12. Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Victor
“Lili, talk to me. Tell me what you saw.”
Her face is still pale, and she can’t stop pacing the floor.
She looks over at me and shakes her head. “It was nothing. Just thought I saw a ghost. One of your members looks like someone I… encountered once. But it’s not possible.”
Alarm bells are ringing in my head. Who could it be? I’ll have to dig into the member and find their connection to Lili. They could be a plant. Before I can ask her who she’s talking about, she tells me.
“The man who was with the doctor. He… looks like someone who tried to hurt me once. But I doubt it’s him.”
That information does nothing to silence the alarms going off. Jacob is paid to kill people. Did someone put a hit out on Liliana? I have so many questions, but I worry that I’ll overwhelm her and cause her to shut down if I ask too many.
“Tell me about when he almost hurt you. You don’t have to relive the gory details. Just the basics.”
She drops onto the sofa and buries her face in her hands. “I was out at a charity function. Someone pulled me into a bathroom stall and tried to… rape me. Or they were trying to kill me. I honestly have no idea. But he got interrupted and bolted and I never saw him again.”
“How long ago was this?”
“A little less than a year? Finn and I had the biggest fight we’ve ever had, and I was really shaken up and not paying attention or he never would have gotten me alone like that.”
“Did you tell Phineas about the attack?”
Lili shakes her head. “No.”
“Why not? He’s your husband.”
Lili sighs. “Because he would have made it out to be my fault somehow, and I would have paid for it.”
Bile churns in my gut and I am flooded with images of all the ways I’m going to torture Phineas Draven before I kill him. “I’m deeply sorry, Liliana. Are you OK here alone for a bit? There are some things I need to take care of before we close.”
She uses her arm to wipe her eyes and smiles up at me. “Please go. I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll send Gracie back here to check on you.”
She waves at the door with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes and tells me again to go. I’m hesitant to leave her, but the others need to hear about this, so I open the door and head back into the heart of the club.
In Matteo’s dungeon, I find Skylar kneeling with a ball gag in her mouth. Like Liliana earlier, she’s wearing a masquerade mask that hides much of her face, but I still recognize her. Celebrity status makes it more important to hide her identity, especially since the world isn’t aware she’s with Matteo.
I drop to one knee and get close to her ear so nearby members can’t hear me. “Looks like that mouth got you in trouble again, Kitten. I need Matteo. Can you point him out for me since you can’t talk?”
Drool drips down her chin into her lap, and she closes her eyes in frustration. I pull the pocket square out of my suit jacket and hand it to her. Her expression—what I can see of it—is grateful, and she turns sideways and points behind her, indicating that Matteo is in his office.
“Thank you.” I kiss her cheek. “I’ll put in a good word for you with the boss.”
She wrinkles her nose and I’m confident if she weren’t gagged, she would have something snotty to say.
“Or not,” I tease standing up. She shakes her head back and forth and clasps her hands together like she’s praying, and I chuckle. “Relax. I’m messing with you. You get in enough trouble with him without me helping you.”
She relaxes dramatically and I head toward Matteo’s office.
It’s unlocked, so I poke my head in after I knock. He’s leaning against his desk, jacket off and shirt sleeves rolled up.
“Skylar OK?” he asks.
I step fully into the room and shut the door behind me. “She’s good. A little slobbery but fine. Pointed me to you.”
Matteo smirks. “I was just about to go and get her. Is everything OK? You seem tense.”
I tell him about Lili being spooked by Jacob and the story she relayed to me.
“He is a contract killer. It’s possible he was hired to take her out. Sounds like sloppy work for him, though. Let’s get him in here and ask some questions, but we can wait until morning. Amarjit has the King suite reserved tonight, so I know they’re staying. We’ll quietly ask her to keep him on site until we arrive.”
It’s as solid of a plan as we can come up with right now, so I say goodnight.
“Tell Skylar she can come see me if she’s ready to stop being a brat.”
“I think that’s a lost cause, my friend.”
Matteo grins as I slip out of his office and back into the dungeon. When I reach Skylar again, I help her up and send her to Matteo’s office.
She tries to hand me the pocket square back, but I shake my head. “Keep it. We both know you’ll end up in this position again.”
She makes a face since she can’t stick out her tongue, but I let her go without saying anything more.
In my own dungeon, I greet a few high-profile members, and I sit back and watch as people continue to play.
As I’m sitting, I spot Gracie hovering in the archway, so I motion her to me, not liking that she hesitated. Did I take things too far in the office? Playing with her tonight was different than it has been in the past.
When she reaches me, she drops to her knees at my feet, and I bend down so I can hear her better without her having to shout.
“What’s wrong, Mariposa?”
“I’m worried about Lili. When I went to check on her just now, she was crying.”
I stand and pull her up with me. “Let’s go check on her together.”
I’m not sure why Gracie is suddenly so attached to Lili when twenty-four hours ago she was pissed at me for bringing her here. Then again, a part of me is also attached to Lili, so I guess I don’t blame her.
At her door, we knock to let her know we are there, but she doesn’t answer so I use my code and open it anyway.
The room is empty, but the shower is running.
“Lili?” I call, tugging Gracie into the room with me. It’s a busy night and there are plenty of people using the suites. Bellamy is probably annoyed at me for keeping this one tied up.
Lili still doesn’t answer.
“Go check on her, please.”
Gracie goes into the bathroom, and I hear her call Lili’s name.
A minute later, she shouts for me. “Master Victor, you better come in here. She’s in bad shape.”
I sprint the short distance into the bathroom, and I find Lili sitting naked on the floor of the shower, staring at nothing as water cascades down her head. There’s no steam coming from the water, so I wonder if it’s cold.
Gracie doesn’t hesitate. She opens the shower door and climbs in. When the water hits her, she gasps, confirming my suspicions about the temperature, so I reach in and turn the knob to warm it up.
Gracie sits on the shower floor and puts her arms around Lili, but the woman continues to stare as if she doesn’t even know we are here.
Before I realize what I’m doing, I shrug out of my suit jacket and begin unbuttoning my shirt after watching them for a minute.
When I’m down to just my slacks, I turn the water off and step into the shower where I scoop Lili into my arms and carry her to the bed.
Back in the bathroom, I find Grace standing in the shower trying to wring out her dress. I stop her and help her pull it over her head before I pick up a fluffy towel and wrap her in it. My cock comes to life in my slacks as I dry a naked Gracie off.
“Maybe I should sit with her. Having someone close seemed to calm her down,” Gracie offers.
I nod and grab a second towel to dry Lili off with.
She’s still staring blankly as I help her sit up and Gracie wraps the towel around her. I would be asking if she took something, but I know there is nothing in this room for her to have taken.
“Lili, talk to us, please. You’re worrying me and Gracie.”
Lili blinks and turns until she’s looking at Gracie. “Oh. Gracie. Hi. I didn’t realize you were here.”
Gracie’s eyes widen. “I was just in the shower holding you.”
Lili shakes her head as if trying to get rid of brain fog. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s happening to me right now. Everything is numb.”
“You downplayed what you saw out there. Left something out. Talk to me.”
Her lip trembles and she shakes her head.
Gracie’s eyebrows knit together. “What did she see?”
“A ghost,” Lili whispers.
Gracie frowns. “I don’t understand.”
“One of the men in the club reminds Lili of someone,” I explain, hoping to keep the questions to a minimum.
“And I take it the memories aren’t pleasant?”
Lili’s eyes water and she shakes her head. “He tried to rape me or kill me or… hurt me. It’s hard to say for sure.”
Gracie’s hand flies to her mouth. “Victor, you have to do something.”
I stroke her damp hair. “We’re working on it. I’ve already talked to Matteo, and we’re going to look into him first thing in the morning. He’s staying the night with his partner tonight, so it will be easy to catch him before he leaves and have a word if we need to.”
Lili trembles. “He… Here. He’s staying here? I can’t be here. I… please let me leave. You have my word I won’t say anything to anyone. Just please don’t leave me here alone overnight.”
Whoa. Her level of spooked is far more concerning than I first realized.
Gracie immediately puts her arms around Lili. “I’ll stay with you. Whoever this person is won’t even know you’re here. If he sees Victor and I going into this room, he’ll just think we’re staying together.”
“I’ll stay too. You and Gracie can have the bed, and I’ll crash on the couch.”
“We should get you both dried off and in something warm. Why was the water so cold?”
Lili shakes her head. “I was hoping to snap myself out of the panic attack that was brewing, but I think it made things worse.”
Gracie jumps up and goes to the bathroom for more towels and then to the closet for Lili’s pajamas.
“I’ll find pajamas for you and me, also, butterfly.”
“After the club is closed. I’m part of the closing team tonight and you still have a few people to say goodnight to. Shit. My dress is soaked. I’ll need to borrow something from Bellamy. She usually keeps clothes in her office.”
I grip her shoulder and make her face me. “Stop stressing. I’ll get you out of closing. Stay in here with Lili so she isn’t alone.”
“Thank you,” Lili whispers.
I admit I’m a little jealous of Gracie getting to sit and watch over her. And that thought makes me feel like ass considering the conversation Gracie and I were just having in my office.
“I should help. We don’t want people asking you nosy questions,” Gracie insists.
But I can tell that scares Lili, so I shake my head. “I’m final say on what you do here each night, and my decision is you’ll be in here. If anyone asks, I’ll tell them you are handling club business on my behalf. And anyone who wants to argue is probably in need of a trip to my office anyway.”
“Oh, please let Master Owen argue,” Gracie teases, earning herself a stern look. At least she isn’t arguing with me.
She follows me into the bathroom where I put my shirt on. It catches me by surprise when she pulls it together and begins buttoning the buttons without a word. The towel that was loosely wrapped around her falls to the floor and she doesn’t pay any attention to it. Halfway through, I capture her wrists and pull her closer to me. “Thank you, butterfly. You were right to get me. She was fine when I left her a little while ago.”
“Everything is so strange right now. I’m just glad to be helpful.”
“You’ve never been anything but helpful. And I promise we’ll have that talk soon. I like this look.” I pull her naked form in front of me and turn both of us to face the mirror.
“Me naked and looking like a drowned rat and you barely messed up in your expensive shirt and pants?”
“Mostly just me dressed and you naked. But yes. The drowned rat look is totally doing it for me, too,” I tease.
She glares at me in the mirror but can’t hold it for long before she’s laughing.
She turns and completes the buttons on my shirt, and I tuck it back in.
“You always lose your jacket by the end of the night anyway. Want me to just hang it in the closet?”
“Yes, thank you. And let’s get you those pajamas, because if I come back and you’re still naked I’m not responsible for what happens.”
She giggles again, and I kiss her cheek. “That’s a lovely sound. I’m sorry things are so chaotic right now.”
She picks up my jacket and takes it back to the wardrobe. I follow her as I roll the sleeves of my shirt up.
“My phone is in the staff lockers, so I’m locked in here until you get back.”
“This isn’t quite what I’ve envisioned when I’ve fantasized about having two women locked up for me,” I mutter. “I’ll leave it open so you can find us something to sleep in. Lock it when you leave and use the keypad to unlock it when you come back. Mine is twelve-seventeen.”
Her eyes go wide.
“Your code is my birthday?”
I wink and kiss her cheek again before leaving her staring after me. As I pull the door closed, I see her shake her head and turn to crawl back onto the bed with Lili, who is quietly putting on her pajamas. Jealous isn’t quite the right word for what I’m feeling, but I’m not sure what else to label it.
Back in the main dungeon, I scan for Amarjit and Jacob.
Amarjit is alone at the bar, so I make a beeline for her.
She smiles as soon as she sees me.
“Victor. Great party, as always.”
“Thanks, Doc. Is Jacob around?”
Amarjit waves a hand. “I wore his ass out, so he’s getting a nap in the suite. Left him tied up on the bed with a hood.”
“Good for him,” I say dryly. The idea of submitting to anyone is not appealing to me, but it seems to be what some men need.
“We both have the day off tomorrow, so we’re staying.”
“I saw your name on the overnight list. We need to run something by Jacob in the morning before you leave. What time will he be available?”
She raises her cocktail to her lips with a raised eyebrow. “Everything OK?”
“All good. Just want to ask him about something private.”
“Ah. Private. I won’t ask any more questions. We’ll be up by eight. I’ll untie him by eight-thirty.”
“I’ll be out here with coffee. Matteo or Owen may join as well.”
I say goodnight to her, grateful that she isn’t in the habit of asking questions and go in search of Matteo again.
He’s sitting with Skylar in his lap now, and she looks much happier.
“Hey Master Victor,” she says with a smile. “Did you find what you needed earlier?”
“I did. Can I have a word with Matteo?”
She looks at her boyfriend and he kisses her. “Go find us a drink, Princess.”
“Yes, Sir. Back in a few minutes.”
She slips off his lap and heads for the bar.
“Find anything else out?” Matteo asks when she’s out of earshot.
“Not yet, but I ran into Amarjit. We can talk to Jacob at eight-thirty in the morning. Lili had a panic attack when I told her Jacob and Amarjit are spending the night, so Gracie and I are crashing in her room to make sure she’s OK.”
“OK. I’m taking Skylar to the penthouse at Diamond Desire tonight because she has early rehearsals, but I’ll be back for breakfast in the morning. What is your game plan for talking to Jacob?”
I shake my head. “I’m not entirely sure. My only idea is to show him a picture of Liliana and see if he has anything to say about her. It can’t possibly be the same guy, but I want to cover all our bases. The way she described the attack doesn’t sound like a hit, and Jacob doesn’t strike me as the type to go around raping random women.”
“I agree,” Matteo says.
“I’m here until closing if we need to come up with a better game plan after everyone is gone.”
Skylar returns with two drinks, and he pulls her back into his lap, nuzzling her neck as she settles. “We’ll chat then.”
As I go through the closing routine that night, it’s safe to say my mind is firmly planted inside suite two instead of out here where it should be.
And it feels like a mistake to let my mind dwell on the possibilities there.