She was about to blow up her whole life. Again. “I lied to you.”
Lodge’s expression didn’t change at all. He merely held out a hand to offer her a chair. There were two wingback chairs across from his desk. Like everything around Julian Lodge, they were expensive and elegant and felt the slightest bit sinister. “About what? Why you took the job Danielle offered you? Why you claimed to want a membership at my club when it was obvious you found the idea distasteful in the beginning?”
She felt bile creep up her throat, but she forced it back down. Maybe she hadn’t been so good at this. She sat down in front of him, clutching her purse like a lifeline. She wouldn’t be able to go back to her little desk. She would be escorted out, and she had to hope Michael didn’t hate her after this or she would have nowhere to go. “Both.”
Lodge sat back, his fingers steepling in front of his chest. “I’m listening.”
She hadn’t thought this through. She’d forced herself to come down here before she could talk herself out of it, but now she had to make him understand. “When my sister died and I moved into the house, I found her journal. She mostly wrote down little things. Thoughts. She drew some pictures. But the last few pages were more like a real diary. She was seeing a man at your club, and she was terrified of him. I don’t think her accident was an accident at all. I think that man stalked her and killed her, and I took the job to get to the club so I could find him.”
The placid expression was gone, and his hand was on the phone, pulling it to his ear. He pushed a single button and she expected to hear him calling for security. “Danielle, darling, I need you down here in my office now. Yes. It’s rather an emergency. I’ve done something, and you need to be here when I confess.”
What? He hung the phone up and leaned toward her, his whole expression softening. “Vanessa, I need you to understand that I felt like you were lying to me, and I was worried. I’m a cautious man.”
“What’s happening?”
He shook his head. “I would rather wait for Danielle. So you found your sister’s journal. Did she say who was stalking her?”
He seemed to be taking her seriously. She relaxed slightly. He wasn’t throwing her out or threatening her. If Julian could help her, this might work out all right. “She called him MK. Since she spoke directly about The Club and meeting him there, I assumed the M stood for Master and his first name would be K. Like some people call Michael Master M. I believe she might have been talking about Kyle Hawthorne. I think he could be very dangerous. He seems to have ties to military intelligence.”
Julian paled. “Please tell me you didn’t look into him. I know a bit about our Mr. Hawthorne, and I think anyone looking into his military history could find themselves being visited by our government.”
She wished she’d known that last week. It could have saved Ruby a rough morning. “Yes, that’s why I’m here. I had a friend who went a little too far. You have to know I did not want her hacking into military records. She’s fine, but this has gotten too dangerous. I can’t go deeper without hurting people I care about.”
“I understand. And honestly, I also understand why you didn’t immediately come to me with your concerns. I wasn’t warm and welcoming. I’m sorry. That’s not my way. Let me know if I should make some phone calls on your friend’s behalf.” Julian looked up as the door came open, relief plain on his face. “Danielle, please come here, love. Vanessa has just told me she’s been investigating Kyle Hawthorne.”
Dani strode into the room. “Why would she do that? What did Kyle do? Vanessa, what’s going on?”
There was a surprising amount of relief in the full-on knowledge that Dani hadn’t been any part of what happened to her sister. “I’m sorry. As I was telling your husband, I took this job because of something I read in my sister’s journal. She was being stalked by a Dom here at The Club.”
Dani gasped and looked to Julian.
“You have to tell her,” Julian said softly, sitting back down. “I think it’s best coming from you. She believes Kyle is the man who was stalking her sister. She thinks he was the reason for her accident. I know you talked about this with Nicki, but she has to know now.”
“Know what?” Vanessa looked up at her boss, whose eyes were now shining with tears. She had the sudden feeling that she didn’t truly understand what was happening.