Chapter 38

THIRTY-EIGHT

W e manage to get away from my house with only a few paparazzi cars following us, and then we lose them in the city thanks to Kage's new driver. Elijah sighed when he called and we told him we were going out, but it seems he's given up on trying to control Kage.

Only I can do that.

I can't let Evelyn's death be in vain. I need to keep pushing before it's too late. We are running out of time. I can feel it. There is only one place I could think to go to get information on anyone who might have been with Evelyn back then—her old management.

She left them when she turned twenty and my father died, but they are still operating. It makes me sick to think of what they are allowing to happen to the young women and men in their care, but I can't fight the whole world—not yet anyway.

We booked a last-minute appointment, saying we wanted to discuss my modeling options. The fucker was so desperate for money, he didn't even stop to question why I would go to him. It tells me everything I need to know though.

Money is his motivation.

He might make me physically sick, but we need him, for now at least. It's what keeps me silent as we wait in his office. The city is spread out beyond the windows behind his desk. Modeling catalogs sit on his coffee table, and there are prints across the walls. It all screams money, fame, and power. It's perfect and intimidating, just like he wants.

Men like him thrive on being the strongest in the room, but he won't be in this room, which is exactly why I get up, smooth down my deep-brown, asymmetrical dress, and push back my wavy hair. I take a seat in his deep leather chair and turn to look out at the view while I wait.

Less than two minutes later, the door opens. Keeping me waiting is another tactic. He's trying to make me feel unimportant and tell me he's in demand. I've played these games, and I know them well. They won't work on me.

"Ms. Fallon, I apologize for keeping you waiting . . ." His voice trails off when I don't turn to see him. "Um, Ms. Fallon?"

I turn in his chair, my eyebrow arched as he hesitates before his own desk. Good, keep him off balance. "Sit." I wave at the chair perfectly placed on the other side. It's lower and smaller than his. Kage waits, and so do I, neither of us filling the silence.

Pursing his thin lips, he sinks slowly into the chair. He's handsome, I guess, but sitting next to Kage, he pales in comparison. He's older, in his late forties, but his hair is brown and styled, and he wears a power suit, no doubt designer. He has a Rolex on his left wrist and a diamond ring on his other hand. Despite this, I know he's desperate to sign talent. It's been a while since he lost his footing in the industry as newer, hungrier agents rise to the top. His standing is hanging in the balance, and he's bleeding money.

He's desperate, and he thinks I'm his meal ticket.

He's wrong. I'm his damnation.

"Evelyn is dead."

He flinches, his eyes widening before he schools his expression, his lips turning down in a practiced sad frown.

Before he can tell me how sad he is, I carry on. "She was working with me on something, and now I need your help to find someone else."

"Ms. Fallon, we are here to discuss your career, but if this is for a show, I can happily find you another model who's better, younger?—"

I hold my hand up. "Don't ever disrespect Evelyn in this office, understood?" When he nods, I sit back. "It isn't for a show, per se. I want names of people who, along with Evelyn, were told to work my father's parties."

His face pales. "I don't know?—"

"Spare me the bullshit and lies. I'm low on patience today, and I really want to fucking hit you. Don't give me a reason to. I'm trying my best to hold back, but if you keep lying to me or give me the runaround, I'll grow tired of these games and just take my anger out on you, understand?"

"Fallon . . ." He swallows. "What do you want?"

"I just told you. Are you dumb?" I sigh in annoyance. "The list, I know you have one or you remember. You're one of the best for a reason."

"What do you want with them?"

"That's not your issue at all. Give me the list and I'll leave. I'll even pay you for it. However, if you refuse, I'm going to take my frustration out on you." I nod at Kage, and he pulls out the bag, flashing the stacks of bills inside. I might not want to, but I need what he has, and he can take the money. In the end, it will only make him more complicit when the truth comes out.

He will destroy himself. He just doesn't know it.

He snorts, sitting back. "I won't compromise my morals for money. Giving you those names would be doing just that."

"No?" Arching a brow, I stand and walk around the desk. He watches me nervously as I reach into the bag and take out two stacks. When he's silent, I add another. "How about now?" His face turns beet red as he glances from me to the money, so I add another stack, then another, smiling in disgust. "I can keep going all day. Let me ask you, what do you think will run out first? Your morals or my money? I'm betting on your morals, since we both know you sold your soul a long time ago."

"Fallon," he snaps, standing, but his eyes go back to the money. "Why are you doing this?"

"You're a smart man, you know, now take the money or I will go about this a different way. Either way, I'll win and get what I want. Take the money and make it easy for yourself," I warn.

His eyes close for a moment, and when they open, he looks dejected as he nods. Grabbing a piece of paper, he writes down names and hands it over. I scan them before placing it inside my bra and hand him the stacks of cash.

"See? Wasn't that easy? Everyone can be bought with enough money, and I have enough to do just that. Don't forget that in the future. I can play with you all like toys and not even eat into my pocket change. We both know this game is won by power and cash, and I have both. I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon." I gently slap his face as I pass. "Spend the money well. We both know you'll need to stop what's coming your way."

As I head toward the door, my eyes catch on a magazine on the table. Evelyn is on the cover, and my heart hurts until I'm practically running, feeling like I'm betraying her even though it's a necessary evil to work with this man for now. I'll make sure he gets what he deserves in the end.

I have to for her.

"You're just like her, so confident and stubborn. That's why she ended up dead, and you will too," he spits, feeling brave since my back is turned.

I freeze. I could keep walking, but fuck that.

Turning, I stomp toward him on my heels.

I grab one of the catalogs as thick as a book as I go, and I rush him. He stumbles back into his desk, money falling around him as I smash it across his face. He screams as he flips from the impact, hitting his desk. Grabbing his hair, I press his face to the cover of it where Evelyn sits. "Don't forget her name. Don't forget our names. I'll be back for you." Releasing him, I blow my hair from my face and smile at Kage. " Shall we?" I hold out my hand, and he lays his in mine and lets me lead him from the office.

"Feel better?" he asks once we're in the elevator.

"I really do." I grin up at him as I pull out the list. "Now, we need to get these people to work with us."

"And then?" he murmurs.

"Then it's time. We can't wait anymore. It's time for the truth."

So far, we have tracked down two of the names. They are still working in the industry, but the others have disappeared and either changed their names or they never revealed their real ones to begin with. Kage is working on that as we speak, knowing we are running out of time. Every moment we waste is another minute where whoever killed Evelyn and tried to kill me could come back at us. Once this is in the open, they will have no shields to hide behind.

The first name, Yolanda, agreed after a tearful talk, although she seemed nervous, but I think that's normal. The second name, however, concerns me. Poe is at the top of his game, so he already faces enough criticism. Would he be willing to help us?

I don't remember seeing him at the parties, but it doesn't surprise me that they did the same shit to men they did to us women. Nothing was off-limits.

We are lucky he agreed to meet at a shoot since he's so busy. I leave Kage outside, next to the lounge and snack area for the crew, while Poe's manager lets me into his dressing room. He's sitting on a sofa, his head tilted back and eyes closed. He looks exhausted and no less stunning. I've seen him in so much, but I never suspected this would be the conversation we would have. His short blond hair is spiked, the tips pink, and his makeup is artfully done, with glitter across his face. He's beautiful, which is exactly why he's one of the best, and he also knows how to work the camera.

Like he feels my gaze, he lifts his head and smiles. "Fallon."

I've never met him, but I instantly feel at ease. I sit in the chair opposite his sofa, and he watches me. "I get it." I blink at his statement, and he carries on. "Sorry, just thinking out loud. I finally get why everyone is so obsessed with you. The cameras don't do you justice."

"Nor you," I admit, and he laughs as he sits up. He sighs and rubs his face before tilting his head and watching me again.

"I'm assuming this isn't a social call?" The shrewd look in his eyes surprises me, but it shouldn't.

"No," I admit softly.

"Your father?" he asks. "I saw that you are going to expose him and everyone else. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what you mean."

"Yes, I heard you were at the parties."

"Some." He nods, his features tightening. "Enough before I managed to get my ass out of there, but not without a cost." His lips tilt up in a bitter smile.

It's one we all have.

"I need you, Poe. I need your help. Evelyn was going to speak out." His eyes widen, and I nod. "I think they killed her for it."

He laughs again. "And now you want me to? Even though it could get me killed?"

"So what? You're just going to live with it and pretend you don't know? That it didn't happen to you? Ignoring it doesn't make it go away. They could kill you either way if they know you were there. They made it clear they are willing to silence anyone," I argue.

"Yet you aren't scared?" he asks.

"I'm terrified, but I won't let it stop me. I can't." Pursing my lips, I meet his gaze. "I'm haunted by what happened to me, but it's more than me now. It's Evelyn. It's all of the people who were there. We have to stop this, and the only way to do that is to expose everything. I know what I'm asking, and I know it could ruin your career, but I'm asking anyway."

He considers me for a moment. "I was so angry about everything for years. I let it consume me, and I took so many drugs to forget. I'm clean now, and I'm embracing my healing, which I'm told means forgiveness. Part of me thinks I should just forgive them and move on, forget about it," he murmurs, looking at me. "Don't you?"

"No. Fuck that," I spit. "You don't owe them forgiveness. You don't owe people who hurt you sympathy. You don't always have to be the better person and bury your feelings, letting them build until you explode. You are allowed to feel. You are allowed to feel angry and betrayed. You are allowed to . . . be. Doing that doesn't mean you're not healing. It means you are strong enough to face what happened, but I won't force you. I'll even try to cover your name up if you wish, so nobody knows."

"Why?" he murmurs.

"Because I'm determined to protect everyone when no one protected us back then," I reply. "I won't back down, but this isn't everyone's fight. Yours is wherever you choose to be, and that's okay."

"You know what they will say about me if this comes out," he whispers. "I made it up. I slept my way to the top. The rumors about my sexuality will eclipse everything."

"Yes," I answer, not sugarcoating it.

"It could ruin me. Everything I worked for, everything I endured to get here . . ." He sits back. "But I owe it to Evelyn, I owe it to you, and I owe it to the boy who only ever wanted to be in front of the camera—the one they killed. I'll help you, Fallon." He smiles. "Hell, let them try to kill me. I did that enough to myself through the years each time I stuck a needle in my arm."

"Poe, are you sure?" I might have driven him here, but I will give him a way out if he wants it. I won't be like my father.

"You're right. I can't escape my past. I'm allowed to be angry. Evelyn would have wanted this. If she was willing to talk, then we should too. We owe it to ourselves. Tell me everything I need to know. I'm with you."

I tell him everything, and when I'm done, he's smiling. His expression is cruel and filled with vengeance.

It's time for the victims to reclaim their power.

It's time for the victims to become the survivors.