“Pris is engaged,” he said. “To Derek Cummins. I guess it happened Christmas Eve.”
“Good for her.”
He settled onto the couch, looking perplexed. “I don’t get it. What do you have against her?”
Ella couldn’t take any more. Outraged, she jumped to her feet. The pain she’d hidden for years began gushing out. “She set me up, Dad. Pris must have stolen those items and planted them in my locker. She has to have hired someone to alter that company security feed.”
“Pris?” Dad said in disbelief.
“Who else? She’s had this weird idea that I’m going to steal Derek from her or something. You should have seen her Christmas Eve at the company ball. She was so vindictive. So horrible. She attacked me. Threw a drink in my face! All because she wanted me away from where she and Derek were. Maybe she got engaged and wanted to make sure I stay out of the way for good.”
“Isn’t that going a little far?”
Ella’s mouth gaped. “So you’d rather believe I’m a thief than take my side against her?” Spots flashed in her vision.
“I—no. Of course not.” He scooted to the edge of the couch. “I’ll talk to her. We can get this straightened out.”
Ella shook her head. “She’ll just cozy up to you like she always has and find some other way to get back at me for it later.”
She grew dizzy. This was one more thing she didn’t want to deal with. Gritting her teeth, she attempted to control her trembling limbs. “Thanks for coming by, Dad. But I’d like for you to leave. I’ve got to go job hunting so I can keep paying rent. Unless word leaks here too, and I get kicked out.”
In a rare moment of frustration, she was tempted to kick the couch. It would be just her luck, to get evicted on top of everything else.
Dad stood, taking her hands. This time, she let him.
“Ella.” His voice sounded empty. “I’m sorry.”
History dredged up at the admission she’d been hoping to hear for years. He was sorry? For siding with Pris and Stina? For allowing them to shut her out for years? Ella didn’t know.
Suddenly, she didn’t want to. She didn’t want the reminder of just how unlovable she was after all.
“Bye, Dad.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Days had passed since the miserable confrontation with Ella. Hawk still couldn’t believe it of her. He’d spent more time than ever in Ethan’s office, searching the footage from Christmas Eve. With Ethan and the other security guard’s help, he analyzed things, over and over and over again. Watching Ella arrive. Watching himself talk to her, viewing her stepsister, Priscilla Malus, attack her and splash wine on her dress, reliving the invitation to change clothes in his office.
Their kiss had even been captured on camera, and while mingling sight with memory pooled heat inside of him, he tried not to let it affect him. He’d walked Ella out, and that had been that. She didn’t show up anywhere else on the feed for the rest of the night, not until a strange ripple in the feed appeared.
It was as though something had been cut and spliced, and then there she was, with keys in her custodial uniform on the fifth floor.
This didn’t make any sense. In despair, he sagged against the seat, until Hawk caught a flash of something. He jerked to attention again, squinting to discern the difference in the video.
“Hang on, Ethan,” he said. “Can you zoom in and play this again?”
Ethan zoomed in. Ella’s face flickered for the briefest moment, almost as though in an instant she turned into someone else and back to herself again. How could that be?
“Is that—?” Hawk asked.
“Yeah,” Ethan said, slowly. “Look. Here too. This feed has been tampered with.”
“Go back to the ball,” Hawk said.
They streamed to the scene where Ella’s stepsister splashed wine on her. Pris’s face was revolting, twisted with malice as it had been. “There. Can you find this woman elsewhere in the feed?”
“I’ll try,” Ethan said. Then a few minutes later, he said, “Strange.”
“What is?” Hawk asked.
“Here. Look at this.” Ethan pointed.
Beside him, his fellow security leaned closer as well. “Unbelievable,” he muttered.
Hawk copied the other two men, tilting in for a better look. The change was barely noticeable. Hawk thought of all the crime shows he’d seen on TV. This was the point he’d criticize the criminal. If they went through all the trouble of something like this, at least make sure it was thorough. Whoever did this was an amateur at best.
The same flash from earlier appeared, but Ethan managed to slow it, making it last a bit longer. And then Ethan opened a new file.
“What—what are we looking at?” Hawk asked.
“I think it’s the deleted feed,” Ethan said, musing. Sure enough, Pris Malus went into the bathroom in her ball gown on the fifth floor and emerged in her custodial attire, carrying Ella’s purse over her shoulder. Clandestinely sneaking into the office, the same image Hawk had first seen appeared, but with Ella’s face instead. The jarring pixilation was gone, whereas Pris’s image was completely clear.
Stealing the tablets. Returning to the breakroom. Planting the items in Ella’s locker.
“It appears they attempted to overlay Miss Embers’ face on this woman’s and then delete the footage. But they neglected to ensure all the original files were actually deleted. They don’t have my access code for something like that, though how they managed to hack in as much as they did is still a mystery.”
“Is there any evidence of them coming to the security room?” Hawk asked.
“None so far, sir, but if they covered their tracks this poorly, I’m sure I can find it.” His fingers flew on the keyboard for several minutes. “Wait. Here, look, it’s encrypted. Matt, can you work with this?” Ethan asked his fellow security guard.
“I’m sure I can,” said Matt.
Hawk exhaled with an unexpected release of all the tension in his body. He’d been so pent up for days after that accusation in the custodial breakroom. He didn’t care that Ella was a custodian, though she must have kept it from him for some reason. But to think she’d been the one stealing from him and his company? He’d been so distraught. He needed a woman he could trust and he’d come to care for her more than he’d ever thought in such a short time.
She was innocent, just as she’d claimed. Impatience sprouted inside him. He wanted to scramble from the room and find her that instant.
Other things needed to be handled first, though. Like confronting Stina and Pris Malus.
Hawk extended a hand toward Ethan, and the two shook heartily. “Thank you, Ethan. I can’t tell you what a relief this is, to have some answers.”
“Would you like me to call the police, sir?”
“Immediately,” Hawk said, holding out a finger as his phone rang. He’d said he wouldn’t press charges against Ella, but this was different. This woman, Ella’s stepsister, had attempted framing Ella on top of the theft. That needed to be dealt with as swiftly as possible.
He answered, feeling better than he had in days. “Hey, Clary. What’s up?”
“There’s a woman who wants to talk to you. She’s waiting in your office.”
“Not now, Clary,” he said. “We’ve just had a breakthrough.”
“Sir.” Clary’s voice was insistent. “I think you’ll want to hear what she has to say.”
Hawk had always relied on Clary’s intuition. Did she know who this woman was or what she wanted? What if it was Ella? Would Clary have known who she was? Maybe not.
His pulse kicked. He wanted to talk to her more than anyone else.
Hawk thought things over for a moment before turning back to Ethan. “Hold off on calling the police. Clary mentioned an update, and I’d like to see who this woman is before we make any major decisions.”
“All right, sir,” Ethan said, “but we will need to inform them. And I think you should tell the rest of the staff as w
ell so that people feel safe here. Sir, if I may suggest, it might also be time to find a new custodial service. One without such terrible management.”
Hawk was halfway to the door. “Thanks, Ethan. I think you’re right.” He returned to his phone. “Clary, are you still there?”
“I am, sir,” she replied.
“Good. I need you to search out custodial services, please. Find reliable companies with the utmost integrity.” He thought of the innocent members of Malus Custodial Management. They couldn’t all be involved. Perhaps there was a way to identify the blameless employees and offer them a job directly, so they didn’t risk losing theirs. It wasn’t fair for everyone to be punished in all of this.
“You got it.”
“Tell whoever this woman is I’ll be right there.”
He hung up and shook Ethan’s and Matt’s hands a final time before dashing out. The elevator ride passed in a blur, and within minutes he was up at his office on the twelfth floor.
His pulse flurried like a whirlwind. If it was Ella waiting for him, what would he say to her? He had to make this right.
Shame stole through him, of the way he treated her in the breakroom a few days ago, of the things he’d said. How could he have been so harsh? How could he have not believed her? Looking back now, it’d been so obvious. She couldn’t have faked her humiliation, the embarrassed tears, or the plea in her voice begging him to believe her. He should have believed her.
Hawk took a moment to straighten his tie and pull in a slow breath that did nothing to ease his anxiety over the prospect of seeing her again. Still, he had to do this. He opened the door.
A woman with dark hair sat in one of his leather seats in the center of his office. She wore jeans and a lavender shirt, which was visible through the unzipped front of a black coat, and she gripped a small purse in one hand. Worry pinched her pretty face.
He froze in his tracks. For a moment, he thought it was the woman at the ball. Priscilla Malus, the one who’d maliciously shamed Ella. The woman who’d framed her.
But this woman’s features were the slightest bit dissimilar. She had a wider brow and jawline, with fuller lips which were turned down in worry. He realized where he’d seen her before. She’d been in the breakroom when he and Ethan had shown the custodial staff the video feed.
“Mr. Danielson,” she said, standing clumsily and catching her balance.
“Hello, Miss…”
“Malus. My name is Charlotte Malus. Stina Malus is my mother.”
Her admission put him on his guard. What was she doing here? “Hello, Charlotte. What can I do for you?”
Charlotte wrung her purse in front of her. She swallowed twice before speaking. “I came because I couldn’t keep silent any longer. It’s not fair to Ella, and it’s not fair to you.” Her words were rushed and clipped. This was obviously tough for her.
He attempted to put her at ease. “Please, sit down. Can I get you a drink? A water bottle?”
“No, thanks. I just—I need to get this out.”
“Okay.” He moved toward her and gestured for her to sit down again. She did so, and he took the chair opposite her. “It’s all right, Charlotte. I’ll hear whatever you have to tell me.”
He didn’t realize how badly she was trembling until she attempted to sit still. Maybe he should have let her stand after all.
“Whenever you’re ready,” he added.
She bobbed her head. “I overheard my mom and sister, Pris, this morning. Pris has been so angry with Ella for so long. It happened a long time ago, over a guy of all things, but it’s totally over. Except Pris can’t let it go. She can’t just be happy she’s back with Derek; she has to keep targeting Ella. And of course, she’s my mom’s little darling, so Mom goes along with it.”
“I’m sorry,” Hawk said, trying to keep up. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”
“They were talking after the confrontation in the breakroom when you found all that stuff in Ella’s locker. They were laughing about it over coffee this morning, cheering each other on for succeeding.
“Mom couldn’t outright fire Ella, not without upsetting Ella’s dad, who happens to be Mom’s husband. And Pris wanted to get back at Ella once and for all now that she’s with Derek. To send her the message that he’s off-limits and Ella better not mess with them again.”
Hawk tried to keep up with her rushed rant. He remembered Ella explaining something similar after she’d come up here with him, before their dance. Before their first kiss. Pris’s attack had been the reason Ella had left the ball.
“Then when Ella didn’t show up to the job Mom assigned her to do on Christmas Eve, it pushed Mom and Pris over the edge. They snuck in here in the middle of the night, using their keys. Mom has some experience with video—she had some footage of Ella’s face and photo-shopped it over Pris’s, to make it look like it was Ella in those offices instead.”
Charlotte hung her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Hawk rose and offered her the box of tissues in the drawer of his desk. She yanked one and dabbed her face.
“They saw me in the hall and swore me to secrecy, but this is so serious, Mr. Danielson. I couldn’t keep it to myself. It’s not fair, not to your company, not to the people who work here and rely on your guarantee of security. To your good name. It’s not fair to Ella’s. She’s a good person. I may not have always gotten along with her either, but she’s always been kind to me.
“She’s a kind person, Mr. Danielson. She wouldn’t have done this.”
She tore another Kleenex from the box on the table beside her and blew her nose into it.
Hawk’s thoughts jumbled. Charlotte couldn’t have come at a better time. His chest expanded with sheer relief. After Ethan’s discovery downstairs, this was exactly what he needed to hear.
“Charlotte,” he began, trying to word things carefully. “I can’t tell you what this means to me, to know the truth. I appreciate your honesty and integrity. Thank you.”
Her cheeks were flushed, but her shoulders were still. She inhaled a long, slow breath, as if thankful to finally have it off her mind.
Hawk stepped toward her and offered a hand. Tentatively, she slid hers into his, and he pulled her to her feet. He couldn’t hug her, though he wanted to. Instead, he kept her hand in his and clasped it.
“You did the right thing. It will be okay. I think you should know, I have to call the police. I can’t let this slide, not when, as you said, my company’s reputation is on the line. And they need to know they can’t get away with this kind of criminal action.”
She stared at a distant spot on the floor. “I understand. I knew you would. I knew what I was doing, but I had to.”
“I’m glad you did,” he said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. “If you’re worried about your safety—”
Charlotte shook her head. “I’ll be fine. Just do what you have to do, Mr. Danielson.”
“Thank you,” he said again, walking her to the door. Hawk opened it for her and didn’t allow himself to completely process everything until she’d gone.
The minute he closed the door behind her, he sagged against the wall and let his head fall back. Hawk stared up at the ceiling, swimming in waves of gratitude. This was it. Ella was innocent.
Now he had to find her and tell her how sorry he was for ever thinking otherwise.
CHAPTER TWENTY
It seemed as though time had stopped. Ella’s muscles were sore, her stomach burbling with disgrace. She was in a constant state of motion, unable to settle in one place. If she held still too long, her thoughts would catch up with her, and so she busied herself in the only way she could.
Scrubbing. Cleaning. Washing.
Everything.
She emptied every dish from its cupboard and wiped every surface. She scrubbed the grout in her bathroom with a toothbrush. She even vacuumed the windowsills and wiped the glass, which hadn’t been done since either she and Chloe had moved in.
It all needed to
be done. What better time than now?
Kneeling in front of the pantry door, Ella scrubbed at a stubborn black streak on the wood. She wasn’t sure when or how it had gotten there. Just that it had to go. If only she could scrub away her own black spots as easily.
Footsteps shuffled in the confined kitchen behind her.
“I can’t stand seeing you like this,” Chloe said.
Though Ella couldn’t see her, she heard the arm-folded displeasure in Chloe’s tone. She peered over her shoulder to find her roommate in that exact pose. Arms folded, hip slumped against the counter, grimacing down at her.
“Like what?” Ella said, pausing and resting her hand on her knee.
“Like—this busy. You’ve been cleaning for days. Exerting yourself, wiping baseboards and walls, cleaning drains. We can even see out of our windows now,” she added with a laugh. “I don’t think you’ve held still since I got back from Springville.”
Ella hung her head. She hadn’t had the heart to tell Chloe what had happened, even though Chloe had asked several times. How could she admit the horrible truth?
Chloe shuffled forward and crouched before Ella, resting her hand on the wall for balance. Her high cheekbones were rosy, and her dark eyes met Ella’s with insistent openness.
The fist in Ella’s chest loosened just enough under that look. She sank onto her feet.
“They accused me of stealing. At Ever After.”
Chloe scoffed. “You’re joking, right?”
Ella shook her head. “Before Christmas, there was an incident, and then Christmas Eve, they supposedly caught me on camera.” She sniffed. Speaking the words made her hollow inside, and yet it was its own sense of cleansing. She needed to get this off her chest to someone she could trust. Someone who wouldn’t rub it in her face or make her feel worse about everything.
Chloe settled onto the teal and white checkered linoleum. “Clearly, they don’t know you at all.”
“You believe I didn’t do it?”
“Of course I do. You’re the most giving person I know. All of your extra time goes to making things for other people. How could they ever think you’d do that? Who was really on the camera?”
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