Page 51 of Desire
Chapter Eighteen
Jasper called Stan Rochester, since his show on BCN had the highest ratings, and arranged for six women out of the many who were willing to appear on camera to speak about their harrowing experiences at Christmas Industries. I decided to leave Rachel out of it.She wanted her show to break the story, but Kylie had ruined that opportunity when she handed the details over to Katherine Donovan.
Jacqueline and I went into a conference room to talk some more. I couldn’t help but notice how much of a flawless beauty she was—not only her, but all the women who worked in the office. I could tell my lover’s beautiful executive assistant had been waitinga long time for this day to come. However, she warned us that we had to be careful about who we approached. Most of the women in the company had been used and abused for the purposes of the male executives’ pleasures, but only a small percentage of them were willing to speak out against the men.
“Tactics were used on them,” Jacqueline said.
“What do you mean by tactics?” I asked.
“When I first arrived, a guy named Mark Newlin asked me out. He was handsome, charming, and made me feel as if I were the only woman in the world. He would bring me coffee every morning, take me to lunch every day, and then take me to his penthouse apartment to fuck me every night. I thought we were a couple.”
“Humph.” I looked at the table. “That sounds like Jasper.”
She shookher head adamantly. “No, Jasper Christmas is nothing like those guys. He’s different.”
I swallowed nervously as I shifted in my chair. “You like him a lot, don’t you?”
“Not the way you’re thinking. He’s a good man, very handsome and all, but there’s no romantic spark between us.” Her brows drew closer and tightened as she watched me with laser focus. “Plus, he’s engaged to JuliaValentine.”
I forced an amiable smile as I nodded, trying very hard not to make her doubt their sham of a relationship.
She shifted abruptly in her seat. “But about Mark Newlin…”
I sat up straight, happy we were back on topic. “I’m listening.”
Jacqueline nodded eagerly, as though she wanted to hurry and get the story off her chest. “Then one day, a new girl’s hired,and she’s given the desk across from mine. He woos her like he did me, right in front of me. He doesn’t even look my way or tell me that he’s no longer interested. It was as if I didn’t exist to him anymore.” She pressed a hand over her heart. “So I’m hurt, right? I would cry myself to sleep, and I hated coming to work every day. Seeing them together made my stomach turn. Then, five days later, hestarted bringing me coffee again, asking me to lunch. He even wanted to take me on a weekend trip to his house on a lake in Vermont.”
“Wow,” I said.
She threw up her hands emphatically. “Yeah! I thought it was fucking hilarious. What he didn’t know, though, was I was in school then, earning my degree in criminology. I started my studies after I was hired because I would’ve nevergotten the job if I had put that on my resume.”
“Right,” I said, careful not to say too much. Jacqueline was unburdening, and so far, she was sounding like a very credible source.
“Anyway, I was beginning to catch onto what he was doing. I told him I had plans that weekend, so he took the other girl.”
I felt my eyes narrow to slits. “The other girl, who is she?”
Jacquelineraised a finger. “I’ll get to that part.”
I nodded.
She continued explaining how she started paying attention to the bigger picture, noticing who was dating whom, the drama associated with every relationship, and how they were similar to hers.
“They were employing tactical mind games by using passive-aggressive behavior to sexually disempower the sort of women who were notused to being rejected,” she said. “Get it?”
“I do.”
“So the women around here were steadily trying to reclaim their sexual power, and that’s how the guy who was tasked to mind-fuck them got them to do just about anything.”
She talked of sex dungeons and outright prostitution. The compensation was the attention and affection of the lover who would push the young woman awaythen bring her close again.
“But it never worked on you,” I said.
She closed her eyes to take a deep breath then released the air in her lungs when she opened them. “No, it didn’t. But most of the women will not speak up.” She started scribbling names on a notepad. “But these five will.”
I felt my expression soften as I watched her. “Thank you, Jacqueline.”
“No,” shesaid, shaking her head. “It’s my pleasure.”
