Page 106 of Kneeling for Them
“Ella!”a woman shouts.
I turn around to see Trina approaching from down the street.Rage overtakes me, so powerful, I’m shaking.She lied to Sebastian for seven fucking years, and she has the nerve to try to get me to work with her?Fuck her.
I flip her off and start walking away.Garth will be here any second, so I won’t go far.
“Ella!”she calls, gesturing me toward her.
Toward the alley where I was attacked.I shove down my fear.This might be the last chance I have to talk to Trina and get her to admit the truth.An idea comes to me.Maybe it’s stupid, maybe it won’t work, but I have to try.Pretending that I’m just preoccupied with texting someone, I pull up my recording app and hitstart.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” I say, moving toward her.
“What do you mean?”She gives an awkward laugh.“I thought you wanted to take me on as your agent?”
“Yeah, not anymore,” I say.
She grabs my arm.I look down at her hand wrapped around the light blue fabric of my coat.
“Uh, sorry,” she says, removing her hand.“But seriously, what the fuck?I thought you wanted to work together.What changed?”
“You’ve been lying to Sebastian all this time.You’ve been trying to ruin his life.If that’s what an agent does, well, I’d rather not have one.And I sure as hell don’t want to be aroundyou.”
“What do you mean, I’ve been lying to Sebastian?I’ve given my best years to Bastian Crown, and he’s an ungrateful piece of shit if he says otherwise.”
“I know that he never harmed Alyssa.”
“What are you talking about?He did too.I witnessed it.”
Ew, gross.“First of all, if you witnessed it, why didn’t you stop it?And second, I spoke to Alyssa, and she says there was no assault—everything was consensual.”
The truth of what I’ve said seems to hit home, because she takes a step back and her green eyes widen in shock.“You—you talked to her?”
“Yes.She said there was no rape, no assault.And you gave her money so she wouldn’t ever talk about it.I wouldn’t be surprised if you drugged him, from the way things sound.He passed out after one or two drinks?Doubtful.”
She snorts.“This makes no sense.”
“It makes lots of sense.By doing this, you could control Sebastian.It didn’t work out so well, though, did it?Because he decided to stop performing and get help for his likely nonexistent alcoholism.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” she says.“He was already about to leave me.The timing was perfect.A little rohypnol in his drink, one of his many random hook-ups.Perfect situation.What else could I do?I’m the best agent for him.”
“You could have done literally anything else.”My stomach is in knots.Her behavior makes me feel sick.It’s bad enough women are attacked all the time, and people don’t believe them when they come forward.Trina has weaponized the whole thing, and it’s absolutely fucking disgusting.
“What’s done is done,” she says.“I’m going to move forward with my life, and so should you.”
“You need to make reparations for ruining seven years of Sebastian’s life.”
“I need to do no such thing,” she says.
“And, people need to know what a lying snake you are,” I say.
“I’m not telling them, and nobody will ever believe you.”She takes an aggressive step toward me.
“Oh, they’ll believe me.”I hold up my phone and back out of the alley, out of her reach.Rick set up the video surveillance, but I doubt anyone monitors the footage in real time.“I just recorded everything you said.Now leave us alone.Me, Sebastian, and Alyssa.Anyone else who doesn’t want to hear from you.”
Her face crumples.“If I stay away, you won’t share that with anyone, right?”
“Unbelievable.That’s really gutsy of you to hope for some kind of leniency after the shit you pulled.But I’m going to leave it up to Sebastian and Alyssa.They were the ones who were harmed by this.Sebastian especially.”
Her cheeks have spots of color and her eyes blaze with fury.“You’re going to be sorry.”
