The Broken Sister Part 27

"I'll stand by you. No matter what. I'll be with you. f.u.c.k my family." He said it easily, quickly, and without reserve.

She stood up on her tiptoes and gently kissed his mouth with a sad smile on her face. "It won't be that easy."

He sighed. "I want it to be. But whatever happens, I don't want it to determine us."

"This will tear you apart. And possibly us."

"I know. But no more than what was already done to you. I can handle it, Kylie. I can handle it if it means I am with you."

"Even if you lose everything that matters to you? Your family? Your brother? Your job?"

He wrapped her tight in his arms. "You're what matters to me. And if it were anyone but my own brother, I'd want to cut his f.u.c.king d.i.c.k off and stuff it into his mouth. The thing with it being my brother? I still want to. It's not okay with me. It's never okay with me. I'm with you. No matter what. No matter where this leads."

She closed her eyes and leaned into him. "I think I love you too, Tristan."

After all this, the most impossible of situations to be in and of all times, Kylie finally responded to his declaration of love. A short laugh escaped his mouth, which was shocking seeing as how a half hour ago he'd felt like he might never smile again.

"I might quite possibly love you too, Kylie McKinley."

She smiled up at him and all he could do was smile back.

Chapter Twenty-Two.

TRISTAN WAS AT HIS filing cabinet slogging through the endless correspondences as he sorted what was worth taking and what was worth leaving. He had a box at his feet with what he wanted. There was a knock at his office door. He glanced up and there was his grandfather.

Ellis looked as if he'd aged a decade. Suddenly old, fragile, arthritic, and confused. He walked in stooped, as if his body was bending to the weight of the world. He walked to the window like he usually did and stared out.

"What are you going to do?"

He'd sent his notice to his grandfather via email before he and Kylie had even left this office yesterday. He'd stayed with her until about an hour ago when he'd finally come in to clean out his stuff. He feared he might be locked out, but all his keys still worked and no one stopped him. There was a strange, dark pall over the office. Half the staff was missing. He wasn't sure quite why. Did they know?

"Start my own business. I won't take any of Tamasy's clients, but I do have my own personal contacts I'll be tapping."

"How will you pay for it?"

"Bank loan. Like most every other new start up."

"From scratch then?"

"Yes."

"Do you think you can do it? You've never had to be poor. You've never had nothing. You don't even know how to do the job you want to start a company in. You were never a worker."

"I know I can do it. I'm good at knowing the product and managing others. I have knowledge and I have the motivation, whether you want to admit that or not."

Ellis shook his head. "You're the best manager I've ever seen at this, I just always wanted you to be better than you first thought you could be."

"Where is everyone?"

"I gave them the day off. I didn't want any scuttle going around. People will talk with you leaving..."

He stared at his grandfather's bent, stooped body. His black suit as pristine as ever. His neatly combed thin gray hair. Tristan's heart felt heavy. He loved this man.

Quietly he said to his grandfather's back, "He did it. Tommy did it to both of them. I don't know if there are others. But he raped at least two woman. I can't pretend that didn't happen."

"You don't know that. It's their accusations against his. He said, she said. You don't know that he did that."

"You don't think it's impossible he did, however. You'd never believe it of me, but you really don't not believe it of him."

"I-"

"I know what you're going to do, Grandfather. You're going to try and do damage control about this, especially if Kylie goes after Tommy. I think she will. Know this, I won't let things be covered up. She deserves justice for what was done to her. A girl almost killed herself over it. No more, Grandfather. It ends now. Or at least my part in it, what I can control. I am ashamed of us for what we've done to them."

"Your grandmother would be turning over in her grave if she could see what this family has become."

"Yeah, well, she should be." Tristan stared at his grandfather's back. "Tara, and now me. Maybe you should reevaluate your morals, and your ambitions. I can't do this anymore. I can't pretend anymore I don't know the difference between right and wrong. Then there is the wrong that Tommy has done. You usually convinced me it was for the good of the family and the company and our image, but what about the victims? What about those who can't fight us? I'm ashamed at my part in Cadence's suicide attempt. We bullied her and bought her off. We had no right. You sent me after a rape victim to try and use her. I'm done, Grandfather. I'm done."

"So you're against us then?"

He sighed as his grandfather turned and stared at him. "I'm not, but if you choose to see it as that I can't stop you." He grabbed the box at his feet and then his briefcase. He glanced around. There wasn't much more he needed. His entire professional life was one box. It didn't matter. Not anymore.

"She'll never prove it."

His grandfather's parting words stopped him dead in the doorway. Tristan glanced back over his shoulder. "Thank you for saying that, for making it easy for me to walk away. She thinks this will tear me apart, being pitted against you and Tommy as you fight her. It won't. I don't condone rape, nor can I be around anyone who does. Goodbye, Grandfather."

He slammed the door and for the last time walked down the hallway of Tamasy Industries. The only thing he took with him was his box of mementos, a few files, and Reese, his secretary, who gladly followed him like in some dramatic scene from a movie. But really there was only a handful of employees there to see him walk out.

He thanked Reese outside the building and promised to contact him the next day and they'd get started... somehow. Other people started new businesses, why couldn't they?

He went straight to Kylie's studio. She opened the door when he knocked and drew him inside as he set the stuff down and leaned over it with a p.r.o.nounced, too long, and exaggerated pause. Her arms encircled him from the back and she leaned her head against the center of his back. He held her hand to his chest and kissed her palm.

"Did you see him?"

"I did. He's sticking with Tommy. That's okay, I expected him to."

"It's not okay. But what about your parents?"

He turned and took her hand and led her to her bed, where he sat down and pushed her hair back off her shoulder. He shook his head. "They won't be a factor in our life. They aren't like Tracy and Donny."

Her eyes were large. "I'm sorry, Tristan."

"Don't be. Actually, all this has got me thinking, there is one family member I'd like you to meet, h.e.l.l I'd like to meet... Do you think you'd go with me to find her?"

"Tara?"

"Yes, my sister."

"Of course I would."

He slid a chunk of her hair between his thumb and index finger. He pushed it behind her ear. "I think she'd like you. She might even give me a chance because I'm with someone like you."

"Someone like me how? Like all messed up?"

"No, Kylie. Because you are someone genuine, real, honest, kind, sincere, sweet, funny, and someone who I love."

She smiled softly. "What about your job? Everything you've worked for?"

"I'm not that old. I can start over. It's nothing, Kylie. I am actually already getting ideas and getting energized. I'm not kidding you, I'm actually pretty good at what I do. I think I can make it on my own merit, and even more since Reese came with me. You wouldn't believe the wealth of information that man holds. He's my ace in the hole."

She grinned.

"What?"

"I love that you love your male secretary."

"He's my male administrative a.s.sistant, and he's more valuable than I am at this, I swear. But it's pretty encouraging that he believes in me enough to come with me. You'd be surprised how much he made at Tamasy Industries. I can't match that for a while, but he came anyway. Mostly, I can't believe you believed in me."

She shrugged. "I talked to my parents today."

He took in a deep breath. "And what did they say? I can't imagine it was good."

"They were shocked, yes. But they'll come around. You have the most work to do with Donny, but I think you can handle it."

Her smile was quick and easy and something released in his stomach. He'd been a quivering knot of guilt, anxiety, and nerves for the last week, and especially yesterday. Seeing Kylie smiling at him, in fun, with ease and faith was something he didn't think was possible.

He grinned back. "Do you think I could maybe stay here for a while? I can afford the rent here, but I can't afford my own."

"You can stay, but you pay half the rent. You don't support me. We're not doing that."

He nodded. "So... Donny, Tracy, and I are renting the apartment? He'll love that."

She nodded. "Oh, he'll definitely make you pay. If not financially then otherwise."

"Are you sure? I can obviously find another arrangement."

"Are you asking to move in with me for convenience or for good?"

He sighed. "If I said for good, would you think it was too soon? Too crazy? Too wrong?"

"I think all of the above. But then... our entire relations.h.i.+p is kind of based on that premise."

He stared into her eyes. "I love you."

"I would hope you do after all this." Her smile matched his own; happy, bright, in love, but also kind of sad. There was an element of sadness that tinged their smiles, their relations.h.i.+p, and their love.

But Tristan knew being with Kylie was better than not. So sad and happy were part of it. Just as they were kind of entwined in her. Just as all the bad made everything good s.h.i.+ne that much more brightly.

Chapter Twenty-Three.

KYLIE MCKINLEY SPOKE AT two thirty-seven on Wednesday, April thirteenth before the disciplinary board of Peterson College, which was headed by the university's s.e.xual a.s.sault education coordinator. She was accompanied there by her parents, sister... and Tristan Tamasy. It took every ounce of their support bolstering her courage to make her find the words to describe what happened to her... and to say them out loud, all alone before strangers who were there to judge her... against Tommy.

She didn't look even once at Tommy... She looked at the back of the room and pretended she was talking to Tristan.

She made sure to dress exactly as she always did, no frills or gimmicks. Just purely Kylie, exactly as she was. She told them in a cool, even tone what she remembered of the night she woke up reeking of s.e.x and unsure of how it happened. She understood no criminal charges could be proven, but she wanted it on the record what was done to her. Per university procedures it was a closed and confidential proceeding. Even witnesses couldn't listen to other witnesses. Kylie consulted a lawyer but the counsel wasn't allowed in the university proceedings. The university would investigate s.e.xual a.s.sault complaints independent of any criminal proceedings. They were looser in what was allowed to be presented. But essentially all there really was for "proof" was her accusations against his denials. Her story to his. He said, she said.

Tommy's family was all there too, out in the lobby of the building. His parents and grandfather. It was the first time Kylie had even seen what Tristan's parents looked like. The dad, JR, looked just like Tristan... and Tommy. Kylie saw the resemblance now, where she hadn't first made the comparison. And his mother? A tall, cool, well-dressed blonde with stylish short hair and a glare for him and Kylie. They never did say another word to Tristan. It hit hard against her heart to watch them ignore him. But he never once wavered in his faith, love, and belief in her. True to his word, he stood by her for the entire ordeal.

Tristan sat waiting with her parents and Ally for Kylie's ordeal to get over. It was not one she ever cared to repeat. It was humiliating, hard, and cold. Things that were so private and personal and painful were made cold and sterile and out there to be judged. But she went through with it.

Tristan could have pushed her to let it go, drop any charges or efforts to get any kind of justice. Instead he was the one who figured out what she should do. He helped her prepare. He held her when she was unsure she could follow through with it. He encouraged her when she didn't want to.

Still, she did it.

Three days after the proceedings Tommy was cleared of any wrongdoing. Reasons? Insufficient evidence. Which Kylie suspected would happen. Anyway, the worst that could have happened to Tommy from this disciplinary board was expulsion from school.

Maybe if Cadence had been able to go up against Tommy too, and speak up with her. But Cadence was too fragile emotionally to go up against him. The irony wasn't lost on Kylie. It was supposed to be her, but in the end it wasn't she who couldn't speak against Tommy. She finally spoke up just fine.

Justice... It was something she now knew she deserved. It was something she would not get. Tristan didn't make up for that. Being in love didn't soothe the feelings of being violated and abused that Tommy's actions had given her.

But Tristan did help her to live with it.

It was a strange dynamic they had. She was his support as he went up against his family. As he lost his family, job, and lifestyle, he turned to her for comfort and encouragement and support. It was because of her he lost it all, and because of her he didn't care that he did.

There was no celebrating their loss. There was no crying either. Her mom asked them to come to dinner, so they could be together that night. Her, Tristan, Ally, Julia, and her parents.

They sat at the table together. It was solemn and quiet. Subdued. But she was also okay. Kylie glanced at her mom, who looked so sad. She leaned over and touched her hand. "It's okay, Mom. I accomplished more than I lost."

Tracy squeezed her hand. "I just wish... I mean, it's so unfair..."

"Life is unfair, right? But I said it. I faced it. I'm going to live with it. He can't define who I am anymore or what I do. I'm stronger than I ever thought, or believed... and now you understand that too. You understand what happened to me and who I am, and most of all I finally let you."

"It's not enough to make up for what he did to you." Tracy glanced at Tristan. "This is hard to talk about in front of you."