The tension in Jonnas’s shoulders eased slightly just hearing her name. “She’s trying very hard not to panic.”
“And you?” Elias asked.
Jonnas laughed. “I’m one HR meeting away from committing a felony.” That earned him a snort. Unfortunately, he wasn’t joking. The last forty-eight hours had been brutal with board interviews, lawyers asking him a million questions over and over again, and ethics reviews. And underneath all of it, the ugly implication that he’d somehow manipulated Dani into their relationship. The thought alone made him sick.
“She still blaming herself?” Elias asked quietly.
“Yes,” Jonnas said.
“Figures.” Jonnas leaned back heavily in the chair, exhaustion settling deep into his bones. The board meeting started in thirty minutes, and afterward, Dani had her interview. The idea of her sitting alone in front of administrators while already emotionally wrecked made something violent twist in his chest.
“She shouldn’t have to do this,” he muttered.
“No,” Elias agreed. “But neither should you.” The door opened before Jonnas could respond, and Jessica stepped intothe room holding a folder against her chest. Immediately, something about her expression made Jonnas sit up straighter.
“What’s wrong?” Jonnas asked.
Jessica shut the door carefully behind her. “The board found something.”
Ice slid down his spine instantly. “What kind of something?”
Jessica hesitated, which was a bad sign. Then quietly she said, “One of the complaints wasn’t anonymous.” The room went completely still.
Jonnas’s jaw tightened immediately. “Who else put in a complaint against us?” he asked.
Jessica looked furious now. “Dr. Harris.” Recognition hit instantly. Dr. Harris was in emergency medicine. The guy was in his mid-forties, divorced, and worst of all—he was a man who’d been hitting on Dani for months before Jonnas ever touched her.
Rage exploded through his chest so fast he physically stood from the table. “That fucking?—”
“He claimed you created a hostile environment after learning he’d expressed interest in her.” Jonnas saw red—absolutely fucking red, because now it made sense. The rumors, the timing, the escalation. It wasn’t about concern. It was about jealousy. That smug son of a bitch had weaponized hospital policy because Dani chose someone else.
“You need to calm down,” Elias warned immediately.
“No,” Jonas growled. He grabbed the edge of the conference table hard enough that his knuckles whitened. “He cornered her in the supply room last month.”
Both Elias and Jessica froze. “What?” Jessica asked sharply.
Jonnas’s chest heaved with anger. “She didn’t tell me until after we got together.” His voice dropped dangerously low. “He asked her out repeatedly and wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
Jessica’s expression turned murderous. “Did he touch her?”
“No.” The word cracked out instantly. “But he intimidated her enough that she started avoiding certain shifts.”
Then Elias muttered, “Oh, he’s fucked.” Damn right he was, because suddenly this wasn’t just about protecting Dani from gossip anymore. This was about the fact that another man had made her uncomfortable enough to change her behavior at work. And Dani—being Dani—had probably minimized it because she was used to making herself smaller instead of making trouble.
Jessica opened the folder slowly. “We also pulled badge access logs.”
Jonnas frowned. “Why?”
“Because Harris claimed you were meeting Dani privately during work hours before the pregnancy.”
Understanding hit instantly. “They checked security records.” Jessica nodded once. “And, what did they find?”
A slow smile spread across her face for the first time all day. “And according to the logs?” She slid the folder across the table toward him. “The first time you were ever alone together after-hours was the fundraiser.” That was the night everything changed. Relief punched through him so hard he nearly sat back down. There was proof that he didn’t abuse his authority, and there was no secret affair. There was nothing but one reckless night that became something real afterward.
Elias let out a low whistle. “Well, that’s inconvenient for Dr. Creepy.” Jonnas barely heard him, because all he could think about was Dani, and about how terrified she’d been. How convinced she was that this scandal would destroy him, and suddenly all he wanted was to get back to the cabin and hold her until she understood something very clearly. She wasn’t the thing ruining his life. She was the thing in his life that was worth fighting for.
Dani
