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Jonathan stands next to me, positioning himself slightly in front, as if to shield me. “Maybe we should stop it here, Miss Cartwright is clearly too upset to discuss this.”
His voice is calm, reasonable, and his lack of shock makes me realise he knows more than he’s letting on. Jonathan knew what Callum had told them, and he yet didn’t even bother to warn me.
“I understand that this must be very stressful,” Diana says. “But we want to try to make things right. Obviously we’ll be dealing with Mr Ferguson separately, but in the meantime we’d like to offer you a financial settlement to compensate for the distress that he’s caused.”
My previous lethargy disappears, overcome by the adrenaline that starts racing through my veins. I push Jonathan to one side before placing my hands on the table, leaning forward.
“You want to pay me off?”
Diana laughs awkwardly. “It’s not like that. We just want to show some goodwill. We know how upsetting this situation must have been. There’s only three months until the end of your placement, and we’d like you to put this behind you and concentrate on that.”
It’s getting harder to breathe; the muscles in my chest lock. “I don’t want your money,” I whisper. “I want to know what you’re going to do to Callum.”
“He’s being dealt with,” Dominic says, “Don’t you worry about that. As I said, we take this type of thing very seriously.”
The injustice hits me like a sharp slap on the face. Callum’s being ‘dealt with’—disciplined I assume—while they’re offering me money. Don’t they know we both walked into this with our eyes open?
“No.” I look down, unable to meet their gaze. “You can’t do that.”
“Amy,” Jonathan grabs my hand again. “You need to be quiet now.”
“Why?” I turn to him, my face creasing into a frown. I want to shout, to tell them how stupid they’re being.
He didn’t harass me. He loved me. Maybe he still does.
“Because Callum’s told them what happened.” Jonathan’s voice is low. “And h
e’s willing to accept the consequences.”
Jonathan’s stare doesn’t waiver. He’s trying to send me another message. Telling me to back the hell off, that Callum knows what he’s doing, and I just have a part to play.
But I don’t want to act the role. I want to see my boyfriend. I want to run into his arms, I want to hear him whisper my name as he holds me. The last thing I want is their blood money.
“It’s not right.” Finally, I turn to look at Dominic and Sam. When they glance at each other I can see genuine concern. Sexual harassment is serious; it could ruin their reputation.
“I’ll sign your settlement agreement,” I tell them, the words escaping almost as soon as the decision is made. “But I don’t want your cash.”
I grab my jacket and stalk out of the room, barely able to stop the tears from rolling down my face.
* * *
“What the hell was that about?” I ask, as soon as Jonathan finds me in the corner of the canteen. A cold mug of coffee is in front of me. The sheen forming on the surface is a testament to my lack of appetite.
“I’m sorry, I should have warned you.” Jonathan slides into the chair opposite. “But to be honest, the element of surprise worked well.”
The fury I managed to suppress in the meeting rises to the surface. “Is this a fucking game to you? We’re talking about people's careers, about their lives. The element of surprise?”
Jonathan leans back. “It isn’t like that. Do you think I wanted to sit there and hear all that? One of my best friends has just sacrificed his bloody career and I had to nod and agree with them.”
I take a deep breath, but fail to find much equilibrium. “Why did he do it? What did he do? I need to know what’s going on.”
Jonathan’s shoulders relax. “I’ll tell you what I know. But you need to understand I made a promise to Callum that I’d do everything I could to protect you. I intend to keep that promise, even if it pisses you off.”
“Tell me,” I demand. “Tell me what he’s done.”
“The first thing I knew about this—the first time I heard you were in a relationship—was when he called me yesterday morning. I was in a teleconference and ignored the phone initially, but the fact he kept calling made me realise something was wrong.”
He shifts in his seat. “Callum was about to go into a meeting with the partners. By that time he’d been told about the accusations, and realised that you were going to lose your job. They’d made no bones about that. So he came up with a plan to protect you. It was the only way.”
