“Go. All of you.”
With reluctance, Anna rose from the couch, still clutching the ice pack. She met Gretchen’s eyes as she walked past, a strange and unfamiliar apology in her gaze. When they’d finally all left, their departure confirmed by the click of the door, Evan stood. “Whatever it is you have to say, I don’t give a shit. Your boyfriend brought this on himself.”
“I need you to drop the charges.”
Evan carried his empty glass to the wet bar and began to refill it. “Sorry. He nearly broke my nose.”
“I need you to drop the charges,” Gretchen repeated.
“You can say it a million times, but it won’t make a difference. And even if I wanted to let this go—which I don’t—it’s out of my hands. There’s a video clearly showing him attacking me unprovoked.” He drank deeply from his glass.
“Drop. The. Charges.”
Evan shook his head, disgusted. “I think we’re done here.”
“You know what I can’t figure out about that video? Why was it posted online instead of being turned over to the police first?”
Evan shrugged. “You’d have to ask the person who leaked it.”
“But that’s the other funny thing about the video. It came from our security cameras.”
Another shrug. “So?”
“There are only a handful of people in the entire world who would’ve had access to the security system at that time, and none of them would have had time to do it.”
“Obviously someone did.”
“Someone who wasn’t there,” she said. “Someone like Sarah.”
He stilled, the glass halfway to his mouth.
“Sarah . . . who is so oddly devoted to you and so similarly resentful of me.”
“What’s your fucking point, Gretchen?”
“Drop the charges.”
He gestured toward the door with his glass. “Get the fuck out of here.”
“I will relinquish all claim over any and all inheritance from Dad’s will. It’s all yours. Just drop the charges. Please.”
That got his attention. “Are we negotiating? Is that what this is?”
“No. It’s me giving up. You win, Evan. At long last, you win. This has always been about money with you, so fine. Take it. So just tell me what it will take, and I’ll do it. You can have whatever you want or think you’re entitled to. Just leave Colton out of it.”
He didn’t hesitate. “Relinquish your inheritance and transfer all of your company stock to me.”
She’d known it would come to this, that the only thing he responded to was money, but disappointment still managed to worm its way beneath the cold rock that had once been her heart. “Once you call the DA, it’s all yours. I’ll sign whatever document you want.”
Evan finished his drink and immediately began to pour more. She waited as he replaced the cap on the whiskey and turned back around. He was dragging things out for effect, as he always did. After a long drink, he leaned against the wet bar. “I want one more thing.”
“What?”
“The job in D.C.” He took another drink. “I want you to take it. And never come back.”
“Don’t worry,” she said, coldness seeping into her tone. “You get that one for free. Because I never want to see any of you ever again.”
His smile was triumphant as he tipped his glass to her. “Nice doing business with you.”
Robotic steps took her to the door. Her fingers encircled the handle, but she gave him one more look. “Does Anna know?”
“About what?”
“Sarah.”
His jaw clenched.
Gretchen shook her head with sadness for a woman who’d only ever shown her civilized disdain. “She deserves better than you.”
Five minutes later, she drove home. And cried herself to sleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Colton was arraigned at ten a.m.
By then, news of his arrest had gone national. Reporters from every state and local news outlet, as well as a handful of Nashville gossip sites, filled the small courtroom. Overflow cameras packed the jury box, their lenses pointed at the defense table to document every humiliating moment of the downfall of Nashville’s golden boy.
And when Colton was brought in wearing a jail jumpsuit, the click of cameras sounded like distant fireworks.
His attorney waited for him at the defense table. The clerk called the case number and read his name and the charges into the record, and then the judge asked him directly if he understood the charges against him.