Everything Changes

by Bybee, Catherine

  “Can I come in?”

  Dameon stood aside. “Please.”

  “Grace sent me over here.”

  Dameon walked over to the speaker blasting music and turned it off. “What’s going on?”

  Matt stopped looking at the space and turned to him. “Grace is fine. Well, physically. Someone accused her of taking a bribe, or offering a bribe, and she was told to leave work.”

  What? “That’s ridiculous.”

  “We know. She wasn’t fired, but she was told she can’t contact any of her clients. And since you’re a client—”

  Bullshit on that. “Where is she?”

  “Our parents’. Grace asked me to come over and tell you what’s going on so you wouldn’t worry or think she’s ignoring you.”

  No wonder she wasn’t answering his texts. “What is your parents’ address?”

  Matt started to smile. He held up a hand. “She’s worried your project will come under scrutiny if you two make contact.”

  “Grace worries too much.” Dameon held up three fingers. “Give me three minutes to change and I’ll follow you over.”

  Matt nodded. “I’ll drive. Two people that work in the city office with her live on our parents’ street.”

  “You’re serious.”

  “Grace is—”

  “Worried,” Dameon finished for him.

  Three minutes later, Dameon sat in Matt’s truck as it rolled down the road.

  “Grace would never take a bribe.”

  “We all know that. But it sounds like the city is gearing up for a lawsuit. Which is why she’s been put on leave. She said you knew about the guy who is spearheading this. Something about a mobile home park.”

  Dameon felt his blood starting to boil. “The guy who scared her the night she lost her phone?”

  Matt glanced his way. “Yeah, that guy.”

  “She told me he offered her money.”

  “That’s what she keeps saying. She’s blaming herself for not officially reporting him.”

  “Sounds like the guy is trying to get out of paving the driveway by pointing fingers at other people. The city has to see that.”

  Matt turned into a neighborhood and started weaving through the streets. “I’m sure they will, but in the meantime, she has to play by their rules.”

  Dameon shook his head. “It would be a lot quicker to just kick the guy’s ass.”

  Matt chuckled. “Much as I agree, it would cause more problems than it would solve.”

  A short time later, Dameon followed Grace’s brother up the walkway to the parents’ house.

  All the lights were on inside and cars were parked in the driveway and on the street.

  Matt walked in without knocking.

  Dameon skipped over the faces of those he knew and those he didn’t while looking for Grace.

  She wasn’t there.

  Colin walked up to him, stuck out his hand. “She told Matt not to bring you here.”

  Dameon shook his hand. “Where is she?”

  “Lying down.”

  Parker walked up and gave Dameon a hug. “She’s really upset.”

  Colin turned around. “This is our dad, Emmitt, and mom, Nora.”

  Dameon shook Emmitt’s hand. “Sir. A pleasure to meet you.”

  Emmitt looked at Dameon’s hand speckled with dry paint. “Sorry,” Dameon added. “I was painting.”

  For whatever reason, that made Emmitt smile. “Nice to meet you, son. Gracie is gonna be pissed you’re here.”

  Yeah, he’d considered that.

  Nora was all smiles. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “I’m fine.”

  Matt then introduced the only other person in the room he didn’t know. “This is Erin.”

  “A pleasure.”

  “Dameon?”

  He turned to the sound of Grace’s voice calling his name.

  She stood in a hallway, her eyes swollen and bloodshot. An overly large sweatshirt swallowed her whole.

  “What are you—”

  He didn’t give her time to ask her question. He walked up to her and pulled her into his arms.

  Her head fell on his chest and her arms wrapped around him. “I told him not to bring you.”

  “I know. But I’m not good at following directions.”

  That had her chuckling through her cries.

  She squeezed harder.

  “Shhh. It’s going to be okay.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Grace sat on the sofa, Dameon at her side, while the others put together a late dinner for everyone. She explained exactly what had happened for the third time since she arrived at her parents’ house. She’d gone directly there after being told to leave the office. One by one, everyone in the family showed up.

  “Richard just sat there shaking his head. It’s like he believed Sokolov and not me.”

  Dameon squeezed her hand. “It sounds like everyone is protecting their own butts.”

  “Which is how business runs,” Erin said from the kitchen.

  “An audit will come up empty, and in the end, this will be his word against yours,” Dameon told her. “I bet if we look into this Sokolov guy, we’d find something dirty on him.”

  “This is all such a joke,” Grace said. “I can’t believe one accusation and I’m out of a job.”

  “Paid leave isn’t the same as being fired,” Matt told her.

  “Might as well be. By this time tomorrow, everyone in the office will know what’s going on. Who knows how many people are going to believe it? It was mortifying walking out of there.”

  “Well, you can’t quit. That makes you look guilty,” her dad said.

  “He can’t prove what didn’t happen,” Grace said.

  “He may not have to. If there is any doubt, at all, the city will settle before going to court. Which is something this guy probably knows,” Colin said. “It’s why he is saying the city is responsible, not you.”

  “He’s going after the deeper pockets,” Dameon added.

  “If you get hit by the city bus, you sue the city, not the driver.”

  “I have done nothing wrong.” Grace started to feel some of the hurt going away and the anger set in.

  “We know that, Gracie,” her dad told her.

  “It wouldn’t be a bad idea to consult your own attorney.”

  Grace turned to Dameon. “Why?”

  “You said you felt like you were on the witness stand when they called you into the office. The city lawyers have to protect the city. A part of that is you, but you’re dispensable.”

  Grace hated to hear her fears vocalized by someone else.

  “He has a point,” Erin said. “If you have your own lawyer only fighting for you . . .”

  “I don’t have that kind of money.”

  Erin and Dameon both spoke at the same time. “I do.”

  Grace looked between both of them. “I can’t ask that of either of you. And besides, how would it look if my client with the city pays for legal counsel on my behalf? Next thing you know they’ll be investigating you.”

  “Eventually someone is going to realize that you two are a thing,” Parker said while she set the table.

  “You’re going to have to explain the necklace,” Erin chimed in.

  “And that’s going to look bad,” Grace said.

  “Last time I looked, we’re both adults who can date whoever we want. And since there hasn’t been one permit signed or approval for anything, no one can claim special treatment,” Dameon told her.

  “This whole thing is going to set you back.” And after spending time with him, she had come to realize how important the project was to his overall success.

  “The last thing you need to do is worry about me. Construction always has delays. And on a project of this scale, they are months and years, not days and weeks.”

  Her mom pulled the last dish out of the oven. “Okay, guys. Let’s eat.”

  Grace wasn’t hungry, but she t
ook her place at the table anyway.

  The food was passed around, and slowly the conversation started to shift.

  Her dad asked Dameon what he was painting, and he went on to talk about the house and project up in the canyon.

  Parker chimed in about how the area felt like an outpost when she drove through it.

  With her family chatting about other things, Grace’s mind took a break from the problem at hand. Her mom’s chicken casserole and buttermilk biscuits always cheered her up. She found herself eating, despite her lack of appetite.

  She loved her family.

  The minute she’d shown up at her parents’ door, her mom called everyone in for support. It was as if her getting put on leave was some kind of tragedy. It wasn’t. Not really. But having them there offering advice when she couldn’t think for herself was uplifting.

  By the time dinner was done, and the dishes were cleared, Grace felt her backbone start to return. She’d found paper and a pen and started to work on describing what had happened the night Sokolov claimed she suggested a bribe.

  “When did they say they wanted this?” Dameon sat by her side, watching her work.

  “Tomorrow.”

  “I’ll have my attorney come over in the morning to go over it with you before you deliver it.”

  “Dameon, that isn’t necessary.”

  “Gracie?” her dad called to her from the living room where he sat with her brothers. “You listen to him. What did I tell you to do if you ever got in trouble with the law?”

  “This isn’t the same, Dad.”

  “Taking a bribe, offering a bribe . . . both are a crime.”

  “No one is pressing charges.”

  “Yet,” her dad said with a stare.

  Dameon placed a hand on her back and idly rubbed against it.

  “Fine,” she said.

  Dameon smiled and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed a number and silently walked out to the backyard, closing the door behind him.

  Erin reached across the table and tapped her arm. “I really like him,” she said quietly.

  “Does he have a lawyer on speed dial?” Grace asked.

  “I don’t know too many people in big business who don’t,” Erin said.

  “He’s a lot less of a suit than you described,” her dad added from his perch on the sofa.

  “He can probably hear you,” Grace said.

  “Nothing I won’t say to his face.”

  “He seems like a very nice man.” Her mom gave her two cents.

  Carson Phillips looked completely out of place standing on Dameon’s doorstep first thing in the morning. He was one of three partners in the law firm Dameon had in his court from the minute he’d started Locke Enterprises. In his midfifties, Carson still had a full head of hair with just enough salt sprinkled in the pepper to help him look his age.

  “Thank you for coming on such short notice,” Dameon said while he opened the door wider to let the man inside.

  “That’s what retainers are for.”

  “I’ll have you follow me over to the Hudsons’ to talk with Grace, but I wanted to meet with you first,” Dameon told him.

  Carson walked in the house and looked around. “So this is the location of your next venture.”

  “It is.”

  “I can’t say I’ve been out this far in a long time.”

  “It grows on you after a while.”

  Dameon offered him coffee, which he refused, and they both took a seat at the table.

  “So, tell me about this woman I’m going to represent,” Carson started.

  “Grace Hudson is a friend.”

  Carson cleared his throat.

  “More than a friend. Like I told you last night, she works for the city. That’s how we officially met.” Dameon recapped what he’d told him the night before. “She’s mentioned to me on several occasions that she felt her boss had a grudge against her.”

  “Why?”

  “No idea. Grace might be able to answer that. What I do know is these allegations are bogus. She called me the night she met with this man, and she was a mess. Once you get to know Grace, you know that doesn’t come easy for her. She’s in control, like every engineer I’ve ever met. Strong, independent. But this guy rattled her cage.”

  “Why do you think this man is making these claims?”

  “The way she described him, he’s a macho type who doesn’t take direction from women very well. When he didn’t get what he wanted by pushing her around, he took another route. You couple that with a boss that has a grudge, and she feels alone in this.”

  “Which is why you called me.”

  “Right. Grace is the kind of person that believes if she just tells the truth, all of this will go away.”

  Carson laughed.

  “Right. Naive of her, I know.”

  “No one has filed charges, right?”

  “No. Not that we know of.”

  Carson nodded. “I’ve already talked with a PI I like to use in these kinds of cases. She’ll look into this Sokolov person. And take a good look at Miss Hudson’s life and these accusations so we can better defend her when and if the time comes.”

  Dameon sighed. “I’d appreciate it.”

  Finished with their conversation, Dameon grabbed his suit jacket and truck keys.

  By the time they pulled into the street the Hudsons lived on, it was after nine in the morning.

  Grace’s father opened the door. He hesitated a moment. “So you really do wear a suit,” he said instead of hello.

  “Good morning, Mr. Hudson. This is Carson Phillips, the attorney I hired to help Grace out.”

  Emmitt looked a little uncomfortable but stepped aside all the same.

  The men shook hands, and Nora emerged from the back of the house. “Good morning, Dameon.” Unlike Emmitt, Nora hugged him with a smile.

  Grace walked out wearing a smart dress suit with a pencil skirt and matching jacket. She looked worlds better than she had the night before. She either slept really well, or understood the finer tricks of wearing makeup to hide a night of crying.

  Her high heels brought her all the closer to his height when she walked up.

  Her lips lifted and Dameon took the liberty of a quick hello kiss. “You look like you slept,” he told her.

  “I did. And when I woke up, I was pissed.”

  “Good.” He turned to the side and introduced Carson.

  In no time, they were seated around the table drinking coffee and listening to Grace repeat her story again. It took a good half an hour to tell the whole of it and ended with her pushing the written version over for Carson to read.

  “We can fix this,” Carson said when he finished.

  “Is there something wrong with it?”

  “No. But it can be better. You don’t say anything about you being sent out late in the day to a hostile client by yourself. You didn’t point out that Richard sent you after you had repeatedly explained that this particular landowner had wasted your time in the past. Is Mr. Sokolov a big man?” Carson asked.

  “I’m pretty short. Most men are big compared to me.”

  “That needs to be pointed out.”

  Grace glanced at Dameon, unsure. “Okay.”

  “Have you ever had a lawyer before, Miss Hudson?”

  “You can call me Grace. And no. I’ve never had the need.”

  “We don’t trust men in suits very often,” Emmitt said.

  Nora shushed her husband and Carson laughed. “That’s probably smart, Mr. Hudson. Grace, you need to understand that the attorneys working with the city are there to minimize the damage.”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  “They don’t care about that. They’re not interested in the truth. I’m sorry. If you sat right here and told me that you did take a bribe and had a history of doing so, I’d have to go into any meetings or courtroom with that information in my head and never tell anyone.”

  “Attorney-client privilege,” Nora said
.

  “Exactly. As it stands, I believe you did nothing wrong. But someone out there accused you of doing this. For what reason, we don’t know. Could be the guy is just an asshole and wants to throw his weight around. Could be he saw the opportunity to stick it to the person he views as getting in his way. Maybe he received some barroom advice and thinks he’s going to walk away with settlement money instead of having to fix his property. We don’t know his motivation. We just know you’re at the center of it. And that’s where I come in.” Carson looked around the room and then asked, “You’re a Dodgers fan?” he asked.

  “Uhm, yeah.” Grace looked confused.

  “Think of this like a baseball game. The team at bat isn’t guaranteed to win the game unless there isn’t anyone on the field stopping them. Right now, you’re playing defense, but sooner or later you’re going to be at bat. That could happen if they terminate you without evidence or harass you to the point of quitting. Mr. Sokolov may slander your name, and arguably already has. Any of us who have a workplace know how soon gossip is spread and believed. Me being in your dugout is going to make a difference.”

  Dameon saw the moment Grace really understood what Carson was telling her.

  “So when I walk into the office with an attorney, I don’t look guilty, I look smart.”

  “Exactly. Michelle Overland is a private investigator who is going to be in contact with you later today. She’s going to ask you a lot of questions, want to see your finances, ask you about your relationships at work. Be honest with her.”

  “Why a private investigator?”

  “Good question,” Carson said. “If you were on the take, where’s the money? Have you bought any fancy cars, taken an elaborate trip lately?”

  “Dameon bought me a necklace,” she pointed out.

  Carson looked between the two of them. “Did you tell anyone that?”

  “No. But Richard asked me about it.”

  He shrugged. “Your boyfriend is allowed to buy you gifts.”

  Dameon reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Our relationship isn’t public. Grace was worried her work would find it a conflict of interest.”

  “Somewhat irrelevant at this point. But for now, just keep things under the radar.”

  Grace turned to Dameon. “I knew you shouldn’t have come over last night.”