Page 65 of Breaking All The Rules

“Oh yeah? Then what am I thinking now?” I asked as my stomach grumbled quietly.

“That you want to burn some toast for breakfast.” He raised a brow and started laughing when my face confirmed that he was right.

Thirty-Two

Ethan

Two Months Later

Even though I was a lawyer, I hated being in the courtroom. My foot tapped on the tile floor beneath me as I sat waiting for the verdict in this bullshit sexual harassment case against me. I looked over my shoulder and felt calmer when I saw Eva sitting next to Regina, smiling at me.

The judge entered the courtroom, and everyone rose before being informed we could be seated. The chairs shuffled against the floors of the quiet room, the sound of time ticking by at an irritatingly slow pace. Finally, the judge cleared his throat and began. I tuned everything out until he got to the sentence that I had been needing to hear.

My ears perked up, and I swear a chorus of angels sang in the back row when he announced that the case was being dismissed due to lack of evidence. I closed my eyes and pulled in a deep breath, feeling relieved that something had finally started to go right.

As the room cleared out, I noticed that Kate was still sitting in the back of the room, tears staining her face. Cora had stormed out as soon as she was able to, and I just assumed that Kate had gone with her.

I stood up and straightened my tie before walking over to where Eva and Regina were standing, waiting for me. Garrett was off in the corner, talking with one of the lawyers from Hydeand Wilson. They had shown up to support our office after their lawsuit was dismissed, giving us high hopes for the same result.

“Congratulations,” Eva squealed, wrapping her arms around me before planting a gentle kiss on my lips.

“Thank you, baby. I’m glad that it was dismissed.”

“Me too,” Regina piped in, smiling from ear to ear.

I looked past her to see Kate approaching us, her head tucked in shame.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” she asked quietly.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea,” I said sternly, placing my hand on Eva’s lower back to guide her away.

“Please—I know that I messed up, and I just want the opportunity to explain what happened,” Kate insisted.

“I think we’re long past that,” Eva muttered under her breath. Kate looked at her and lowered her eyes.

“I’m sorry for what I did. I really am,” she said shakily. “I didn’t mean for things to go this far. I never meant for you to get hurt.”

I put my hand up to stop her.

“This sounds like an admission of some sort. You really need to stop and consider whether or not you should be speaking about this without legal counsel,” I warned. Not that I owed her anything. I just didn’t have it in me to worry about another fucking scandalous lawsuit.

“I’m fully aware of that, but I need to say this,” Kate continued. “I didn’t know that things would escalate this far. If I would’ve known, I wouldn’t have gone through with it.” She pulled in a deep breath and looked between us.

“Cora and I have been dating for a few years. We decided last year that we wanted to have a baby. You can probably understand how complicated that is for two women unless you have the money to do it the right way. Well, after several failed rounds of IVF with me, we didn’t have the money to spend forCora to try. She was working for another attorney, and he was insistent on helping. It was a terrible idea, but he offered his services, and she agreed. They’d had sex, and she hoped that she would get pregnant. While it wasn’t how we wanted to do it, in the end, we would have a baby. That was all that mattered at the time.”

She rubbed her hands down the front of her jeans and looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was listening.

“Well, after they had sex, Cora didn’t want to do it again. But he became obsessed. He would constantly try to touch her, and it got so uncomfortable that she filed a complaint. Human Resources moved her to another department and brushed it under the carpet without bothering to look into it. So, she quit and got a job with Roberts and Associates. After she started working with us, she overheard someone talking about a sexual harassment lawsuit where the woman won thousands of dollars because the attorney didn’t want his wife to find out. That’s when Cora decided to file the lawsuit against the other attorney.”

I could feel my blood pressure rise as I listened, knowing where this was going.

“But then something happened. Something changed,” Kate said and shook her head in shame. “Cora became so obsessed with the idea of a quick and easy payout that she went after you next. I didn’t know that she had sex with you until after it had happened. And if I’m being honest, it almost broke us. She apologized, and then we found out she was pregnant. I was so excited about that baby that I just figured it had been a rough patch we had to work through.

“We were having a baby, and that’s what we wanted. Then she filed the lawsuit against you, and I couldn’t believe it. I asked her to undo it, but she wouldn’t. She was adamant that if she could win the two cases, then we would have enough money never to have to worry about anything again. I told her that itwas wrong, that she had already gotten what she wanted. Thatwewere getting what we wanted. A baby.”

Tears started to fall down her face as she wiped them away with the back of her hand.

“Cora was getting frustrated because she wasn’t getting anywhere with the other lawsuit. Her lawyer was dragging his feet, which is what happens when you find the cheapest, shadiest lawyer out there. She convinced me to file a claim that you had sexually harassed me as well.” She lowered her eyes, unable to look at me. “I told her that I couldn’t do that because we were never around each other. But really, I just couldn’t do it to you.”

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