Stone Cold Fox (80)

“I’m leaving.”

“But what are you going to tell Collin?” she asked.

I stayed quiet, thinking for a moment. Truthfully, I didn’t know what I was going to tell Collin about this horrible conversation. I had already demanded he cut Gale from his life. Now Syl? It would look suspicious.

“I asked you a question,” Syl said. “And you had better answer me because now this involves Collin, too. Both of you.”

“Is that some kind of a threat?” I scoffed at her. She didn’t know who she was dealing with. Not really.

“Collin has said things to me at work . . .” Syl’s voice trailed off, she raised one shoulder to her ear, looking down at the ground like an innocent little doe.

“What kind of things?” I asked.

“He’s done things, Bea.”

Syl conjured these bulbous tears that fell down her chiseled cheekbones, as if she choreographed them. She appeared inconsolable, but pressed on with her story. “After hours. When we’re alone in the office. He makes me do things to him that I don’t want to do and it’s . . .” Syl started sobbing, unable to finish the sentence. It was ridiculous. Of course she was lying, just to get what she wanted. Relatable, but clearly not something she did often. She wasn’t good at it.

“Oh, please, Syl.” I laughed at her openly. “There is absolutely no way in hell that Collin would ever do such a thing. Try again.”

Syl wiped her face and smiled at me, the femme fatale reemerging. “You know that, Bea. I know that. But nobody else knows that. I mean, what would the Case family think about their only son at the center of a public sexual harassment scandal?”

I grinned at her, partially enjoying this side of Syl. Maybe she was my sister, maybe that man in prison was my father, but I couldn’t care enough to find out. That was never my life. She didn’t know my life. I made my life, and I was going to keep it at all costs. “You go right ahead with your little story, Syl. I’m not going to give you what you want.”

“You would do that to your own husband? But you love him.”

“You’re the one doing it to him, Syl. Not me.”

“But you can stop it,” she whimpered. The villain all but vanished again. She was actually confused about why I wasn’t falling for her mediocre proposal. She didn’t really know me at all. It was time to finish her.

I leaned over the table to face her head-on, practically within kissing distance, speaking clearly and slowly so she would hear every word.

“Syl, come on. Do you really think I’m afraid of Collin’s name getting dragged through the mud for allegedly screwing his secretary? You think he’s afraid of that? It would be a stressful few days, sure, but that’s only in the unlikely event the story actually went to press. And I know you think the world may be on your side for this one, Syl, but your claim is pretty flimsy when we break it down.”

Syl sat back in the booth, arms crossed as if nonchalant, ready to listen to me.

I didn’t want her nonchalant. I wanted her afraid.

“Not only is Collin a Case,” I continued, “and therefore protected by a family name and reputation, but he’s kind of a pussy. Now, I love him, as you know, but no one will believe he ‘did things’ to you without irrefutable evidence of said things.”

Syl finally broke eye contact with me, looking away and down. I kept going.

“So you could go the route of surveying other women Collin has worked with, in an attempt to corroborate some of your accusations, which might also work, depending on who you manage to corral into lying for you. But those types of people usually require cash, which you don’t have. And all of this isn’t even considering the cease and desist that would likely come your way, along with an actual lawsuit, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing for you. That could actually work out in your favor. It’s very possible the Cases would offer you a hefty settlement along with an NDA. Fact or fiction, they won’t really care. You said you didn’t want cash, but that would be a really great way to get it.”

Syl looked back at me, her eyes narrowed. I had offended her.

“I don’t want cash,” she uttered.

“Whatever.” I shrugged. “So let’s just say everything did go your way. Because, please don’t be mistaken, in any of these scenarios, there’s absolutely no way I’m taking a DNA test. So, we were fantasizing that you managed to successfully alert the world to Collin’s predatory ways without any actual evidence. Okay. Say it happens. We get some mild family embarrassment. That’s unavoidable. Haven definitely won’t like it. Too tawdry for the woman. She’d be the most furious. Collin will be ‘asked to leave’ the Case Company. As a formality, of course. He doesn’t have to work. Unlike you.”

“Bea. Stop.”

But I wouldn’t stop.

“As for me, I wouldn’t love people thinking my husband did such awful things, but I also don’t really care. The circle I’m in now with the Cases? This kind of stuff means nothing to them. They completely disavow cancel culture. It doesn’t affect them in any tangible way. For some of those men, they’ll even see it as Collin’s rite of passage. Pat him on the back. Happens to the best of us, son. Some of them will even think he actually did it and not give one single shit. I know, it’s sick, but that’s neither here nor there because what I want to talk about in this dream world of yours is you.”