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“Are all of them employees of your resort?” Chuck asked. “All of them with a stake in winning this case, I’m guessing.”
Not only did I want to beat the shit out of Hunter, but I added Chuck to that list as well. How dare he question what happened to her, insinuate that she lied about the attack. Why the fuck did men in positions of power so often not believe the woman’s side of the story? It infuriated me when it happened to Claire, and it shouldn’t have surprised me in Snow’s case, but it did. It never failed to surprise me how shitty some men could be.
But Snow remained strong. If she could keep her cool while her experience was questioned, then I could too.
She told them that with Hunter being her human resource manager, she worried filing a police report would impact her job.
Again, Chuck doubted her. “That’s illegal,” he scoffed.
“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen,” Snow refuted. “As a lawyer, I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of things that are illegal, but still slip through the cracks.”
“Fair enough,” Chuck said. “And since that isn’t the point of this meeting, we will drop it.”
“What is the point of this meeting?” Reed asked, his voice tinged with annoyance.
“To ask for a settlement,” Chuck replied. He passed a piece of paper over to Anthony who let out a dry laugh. “This is ridiculous. We aren’t paying him ten million dollars. This is absolutely absurd.”
“Is it though? Imagine the loss of revenue you could face once it goes public that you assaulted a guest at a place that you advertise as being safe for everyone.”
“But on what basis do we owe him ten million dollars? He didn’t even seek medical care,” Anthony said.
“For pain and suffering, of course. The time he had to take off work after he got back, the mental anguish. My client struggles with PTSD, and how can we put a price on mental suffering?”
“He’s not suffering,” I said. “Though he should be—”
“GAGE!” Anthony slammed his hands down. “Enough.”
Fuck. I wasn’t helping anyone. I slid my chair back and stood up, heading for the door. “If the rest of you knew what was good for you, you’d leave right now too. This is absolute bullshit.”
I opened the door and walked out, heading for the exit to that godforsaken place. As I approached the door, I heard a voice calling my name.
Her voice.
I stopped just short of the door, opening it and stepping outside with Snow beside me.
“I’m sorry for blowing up like that, I just couldn’t take his lies anymore. I don’t know how you do it,” I said.
She took both of my hands in hers and stood up on her tiptoes, “Thank you.”
I wanted to ask her for what, but she continued before I could.
“Thank you for standing up for me. My entire life, I’ve gotten used to people not listening to what I’ve said. I think that’s why I didn’t bother to call the cops the night of the break-in, because I’m so used to no one believing me or doing anything to help me. I’ve always been on my own, my own father choosing his girlfriends, and later wife, over me. But you? You fought for me, Gage, and I can’t put into words how much that means to me.”
Tears welled up in her eyes, but before they could fall down her cheeks, I took her face in my hands, catching them with my thumbs. She stood up even taller, and I knew what she wanted. And dammit, I wanted it too.
I leaned down and pressed my lips against hers.
“You’re worth it,” I told her. “Your dad was a fucking idiot, and so was everyone else, Snow. You are absolutely worth fighting for.”
30
Snow
Aweek had passed since I saw Reed, Gage and Anthony. I hadn’t had nearly enough time with them—especially since going back to work meant seeing Hunter every day. His treatment of me was not getting any better.
The interviews went well, though I had already been told by two of the three jobs that they hired someone else and the third, well, it seemed like a lost cause since it required a master’s degree—something I didn’t have, nor was I interested in getting one.
Rosie popped her head into my office. “Hilda asked to speak with you,” she said.
