Lost & Found

Chapter 7

We're still sitting in stunned silence a moment later when Tris slips quietly back into the chair beside mine, but the movement breaks the spell.

"You can't…" Nita splutters. "This is obviously a setup. That website is fake, and the implication that I'm a… a whore? Daddy, do something about this!"

The word "daddy" shakes David awake.

"Shut up!" he snaps at his daughter. "I can't believe you're a fucking hooker! If this gets out… And your mother! Our lives! My business! What the hell were you thinking? And Richard obviously knows!"

At the mention of her mother, Nita starts to cry. Tris slides a box of tissues across the table, and I'm taken aback by the small gesture of kindness. It's automatic and instinctual with her, and although it's not directed at me, I'm still touched by it.

"R… Richard, he…" Nita blubbers, "he found that picture of me, and he… he threatened me, Daddy. He said he'd tell Mama and ruin your business if I didn't have sex with him. Then he put it on that site, and he made me have sex with his friends, and strangers, and -"

"And Richard tells a very different story," Harrison interrupts. "He claims he found Nita on the site, confronted her, and she began a clandestine relationship with him in exchange for his silence. He's willing to submit to a polygraph exam, and of course we'll ask the same of you, Nita. If you were coerced into prostitution that's a serious offense, and he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

David's head swivels back and forth between his daughter and my lawyer like he's watching a tennis match. He looks desperate for a logical explanation that clears Nita.

I feel numb. The idea that my wife was selling herself to strangers, in our home, while I was at work - it's just not real. How could I not know what was happening right under my nose? How could I sleep in that bed every night?

With a sudden sharp realization I grab a notepad off the table and scribble a note for Tris. "Call my Dr.," it says. "I need a physical and STI testing."

Tris writes something beneath it and passes it back to me. "Already done," it says. "Amar will be here this afternoon, and your doctor will see you at 10am tomorrow."

Her thoughtfulness is my undoing, and I shake my head, trying to hold back my tears. It's all just too much.

"We can settle this," David says angrily. He's desperate to regain control of a situation that got away from him. In my shock I'm fascinated by the sight of my controlling, crafty father-in-law out of his depth. "Both sides have secrets they don't want out. We split the assets, sign NDAs, and everyone walks away. Nita moves home, and we never speak of this prostitution mess again."

"No."

The word pops unbidden from my own mouth, and everyone turns to stare at me.

"I'm done hiding," I say. I don't know where this surge of strength is coming from.

Actually, I do. It's coming from the blonde grinning beside me, her grey-blue eyes shining with pride.

"My name is Tobias Eaton," I say. "I was a professional boxer, and my opponent died tragically in the ring. I didn't kill him, his undiscovered heart condition did. It took me years to understand that because I was all messed up from living with my abusive father. I ran away from all of it and built a new life as Thomas Easton. But I'm done now. Done running from my past. Done hiding from my father. Done tolerating Nita's spoiled bullshit. Done cowering from David and his connections. I built this business with my own two hands and some amazing employees. Nita doesn't get to touch it. She has her own business venture, apparently, and I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole.