Between Commitment and Betrayal (Hardy Billionaire Brothers, #1)(70)

Baldeck has a parole hearing set for next month after spending over a year in prison for assault and attempted rape—a crime he claims he didn’t commit. Beta Zeta Delta refused to comment. According to sources, no investigation of the fraternity house was done.



When asked about Belafonte now, after being told she has just married NFL star Declan Hardy, he laughed. “Of course. It was probably all a big plan so she could cry to her estranged father and get this laid out for her instead. Seems about right.”



Is Everly Belafonte scamming us all?




“They’re making you look like a fool,” I said, and one tear slipped from my eyes. One tear. That’s all it took for a mask to drop and for everyone to see you were leading with your emotions. I swiped it away. “Oh God, I do not want to cry over this now. I’m sorry—”

“Sorry?” he whispered. Then he bellowed, “Sorry? What the hell do you have to be sorry about?”

He literally wouldn’t let me go as I wiggled in his lap. Instead, he turned me towards him. “Declan, I need to approach this without succumbing to—”

“They twisted your pain into making it seem like you’re some kind of a damn con artist, Everly. You want to cry over it, you’re entitled to that,” he ground out. His face turned red, so red I nearly reached up to soothe him before stopping myself by snatching my hand back.

“How do you know what they’re saying isn’t true?” I whispered.

“Are you fucking with me, Drop?” He took my face in both hands as he stared into my eyes, brushing his thumbs over my eyelashes.

“Honestly, I think there are days where even my best friend isn’t sure she can believe me, and she was there. The press does a great job of—”

“Messing up the truth. But you had Carl. Why didn’t he …?” Declan narrowed his eyes at me.

“Carl didn’t know at first. We’d covered it up well with not releasing my name immediately. It’s what my lawyers and I thought was best. But over time, most of the town found out. Andy was expelled from school, listed as a sexual offender, and has served a year in prison. Unfortunately, no other women would come forward. There were more. Past girlfriends, dates. They called, sure, and thanked me for being brave.” I shrugged. The justice system was broken. There was no evidence for those women. And the evidence there was at one point had probably been destroyed. They didn’t keep rape kits that long back then. It’d taken years to implement procedures that helped survivors like us, and even still, societal norms were stacked against us. “But my evidence wasn’t great. He was my boyfriend, I went to his frat house willingly.”

“What about your friend?”

“She didn’t want to testify either.” I sighed. “Tonya gets wrapped up in wanting to be a part of the group. She’d kissed him before, behind my back. It was the perfect twist on the story. I was angry, I made up a story, the end.”

“Is it true she still talks to him?” he asked softly as his hand rubbed up and down my arm as if he wanted to soothe me. “Was that her on the phone earlier?”

I winced because having my friend talk to Andy was the hardest part some days. “It’s complicated. Andy’s charming, and his family has money and a reputation. Most of us didn’t.”

“But Carl could have gotten you a legal team or—”

“I wanted a father, not a payday, so no.” I snapped, still irritated that the article was questioning my integrity. “I never asked for a lawyer nor would I have accepted one. We worked with what we had.”

“So, what? They bought everyone off while you just endured their shit?”

“In all fairness, I’d been at a frat party drinking with my boyfriend, a straight-A student with no prior legal trouble. Even with my father’s backing, I would have had to fight, and it would have tainted the Milton-Hardy legacy in addition to everything else it destroyed of mine. I was a homeschooled loner people didn’t trust. My lawyers recommended that I drop the case or take a settlement. Still, I couldn’t. So, now I’ve been branded a liar and jilted lover in the town I call home.”

And I should have rejoiced according to my lawyers. We won. Or so they say. I still had to deal with the trauma of that night.

“Everly … How did I not know this?” He swore and the pain in his voice brought tears to my eyes.

“Because I didn’t want anyone to know! My father agreed.” I shook my head and looked away from the pity in his eyes. “Do you know what it’s like to have your body taken hostage and controlled by someone you thought would never hurt you? To give that trust and then they proceed to do their worst with it?”

“Everly—”

I didn’t want his pity or his consoling words. I just wanted to get it out. “I died that night, okay? You asked me once how I knew about experiencing death … that’s how. Who I was. who I wanted to be, she died. He stole that from me. I contemplated murder, Declan, once I got out of those cuffs, I fought him for that gun, held it to his head, and shook while convincing myself not to pull the trigger for minutes. Whole minutes I considered killing someone when mere minutes before that, I’d hoped I would die myself.” I quaked with sobs then, and Declan let me break down. Let me get it out. Let me crumble. “He cried as I held the gun to his head, saying he was sorry, that he was drunk, that he was so wasted he wouldn’t remember in the morning. But I was drunk too, Declan, and I remember every single detail.”