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Ashton enters the conversation. “Jake told me, and then I immediately told Kane.” He looks at me, looking as sad and uncomfortable as I feel. “If these accusations are true, then these are very, very serious, Melissa. Accusations like these cannot be ignored and will be dealt with immediately and will be brought to HR.”
“But before that can happen,” says Jake evenly, “I told them that you had some evidence of your own, some proof of these claims yourself.”
Kane looks like he just wants this nightmare to end — this one, and the one he’s got going on with the stockholders, which I feel terrible about. “If you have anything you can tell us that corroborates anything that Jake’s told us, it would be helpful in us moving forward.”
“I can,” I say, “I was the one who told Jake what happened. The reason I know that what Tommy went through is surely sexual assault, is because he told me weeks before, that if anything ever happened to him like that, he would try to get a phone call to my desk, so that I could be aware of what was going on, and then get the proper help.” I pause, feeling queasy all over again. “Well, that’s exactly what happened today. I got a phone call from him. But he didn’t say anything at all. It was just noise and words from whatever was going on with him.” I pause again, feeling sick and scared for my boyfriend — angry that he and I even have to go through this kind of thing at such a great company.
As I’m speaking, I noticed that all three of the men have taken out their own digital recorders and have begun to record my statement. “I heard him fighting with Vanacore. Telling her no, that he didn’t want to be intimate that way with her. That he didn’t want anything to do with her like that.” I clear my throat, feeling it go dry. “I then heard Vanacore say that she was going to have him intimately — force herself on him — whether he wanted it or not, because that’s what Tommy owed her. She was going to ‘wreck him’ for any other girlfriends he might have.”
“When she said all that,” asks Jake, “what was your impression? What did you think she had in mind to do to Tommy?”
“Rape him,” I say, hearing my voice crack, and tears start to spill from my eyes.
Everyone around the table looks pale yet determined.
“Thank you for your bravery. And honestly,” says Ashton, putting a hand on mine. “Is there anything else that you can tell us about all this?”
I swallow. “That Tommy knew she was a predator, was uncomfortable around Vanacore from the first week he started. He had a plan to try to take her down by involving himself with Vanacore. By appearing to enjoy the company and the advances, but this is not the case. If Vanacore tells you anything else, I’m telling you Tommy was never into any of it. He was simply going along, to try to keep himself and others safe from this woman.” I pause, feeling proud of Tommy and angry at him at the same time. It’s only now that I’m really getting a feel for how much risk he actually put himself in. “He did it because he loves this company so much. He did it because he wanted this company’s reputation to be preserved, and not smeared and dragged through the gutter by someone like Vanacore.”
Kane nods, actually wiping a few tears from his own eyes. They almost match mine. “Well, we’ve got Tommy’s back now. However much of our backs he had in doing all of this, we have his now. Tell him that, please.” He clears his throat, sucking back in his emotions, determined to look like a man in control again. He pauses, chewing over something, and drums his fingers on the tabletop. “Do you know if Tommy was actually…” He gestures around helplessly, but I get what he’s getting at.
“Touched?” I ask, feeling uncomfortable around that word myself. “Tommy told me he wasn’t, and I have to believe him. But I do know that Vanacore tried very hard to get control over him. That is before I managed to distract her and give Tommy a way to get out of there and get to safety.” I bow my head. “For the rest of that, you’ll have to talk to him.”
“We will,” says Ashton. “Fortunately, or unfortunately, that’s part of the procedure we must follow in cases like these.” He’s the first one to stand up from the conference table, followed by the rest of the men. I’m the last to stand from my seat, but the first to be led toward the door. “Now that we’ve gathered your statement, we have work to do before the end of the day. Evidence and procedures to start initiating, but Vanacore won’t know that anything’s up. Not yet. Not until we have everything we need in order to legally take him out of here.”
