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Mr. Rochere lunged at me, held back only by his wife. “You wouldn’t dare. You have no idea what kind of man he is!”
“Then, tell me what kind of man he is. Tell me what in the world he has to do with your testimony in court.”
The sheer helplessness that fell over that man’s face told me we were charging in the right direction, but it flabbergasted me that he was still fighting us on this. After everything that had transpired—after everything that had already unraveled over the past few hours—whatever information that man held scared him more than death itself. I had to know, though. I had to know if Thaddius was wrapped up in all of this somehow.
Because if I had someone connected to the mafia that sat on my board of investors, that was information I needed to have.
“Tell me what happened at the banquet again?” Mr. Rochere asked.
Eden scoffed. “You won’t answer our questions, but you want us to answer yours?”
I stepped up to the forefront and blocked Eden’s view of her father. “Lila Beauregard attended a yearly banquet I throw for everyone involved in my company. Sometimes, I send outside invitations to those in my social circle that I know will come and donate funds, but it’s very hush-hush. Thaddius attended with his wife, Isabella, and his daughter, Lila. And about halfway through the evening, Lila came running out in terror screaming about how one of your daughter’s staff members sexually attacked her in one of the back rooms.”
“Which he didn’t,” Em said curtly.
I pointed at her. “Which I’m beginning to believe he didn’t. I’m almost certain she cried wolf for some reason at that party, but what I can’t figure out is why.”
The man’s face burned with reddened fury. “So, what does that have to do with you meddling in my daughters’ lives? How did you enter the picture?”
“You mean, other than the fact that all of this went down at my banquet? Embarrassing me in front of donors?”
“Yeah,” he said with a nod of his head, “outside of all that. If you knew Lila was lying, then why the research? Why look into it?”
Eden stood to her feet. “Because I asked him to, that’s why.”
“Eden,” I said.
She held up her hand to me. “How Dominik got involved exactly isn’t important. What’s important is that--”
He threw his hands into the air. “So, you want me to spill everything I know, but you don’t want to spill everything you know? Is that how it works?”
Em gnashed her teeth together. “When your secrets almost get us killed, yeah. That’s how it works.”
I understood where his outburst was coming from, though. I understood where his mind was currently sitting. Despite the fact that he was completely in the wrong, he thought he was doing the right thing by withholding information. And if we wanted him to talk, we had to front the information we had.
So, I cleared my throat. “Mr. Rochere--”
Eden shook her head. “Don’t. It’s not a good idea.”
Jackson furrowed his brow. “What isn’t a good idea?”
Mr. Rochere walked over to me. “How did you really get involved in all of this? Tell me. Tell me what you know, and I’ll fill in the blanks.”
“Dominik, seriously,” Eden said.
But I ignored her pleas. “I wanted to destroy your daughter’s catering company after what had happened. What Lila did ruined the entire event, but before it even came to light that the boy had never touched that woman, I wanted to bury her. I wanted to make sure that no one was ever embarrassed at another event ever again the way that your daughter and her caterers had embarrassed me. So, Eden showed up at my office the very next day to strike a deal with me.”
“Dominik!” Eden exclaimed.
I charged on, though. “In exchange for me not ruining Emily’s growing catering reputation, she’d provide free in-house attorney work for my company. That’s how I got involved. That’s why I started digging around. Instead of burying Emily’s catering company, Eden wanted me to figure out why Lila did what she had done at the banquet because your daughter already knew that the Beauregard daughter had been lying. She’s astute. Very bright. And that’s how the digging started.”
The room fell so silent that a feather could’ve fluttered onto my desk, and everyone would’ve been able to hear it hit.
“Is that true?” Emily finally asked. “Is that the confidential work you’ve been doing these past couple of weekends?”
I looked down at Eden and watched her nod. “Yeah, that’s the extra work that’s kept me cooped up.”
“So, those pictures of you two in the article?” her father asked.
