef in the room, she didn’t. Instead, she stayed where she was.

Video footage started playing. Hope recognized some of it as stuff the crew had shot, just simple moments. Most with Julian and Angelica, where he was far too close to her and she would either jump and move away and he would follow her. But nothing could be seen explicitly as to what he was doing.

However, what he said was damning.

That skirt makes your ass look good.

You like to have all the attention, don’t you?

I bet you’d like my attention.

If only that dress was a little shorter, I’d have better access.

Hope’s stomach churned with bile. She flicked her gaze to Josef to see if he was actually paying attention, but he didn’tseem concerned about it at all. Julian’s face, however, had turned a deep shade of red.

But then it changed into what looked like surveillance footage. It was from these angles that she saw everything Angelica didn’t want her to see. Julian’s hands sliding along Angelica’s leg, her back and down to her ass, under the edge of her dress.

God damn it. Angelica hadn’t said it was that bad.

Hope grabbed Angelica’s wrist tightly, but it was more to prevent herself from launching over the table and giving Julian a piece of her mind. When the video stopped playing, Hope looked around to find the majority of the film crew in there with them, flanking Angelica and Hope.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment and assault,” Rex said. His shoulders were squared, and his jaw was stiff. “Don’t we, Josef?”

Josef’s lips thinned into a line, his cheeks puffing out. But he didn’t say a damn word.

Rex then threw a folder onto the table and tapped it. “This has a written record from thirteen other women you did the same things to, and more.”

Hope stayed still and quiet. This wasn’t for her. She was here simply as a support, to be the barrier line between Angelica and Julian if she needed to be. But Rex and Angelica had planned this out. She looked to Sy and then realized that they were filming this entire interaction. Their microphones were all turned on still. Everything was being recorded.