"Emilie. This will be a lot easier for both of us if you just tell me what's going on."
She tilted her head like she was contemplating then sighed. "Okay. Fine. I kind of got temporarily arrested on Friday night…" Her voice was barely audible as she trailed off.
"ARRESTED?"
Emilie sighed and waved her arms towards him. "Harvey, it's not as bad as it sounds. They dropped the charge then Mike signed me out and I crashed on his couch."
She could tell Harvey was mad. His eyes were wide and he kept opening his mouth to reply to her but no words came out.
"Fuck, Emilie. I don't even know what I'm more mad about right now. The fact that you even got arrested or that you and Mike hid it from me."
"It's not Mike's fault!" Emilie let out a frustrated groan. "Can you give me five minutes to explain?"
He just shrugged dramatically and headed to his bar cart. "Fine."
"I was at this party and-
"Were you drinking?"
She took a short breath and tried to remain calm even though he had cut her off. "Yes. So, I ran into Cassie and it was uncomfortable. And we were outside afterwards and her boyfriend was saying all this shit to me and -
"Was he harassing you?"
"No, just being a generic asshole. And honestly Harvey I don't know what came over me, I just jumped on him. It's like this other part of my brain took over and, well. Finn knew the arresting officer and they let the whole thing go and if it helps at all, my time in holding was terrible."
Harvey just rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his scotch. "No, that doesn't help, Emilie. You were drunk, attacked someone for no reason and you think this whole thing just goes away because there's no record of your arrest? What if they guy tries to sue you for attacking him?"
"Trust me, he won't."
"I just can't believe how you've been acting lately. You've been so vocal about how you're an adult and grown up and you're acting like a goddamn child!" Harvey finished off the rest of his drink quickly. "Have you considered how this looks for me?"
"Oh, here we go. Of course. It's about you, Harvey."
"Well, eight weeks ago my associate wasn't lying to me about the work he was doing or how he spent his weekends."
"You know, I called Mike for help because I knew you would freak out like this!" Emilie dunk onto the couch and crossed her arms. "I made a mistake, Harvey."
"Yeah, well, I would have left you there overnight!" Harvey was yelling. "You realize you'd have a permanent scar and a criminal record if you weren't sleeping with Finn."
"Oh, fuck you, Harvey! You know, that was a cheap shot - even for you." Emilie stood up off the couch and hurried into her bedroom, where she slammed the door and sunk down behind it.
Harvey knew his fight with Emilie wasn't fair and he could have handled it better. But he was frustrated and he wasn't sure what to do about it.
While he would admit the last few months had been a good opportunity to rebuild his relationship with his sister, it was really wearing on him.
And he didn't even want to think about what the hell to do about Mike Ross.
Harvey got to the office early on Monday morning. He was looking forward to some quiet time in his office to wrap up the rest of the details for Timothy Hazen. He ran into Jessica in the lobby and they rode up the elevator together.
"Thanks for making Timothy such a happy man, Harvey. I hope you got to celebrate this weekend."
Harvey just smiled politely at his boss.
"What? No wild debaucherous story to share?" She pressed on. "Harvey, do you want to talk about this strong, silent type act you have going for you today?"
Harvey contemplated asking Jessica for advice about his sister but frankly, he was tired of talking about it. And he was coming to the same conclusion over and over again - this shit shouldn't be getting dragged into his work life. That was the sole reason he kept so tight lipped about his family - once the lines started to blur, he started to lose track.
He shook his head. "Just couldn't sleep last night, that's all."
"Well," Jessica paused as they stepped out of the elevator, "Push that paperwork through today and we'll have a celebratory dinner tonight."
"Are you gonna let me have two glasses of wine this time?" Harvey quipped at her, a smirk on her face. She just rolled her eyes and smiled as she headed to her office.
Harvey's smile dropped into a thin line again as he arrived at his office. He got to work reviewing the final pages of paperwork for the merger, keeping his door closed and eyes down.
Halfway through the morning, Mike appeared at the door. He knocked then let himself in. Harvey didn't look up from his computer.
"Hey, I noticed a small technical error on page 42 of the contract." He paused in front of Harvey's desk and pointed to a few notes on the page in his hand.
"Good catch." Harvey said shortly. "Thanks."
Mike left the documents on the desk. "So, how did it go with Emilie?"
Harvey didn't respond.
"Did Mount Harvey erupt?"
"Listen, Mike. I need you to understand that while you think picking up my sister when she was at the police station was a gesture and the right thing to do but I don't see it that way. You had no right to do that or not tell me about it."
"Harvey, c'mon. I was just trying to help her out."
"I'm not done." Harvey's voice was growing in volume. He finally looked up at Mike. "From now on, what's going on in Emilie's life is not important to you. In fact, whatever friendship you think you have with her does not exist anymore. Don't work on her case, don't talk to her, and you can sure as hell stop bringing her up to me at work. I'm not paying you to involve yourself in my personal life."
Harvey locked eyes with Mike for one moment longer than returned to his laptop. "You can go."
It wasn't long after Mike left that Donna came to Harvey's desk. She dropped off a file and a few pieces of mail then waited. Harvey eventually looked up at her.
"Yes, Donna?"
"Do you want to talk about that wildly unnecessary display with Mike?"
Harvey rolled his eyes and looked away from her, continuing to type on his laptop. "I don't."
"Well, you know that was uncalled for."
"Was it, Donna? Because Mike left a night out with our client on Friday to get my sister from the police station. And failed to mention any of that to me."
"So, who are you really mad at, Harvey? Mike or Emilie? You know your sister is going through a lot right now and if she felt comfortable enough to ask Mike for help, maybe you should be grateful."
"I'd be more grateful if they didn't hide it from me, Donna."
"And that's fair. But you don't need to blow up at Mike about it. Let him explain or apologize instead."
"I don't have time to worry about hurting Mike's feelings."
Donna pursed her lips and stopped herself from continuing. She knew it wasn't worth her energy to argue with him about it when he was already so far into his bad mood. It was a waste of her own energy to try and talk him down. She just turned on her heel and left him there.
Mike avoided Harvey for the rest of the day. Honestly, it felt like most people were avoiding Harvey. He assumed Donna was being diligent and directing traffic away from him.
After his dinner with Jessica, he headed home. He was dreading it, in a way. He didn't want another head to head battle with Emilie, even though he knew he should apologize.
He just didn't know what else to say to her.
He tried over and over again to put himself in her position and try to understand why she was acting the way she was - but he was coming up empty. She had a multitude of people to talk to and discuss what was going on. But she was closing herself off, she was hostile, she was demure. What else could he do?
"Well, you know where to find me when Hurricane Emilie meets Harvey The Destructor."
Maybe it was beyond his control. He finally conceded and called Marcus once he got in the door of his place.
"What's up, old man?" Marcus answered his call after a few rings.
Harvey smirked as he spoke. "Sure wish that wasn't catching on." He laughed for a moment. "I need some Emilie advice."
"I knew this was coming. What happened now?"
Harvey quickly relayed the weekend events to his brother.
"You've gotta be kidding me. Arrested?"
"Thankfully they dropped the charges but what am I supposed to do now?"
Marcus sighed. "Harvey, listen. Mom and Bobby always knew there was a delicate balance with Em. Push just enough to help but not enough to get her to run. I can only imagine you're starting to blur that line. And I mean this in the kindest way but maybe you two need some distance again."
"Well, I do have a lead on a sublet for her for the rest of the school year." Harvey thought back to his dinner with Jessica. She had suggested Emilie sublet her cousins apartment in Midtown while she worked out of the country. It didn't seem like a bad idea.
"But you've gotta turn it into a suggestion, not like you're kicking her out. That's the first thing. The second thing is to know you're not her dad. Bobby had an iron fist with her when absolutely necessary, he was the only one who could really get to her - I'm picking up the kids at their house soon and I can ask him for some advice."
"Sure. Yeah. Thanks." Harvey paused. "She just manages to push every single one of my buttons."
"Yeah. She's just like you that way. Isn't it annoying?"
"Marcus, I just want to help her."
"Well, maybe you need a different approach. Be understanding, not defensive."
"I'm not always defensive!"
"He said defensively." Marcus laughed at his brother. "Stop fighting fire with fire. Ask her what she needs instead of assuming what you think is right will help." He paused. "Hey, her birthday is coming up. Why don't you take her out somewhere?"
Harvey didn't respond. Frankly, he forgot it was her birthday altogether.
"You know, I called you hoping you would give me some advice on fixing this."
"I did give you advice. You just don't like it."
"Thanks Marcus. Let me know what Bobby says."
Harvey poured himself a drink and sat down with a book in the living room. He occasionally glanced at his watch to check the time. It was getting late and Emilie still wasn't home. He sent her a text and got a short reply she would be home soon.
It wasn't long before she was rushing into the apartment screaming his name.
"Harvey! What the fuck? You told mom and my dad about what happened!?"
She stormed up to him in the living room, cheeks flushed and eyebrows furrowed. "Why did you do that?! Nothing happened."
"Emilie." Harvey put his book down and leaned forward in the couch to look at her.
"Dad just gave me a huge lecture on disappointing him and mom wants me to defer my last semester and come home and figure things out."
"Em-
"Why did you have to say anything? Did you ever think maybe I wanted to tell them myself?" She was yelling now.
Harvey stood up and pointed at her. "Bullshit. You weren't going to tell them at all."
"Well, it's my business. You had no right to relay that information!"
Harvey did his best to keep his voice down. They didn't need to fight. Don't fight fire with fire. "It's not just your business! Your choices affect my life too, Em. And I only told Marcus. I can't control who he told."
Harvey did regret not asking Marcus to stay quiet about the whole thing. It wasn't really his place to relay that information.
"Oh, like that makes it okay. Why did you even have to tell him!?" She headed towards her bedroom, shaking her head. "You know, there was always a difference between you and Marcus - he treats me like a child but you treat me like something worse than that. Like I'm incapable of taking care of myself or making competent decisions or something."
She could feel herself escalating again. It was the same surge of feelings she had before she attacked Jordan. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself. She felt tears streaming from her eyes.
"Do you know why mom wants me to come home? Because she thinks I need help again. Like I need to visit a therapist."
"Well, Em, maybe you do!"
She let out a loud scream in his direction and went into her room. He followed her.
"Emilie, you're dealing with a lot of shit right now and I'm sick of-
"Sick of trying to deal with it? Thanks for telling me how you really feel Harvey."
"Goddamnit. That's not what I was trying to say."
"Well, that's what I heard." Her voice was barely audible as she closed her door. "Please just leave me alone."
The moment after she closed her door in Harvey's face the night before Emilie knew she had to move out. She didn't have much of a plan of where she was going but Leah offered her futon for a few days while she figured it out.
Tuesday morning she ignored Harvey's knocks on her door, yelling at him to let her sleep in and that her class was cancelled. It wasn't but she needed to pack all her things up that morning before her afternoon shift at the cafe.
She hadn't seen Finn since Friday night - she knew he was adjusting to a day shift rotation. But part of her was avoiding talking to him. She was embarrassed about what happened Friday and she was worried about what he really thought. He laughed the whole thing off but she knew it the whole thing was juvenile.
They were going to hang out that night when she was done work but she canceled on him preemptively, stating she had to stay at the school late to finish a project.
Packing her things back into a few bags was disappointing to Emilie. As she zipped up her duffle bag and sighed, thinking back to a time when her whole life didn't wrap up so neatly. Back when she had books and artwork and supplies and things that she cared about. She left Harvey's around noon and headed towards the cafe with her bags.
She knew, rationally, she shouldn't leave. She didn't need to. But part of her was worried Harvey was nearing the point of kicking her out. She saw it in his face, she heard it in his tone. She picked up on things he did - biting his tongue, rolling his eyes, sighing. She disrupted his life and at first it had worked out. But now things were messy.
When she got to the cafe, they were in the middle of their midday rush. As she walked in the door, she found herself face to face with Jason Moore her again.
"Oh hey Emilie," he said quietly, glancing at her bags. "Moving again?"
"Please," she replied curtly. "Do you not have anything better to do than harass me?"
"I'm not harassing anyone." He said simply. He held up his coffee cup. "Just here for the coffee."
"Well, that's great. If you could kindly get the fuck out of my way, I'm already late." She pushed past him and made her way to the back. She dropped her bags near the backdoor, then tied on her apron.
Before she made it to the front, Jackie stopped her. "Hey Em, you okay?"
Emilie nodded, "Yeah sorry Jackie. I'm just distracted today."
"Because some man in the cafe just pulled me aside to tell me you swore at him."
Emilie swore under her breath and shook her head. "Sorry Jackie, honestly. I just..I have no excuse for that. It was uncalled for and I'm sorry."
Jackie gave her a smile and reached out to grab her hand, "It's okay, sweetie. It was out of the ordinary for you so I was a bit worried." She paused. "How do you feel about just staying back here today? Working on some prep for the rest of the week."
"It's like you read my mind, Jackie." Emilie returned the smile. "And I'm sorry again."
"No need to apologize anymore, Em. Just know I'm here if you need anything, okay?" Jackie smiled at the young girl and headed back to the busy cafe front.
Emilie worked peacefully all afternoon with her headphones in. It was a nice mental break from her day. Her mind wandered as she worked, thinking about what her and Harvey might do for dinner that night. Then she remembered their last interaction and how she packed up all her things.
Right.
She was going to crash at Leah's.
She left the cafe just after five and headed to the subway. She squeezed into a car and got off in Tribeca, navigating to Leah's.
Leah had a one bedroom apartment - it wasn't huge but it was comfortable. She had a small kitchen and living room in one end of the unit and down the hall was her bedroom and a bathroom. She said Emilie could crash on the couch for a few days no problem. It was kind of nice to have a sleepover anyway.
The two friends stayed up watching some old movies on Netflix before heading to bed. Emilie continued to glance at her phone to see if Harvey was going to reach out.
There was a part of her that wanted him to worry. She didn't want to admit it and she pushed it to the back of her mind, but it crossed her mind. How long until they could maybe end this fight? Maybe it wasn't going to be fixed this time. Maybe she didn't want to fix it.
She had ignored a call from both her mom and dad earlier that day, too. They were probably just going to apologize and check in on her. But she didn't want to go through the motions.
She sent Finn a text before she fell asleep. But her phone was otherwise quiet.
Harvey was up early on Wednesday morning. Something prompted him to wake up. He usually heard Emilie stirring around 7 but when he got back from his run, her door was still closed.
He had gotten home late the night before and her door had been shut then, too. Truthfully, he was grateful for the quiet. He didn't want to fight with her anymore. He took Marcus' advice to give her some space.
But Bobby had called him too. He told Harvey that giving her space was right - but don't let her stray too far. Bobby also told Harvey he was going to call her again and talk to her about a few things and see if he could help.
"But Harvey, it's tough for us all to admit this but she's her own person. If this is how she wants to deal with whatever is going on, as long as she's not hurting herself, sometimes you have to let it run its course."
In all honesty, it was shit advice.
Harvey knew the best way to deal with his sister was to poke the bear. She would eventually break. He saw it with vulnerable witnesses all the time. It wasn't always fair or easy, but it was effective. The problem with Emilie was that she built a blockade around her emotions.
Harvey continued his morning routine. He got into the shower and changed. As he worked on styling his hair, he checked the time. It was nearly eight and he still hadn't heard Emilie. He sighed, assuming she had slept through her alarm again.
"Emilie," he started, heading towards the kitchen. "You're going to be late."
Nothing.
"Emilie?"
Harvey narrowed his eyes as he thought about the morning. Maybe she got up early. He checked his phone and saw no messages from her. Finally, he knocked on her door.
"Em?"
He pushed the door open when he didn't get a response.
Not only was her bed empty but her bedding was folded into a neat pile. The futon was returned to its couch form and her bags were gone. All that remained on the small desk was Harvey's Harvard sweatshirt.
He grabbed his phone and called his sister. It went to her voicemail.
"Shit."
He sent her a message: 'Where are you?'
It didn't take long for her to reply: 'class. Thanks for finally figuring out I wasn't there. For a lawyer your attention to detail is lacking.'
Harvey swore again. 'C'mon Emilie. Where are you planning on staying?'
'Doesn't matter. Let's just get back to normal - living in the same city and never seeing each other. We worked better this way. See you at Christmas.'
"Goddamnit."
Mike had been spending his lunch hours all week continuing to do some digging about Jason Moore. He didn't bring it up to Harvey anymore but he and Finn had been staying in touch.
Finn stopped by Friday to talk with him.
"So, you were right," Finn dropped down onto the chair across from his desk. "I think he's been going to the cafe. He must have figured out her work schedule."
"Shit." Mike replied, leaning back in his chair. "Is there anything we can do?"
"No, not really. I mean, he's not doing anything wrong. Except some sort of psychological warfare. It explains why she's been on edge."
"Okay. Well, here's what I found. That parent company that owns both Crowne and Royale is called TRZ Group. And it also owns an audio visual company that specializes in surveillance equipment."
"You've gotta be kidding me," Finn's eyes shot open.
"And I looked up the online reviews for Shawn Moore's construction company and buried deep on Google was a one-star review about her creepy boss installing a camera in their bathroom at work. Totally swept under the rug. I reached out to the reviewer for more information but haven't heard anything."
"Mike, that's incredible. Did you tell Harvey any of this yet?"
"No, because I told him I'd stay out of it. But I'm wondering if you talk to Greg if we can get this reopened."
"Maybe search the brother's place."
"Their company is based out of New Jersey so that-
"Complicates things, yeah. Well, let me see what I can do. I'll call you after work. Are you free tonight? We can go over the next steps." Finn stood up to leave as Mike nodded.
Mike stood up to shake his hand. As Finn turned to leave, Harvey appeared in the doorway.
"Finn."
"Hey Harvey, I was just leaving. Thanks again Mike."
"Hey, how's my sister?"
"You tell me. She's been swamped with school projects all week so I haven't seen her since, well, you know."
Harvey just nodded as Finn left. He had been keeping quiet about Emilie at work all week, although he had told Donna she moved out. He could only assume Donna had told Mike too.
Harvey and Mike were amicable again, following their episode on Monday. But they didn't discuss Emilie.
Mike shuffled his papers away as Harvey came further into his office.
"Do you have notes from the deposition for me?"
Emilie was annoyed. Sure, she knew she should be grateful for having friends who let her couch surf but she was still annoyed.
After spending a few days on Leah's couch, she ended up getting a text from Cassie. She wanted to get dinner. Emilie knew Cassie was feeling guilty still about their fight and what happened with Jordan. At dinner, Emilie found her Cassie and Jordan wound up in a two bedroom apartment anyway.
And Cassie was overjoyed to offer Emilie their spare room.
"Technically Jordan uses it for gaming, like he has this whole big desk set up in there but there's also a twin bed! So you can crash for a while. It's the least we can do." She paused. "Maybe apologize to Jordan for leaping on him though. What even happened that night?"
So Emilie bit her tongue and swallowed her pride and found herself dropping her bags in Cassie and Jordan's apartment. She had to admit it was nice to connect with Cassie again. But she was less inclined to share a space with Jordan. At least the bedroom had a lock.
Friday night Emilie was holed up in their second bedroom, working away with her headphones on. Cassie was working a late shift at her serving job and Emilie wasn't sure where Jordan was. But she was enjoying the alone time.
She had worked earlier that day and felt anxious all morning about Harvey or Donna showing up to try and talk to her. Luckily she had no visitors, not even Jason Moore. Maybe it was all over.
Emilie went from working on her laptop to reading as the night went on. It was almost midnight when she heard Jordan come home.
"Oh hey Em," he said as he popped his head into the room. "Nice to have you here. Did Cassie tell you the one ground rule is not to attack me?"
Emilie resisted rolling his eyes. "Yeah, well, thanks for letting me crash. And uhh, sorry about that."
"I do make a pretty fat Batman," he shrugged, smirking at her. "Bygones." He headed out of the room.
She just smiled and looked back at her book.
"You want a drink?" She could hear him yelling down the hall.
"No, thanks," she shouted back. She wasn't sure the etiquette of shutting the door. "I'm just gonna head to bed."
"No, wait, hold on," Jordan returned. Emilie realized this wasn't his first beer of the night. "I need to show you something." He waltzed into the room and sat down at his desk chair. "You're not going to believe it."
Emilie remained on the bed, fighting the urge to tell him off. She didn't believe anything Jordan did was sincere.
"Don't ask me how I found this but, I will admit I've watched it like a dozen times," Jordan laughed to himself. "Cassie fucking hates when I watch this stuff."
Emilie watched him type on his computer. Then he shifted one of his screens.
Emilie didn't know what she was supposed to be watching. It looked like a bathroom. Wait. She recognized that bathroom.
Her stomach sank. Her face went red. A wave of nausea overcame her. It was the bathroom at her old apartment.
"There's no sound but…" Jordan looked over at her, smirking at her reaction. Suddenly someone came into frame. It was Ethan in a towel. Following by Emilie herself, tearing off her clothes. "And like it gets sorta foggy at some points so gotta leave it up to my imagination a lot but there's some good shots."
"What the fuck?" Emilie scooted to the edge of the bed and stared at the screen. "What the fuck Jordan!? Where did you find this?"
"Just a generic porn site and -
"Turn it off! How can you watch this? Why didn't you tell me? How long have you known about this?"
"Emilie, you should be honoured. Like forty thousand people really appreciate your work."
"Never watch this again! Jordan!" She got up and reached to hit the spacebar on the keyboard. "Send me the link to this and never watch it again I swear to god Jordan." She grabbed the collar of his shirt. "Never again."
"Classic psycho Emilie," Jordan huffed as she pulled away. "As you wish." He grabbed his phone and sent a message to Emilie. "Good luck dealing with this. The internet is forever, sweet cheeks. Literally sweet cheeks." He laughed and pointed to his computer screen, scrubbing the video forward to a moment of the video where Emilie was pressed up against the shower, her backside very clearly showing.
Emilie's eyes went wide again and she rushed to pull on a sweatshirt. She slid her feet into her shoes near the door and rushed out of the apartment.
Emilie's mind was racing. She could feel her breathing getting more and more intense and she ran down the stairs of the building. What was she supposed to do now?
This was the worst case scenario for her. The whole time they were dealing with her landlord, she felt uncomfortable. Like no matter how hard they proved he didn't film anything, he was lying. She had felt it in her bones but the justice system didn't care. But now, it was true. And she felt like dying.
She was hyperventilating by the time she got to the street level. She pushed her way out the door and leaned down against the building, squatting down. Her heart rate was increasing. What was she supposed to do?
Her brain was flashing the same thing over and over again: call Harvey call Harvey call Harvey.
And as much as she didn't want to, that's all she could bear to do. She dialed his number and brought the ringing phone to her ear. She knew it was late but she just hoped he would answer.
But he didn't.
She continued to try and control her breathing as her tears fell. She called Finn next and he answered.
"Em, hey!"
"Finn," her voice cracked as she spoke. "I need your help."
"Are you crying? What's going on? Where are you?"
"Can you come pick me up? Please. I'm on Greenwich in Tribeca."
The next half hour was the longest of Emilie's life. She waited inside the entryway of a sandwich shop and tried her best to control her tears. All she could do was think about that video: her old apartment, her shower, Ethan, sexy with Ethan in the shower. The nausea came back in waves as she thought about it.
By the time she spotted Finn's car on the street, she was sobbing and hyperventilating again. She was surprised to find Mike in the front seat.
"Em, what's going on? Are you hurt?" Finn glanced in the rear view mirror at her as she slipped into the backseat.
She shook her head. "No, it's…" She glanced down at her phone seeing a swath of inappropriate messages from Jordan. She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. "Can you take me home please. To Harvey's. I don't know how to…"
Finn just nodded and changed his course towards Harvey's place.
Harvey came home late on Friday evening. In fact, he had been coming home late every night that week. Wether or not he wanted to admit it, his suddenly sister-less apartment left him feeling melancholy. They hadn't spoken since their last text interaction. He wanted to reach out but he stood his ground.
Emilie was acting out and needed some space.
Harvey had other things to worry about.
Like court cases and depositions and mergers and litigation. Yet, multiple times a day his mind wandered to his sister.
Friday evening had been spent out at Harvey's favourite bar, sharing a bottle of wine with the brunette he had seen a few times. But, he went home alone. Even though he had nothing stopping him, no sister in the next room - his heart wasn't in it.
On his drive home, he resisted taking a call from his sister. He wasn't up for fighting with her - he could only assume a late night phone call on Friday was not Emilie being social.
As he walked into his empty condo, he took off his coat and checked his phone. No other phone calls from his sister but he did have a message from Mike.
'I don't know what's going on but Finn and I are with Emilie and she's in hysterics. We're heading to your place. Somethings wrong.'
Harvey narrowed his eyes at the message. This was not how he thought his Friday would wrap up.
Twenty minutes later, Emilie, Mike and Finn were walking through his door.
Harvey was taken aback by the sight of his sister - her face was swollen with tears, her hair pulled up into a messy bun, her eyes sunken in, she looked delicate, broken. Emmy.
Harvey wasn't sure what to say. "Will someone tell me what's going on?"
All three of the men turned and looked over at Emilie.
"Okay. Uhm. I don't know how to…" She took a deep breath. "I was planning on crashing at Cassie's...but uhm. Her boyfriend Jordan showed me.." She shook her head and looked down.
"Em," Finn took a step over towards her.
She grabbed her phone from her pocket. "This video." She gulped and pressed on her phone, pulling Finn a few steps away from Mike and Harvey to show him.
Finn grabbed her phone from her and watched. His eyes grew wide as he looked back at her. She kept her head down, staring at the ground. "Is that...?"
"The bathroom in my old apartment? Yes." She paused as he watched. "And that is Ethan. And that is...me. And that is...us in the shower…" She cringed as she spoke.
As Harvey listened to his sister, his eyes darted from her and Finn over to Mike. He pieced it all together as Finn watched the video.
Mike shook his head and swore under his breath.
"Jesus Christ," Finn looked over to her as he stopped watching. "Em, I'm so sorry." He put his arm over her shoulders.
"What am I supposed to do now?" She pulled away from him.
Harvey, Mike and Finn all looked at each other. They all knew this was complicated - much more complicated than they wanted to admit. Clearly her landlord lied and recorded video footage of her and kept it. Not only that, he either sold it or uploaded it online himself. And now, copies and downloads of that video could be all over the Internet. There wasn't an easy solution.
"Emilie," Harvey took a few steps towards her. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked down again. "Hey, look at me."
She shook her head. "I'm an idiot, Harvey. I shouldn't have left and I shouldn't have...
Harvey's heart was breaking as she trailed off and started to cry again. The entire last week disappeared from his brain. Every ounce of anger and frustration he had took a sharp turn from being upset with her to being livid that someone could betray her innocence and trust like this. How could someone hurt her? How could he let someone hurt her?
If only he had fucking helped her last February. This was his fault. It was all his fault.
"Emmy," he said quietly, pulling her close in a hug. "This isn't your fault. Please know this isn't your fault, okay? We're going to take care of it. I promise. I'll take care of it."
A/N: well, lucky for Emilie rock bottom wasn't too far away. and she has Harvey, Mike and Finn who didn't give up on her. not that admitting to your brother and brother figure there's a sex tape on the Internet was an easy feat. and while Harvey will always be there for his sister, there is still some repairing to do since their last fight. Let's just put it all on the table, shall we?
I put off writing this chapter then it just poured out of me! Thanks for being along for the ride. I have to admit that this story is going to come to an end in a few chapters but don't worry, there's still some good things to come.
Thank you all for being so supportive along the way. Emilie grew and evolved and so did the story! More than I imagined it would. Thank you to cicia724 and Andelin for the kind reviews always.