? Needing desperately to get away, she shot up and flew back against the grooming table.
“No, please, no.” Hilary reached out, grabbing Zoey’s arm. “I don’t want to scare you. We have to fight against him. We can be strong together.”
Rapid thoughts rushed through Zoey’s head. How does she know about Jake? How did she know I confronted him and Scott? How? The room spun a little as the blood slowly drained from Zoey’s face, making her legs wobbly. “I don’t want to fight against anyone. Whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong. You need to go.”
Hilary’s grip tightened. “You need to fight. We need to fight.”
The woman was obviously not taking no for an answer, and Zoey ripped her arm away, moving farther away into the room, near the window. “No, I’m sorry. I can’t help you.” The thought of her life being exposed again, ruined in ways she could never imagine, crippled her. “I can’t do this.”
“They won’t believe me,” Hilary implored, tears welling in her eyes. “If it’s just me who comes forward, it won’t be enough. It’s Jake’s word against mine. You know him. He’s rich and powerful. He’ll get this buried. They’ll destroy me.”
“Exactly,” Zoey shot back. “No one will believe us. Jake already ruined my life once. I can’t let that happen again.”
“But we can try,” Hilary said, stepping forward. “We can fight.”
Zoey’s lips parted, yes nearly leaving her mouth. Her heart roared to fight against the injustice that had been done to her. But at the image of her life being front-page news, bringing down a big gun on Wall Street, had her stomach roiling. Heat blasted across her, bile rising to her throat. She rushed to the trash can in the corner of the room and emptied the contents of her lunch. “I’m sorry,” she breathed when she could speak again. “I can’t do this…can’t help you…I just…I can’t go through that again.”
Hilary blinked, tears flooding her cheeks. “I understand, I do, but he can’t be allowed to get away with this. If we don’t stop him, this never goes away. It’ll always be there, haunting us.” A nameless, dark emotion crossed her face. “Haunting me.” She blinked as more tears fell down her face then reached into her purse. “This is my card. Please, if you change your mind, call me. No matter the time. I’ll answer.” She grabbed the dog’s leash and strode out of the room.
Zoey shot forward toward her purse on the counter, her heart ready to jump out of her chest. She had her cell in her shaky hands a second later.
Elise answered on the first ring. “Hey, babeolious, what’s up?”
“I don’t even know how to explain what just happened,” Zoey managed.
Elise paused. Then, “Tell me everything.”
Zoey took a few deep breaths and knelt down, getting her bearings. She finally answered, “A woman just came into the clinic. She said she’s been assaulted by Jake too.”
“Wait…what?” Rustling came through the phone line. No doubt Elise was moving to her laptop in her bedroom. “Seriously?”
“Yes,” Zoey breathed.
“Did she mention Scott?”
“No,” Zoey said, pressing her hot hand onto the cool floor, grounding herself like her therapist had once said to do whenever things felt too out of control. The technique had gotten Zoey through those last two months of college. “Just Jake. Elise, tell me I shouldn’t be freaked out right now.”
“Don’t be freaked out.” She paused as clicking on her keyboard sounded through the line. “I’m sure everything is fine. Of course Jake likely had other victims. I just want to figure out how she knows you. Did she tell you her name?”
Zoey glanced at the card she’d dropped to the floor. “Hilary. No last name. She gave me a handwritten card with her name and a phone number on it.”
“I’m on it.” The phone line went dead.
“Is everything okay?”
Zoey glanced up, discovering Betty, the receptionist, in the doorway. Her dark, concerned eyes told Zoey she needed to lie through her teeth. “Yes. Yes. I’m sorry. Everything’s fine. The lady ended up wanting to take more time to decide the type of cut she wanted me to give her dog before we proceed.”
Betty’s brows shot up. “She seemed upset when she left.”
“I don’t think so,” Zoey said and gathered herself to give her a smile. “She said she’ll be back.”
“Oh, okay.” Betty returned the smile, obviously believing the lie. “All done for the day, then?”
“Sure am. Any plans for the night?”
Betty grinned. “I’ve got a date with Netflix. See you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” Zoey said, still stuck on the ground, her legs nowhere to be found.