Bound To Protect. Anya Summers

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СКАЧАТЬ leg, commented, “You can dispense with the formalities, Michael. Just tell us what the hell is going on.”

      “But he likes to expound on formalities,” Quinten added. His badge still hung around his neck, which meant he’d not even made it home from his shift at the police department.

      “Listen up, can we stop with the chit chat? We have a big fucking problem. Michael could get started a lot faster if you idiots would shut the fuck up for two seconds,” Dante snapped. The man was Michael’s best friend and partner in crime. This betrayal affected him as much as it did Michael—and the life they had created, topping submissives together. They tended to play up the angel and devil angle, since Dante was Michael’s opposite in looks, with his dark hair and eyes.

      Eyebrows around the room rose at Dante’s outburst. Michael steepled his hands, with his elbows on his knees. “Dante isn’t wrong. We do have a big problem. I was called to an emergency board meeting at one of my companies this morning, where I heard it has been leaked that I like to top subs with Dante.”

      “What the fuck?” Killian exclaimed.

      “How?” Hudson commented.

      Michael held up a hand. “That’s exactly what we need to figure out. The how and the why. Although, I have a feeling I know the why.”

      Leaning forward with a hard glint in his gaze, Quinten said, “You think it was a club member.”

      Michael nodded. “I do. And someone who has access to our VIP level, which should help narrow down the search.”

      “Should we shut the club down for the next month—our level, at least?” Luc asked.

      Ramsey shook his head. “No. I don’t think we should, not if we’re going to find the culprit. We shut it down, they will pass that along to whomever is behind the breach at your company.”

      “You’re correct. The board is investigating, and we meet in thirty days. Which means we have less time than that to uncover who is leaking information, how they slipped past our radar, and how they are connected to members of the board. I hate to say it, Quinten, but a lot of the investigation will fall on your shoulders.”

      Hudson said, “Well, Luc, Killian, and I could do private scenes with the subs, get answers from them that way, while they’re in subspace.”

      “You just want to fuck your way through the sub pool,” Graham commented with a snort.

      “Oh, and you think Phoebe will be all right with you scening with another sub, do you?” Killian asked, with exasperation clouding his features.

      Graham winced. “No. Sorry. I can’t help you there. Phoebe would skin me alive.”

      “Who do you think it is on the board that has it out for you?” Quinten asked. Removing his notebook from his front pocket, he opened it and retrieved a pen to take notes.

      “Dan Vandersmoot. And yeah, he’s as big of a prick as the name suggests. But I don’t think we can or should shut down the club. We need it to appear as if I am unconcerned about the charges lobbied against me. Shutting things down would signal that I am running scared, to whoever has been spying on me. I won’t give them the fucking satisfaction. Nor will I allow anyone to steal the company my family built out from under me,” Michael swore with vehemence.

      “Do you think it’s him?” Quinten asked.

      Michael sighed. “Honestly, it could be any of those on the board. All I do know is that one of them is gunning for me, and not above infiltrating my private life to take me down.”

      “Hudson, I like the idea you presented: for you, Luc, and Killian to start working on the subs, as many nights as possible. Take them to your private room on three, get them into subspace if necessary, and question them. Does it walk a gray area? Yes, but it’s not just Michael who could be hung out to dry in this scenario. We could all be exposed. And perhaps I can help on that angle,” Dante said.

      “But you guys top subs together?” Killian said with a confused look.

      Michael shook his head. “Not for the next thirty days at the club, we don’t. That’s what has come under fire: that I engage in threesomes with Dante, and practice what they consider sexually deviant behavior.”

      “Yeah, he’s got to drum up a fake fiancée by the end of the week too.” Dante rolled his eyes.

      “What the hell is he talking about, Michael?” Ramsey asked.

      Michael glanced at the ceiling for strength. He couldn’t believe the gaffe he’d made when pressured. Then he looked back at his friends. “At the meeting today, they had me cornered, wanting answers to the charges that were lobbed against me—which basically were that I was actively engaged in perverted sexual acts with multiple partners. Meaning, whoever leaked the info saw a scene or two with Dante and me topping a sub in the club. And, in my defense, when they confronted me, I insinuated that I have been dating someone under the radar and recently became engaged, and planned to announce that engagement by the end of this week.”

      Admitting his mistake drew a couple of laughs. And he supposed it was rather comical, only he didn’t have it in him to laugh at the situation, not when he could see his family’s company slipping away. He’d already made calls to his mom and sister, to give them a heads up on the situation and to warn them to be on their guard. Rachel would claw anyone’s eyes out if they tried to take Conmar off her hands.

      “Could it be a submissive you guys brought up here for a private session?” Killian asked, rubbing his chin.

      “No. It’s doubtful. We’ve not had a sub up here whom the two of us fucked in six months. We’ve kept our scenes strictly to the club,” Dante replied with a shake of his head.

      “Well, that helps. I’ll comb through the video footage of the club for the last month, see if there was anyone watching your scenes, and note who you were with. It could be a sub you both scened with who was told to get close to you,” Quinten added thoughtfully as he took notes.

      “Shit, I never thought of that.” Michael grimaced.

      “We should look over the logs of who’s been in attendance in the last month or two as well,” Graham offered. “The facial recognition scanner we installed in the elevator a few months ago should be useful to that end.”

      “And it might be helpful, now that they know you will be on your guard, to study who doesn’t show up at the club in the coming weeks,” Ramsey added.

      “Who the hell are you going to get to play your fiancée now that the sub pool is in question?” Luc asked.

      “Hell if I know,” Michael said with a scowl. Wasn’t that just the rub? Anyone they went with would need to be fully vetted, sworn to secrecy with a non-disclosure, and required to live here, with access to all of his files.

      “I don’t think we should narrow it down to only the subs. I think we need to look at some of the other Doms too. See if any have run into financial trouble and then got a large payday.” Hudson spoke thoughtfully.

      “He’s right. At this point, every member of the club not in this room is a suspect,” Quinten added.

      “My wife is not a suspect,” Graham replied with a firm СКАЧАТЬ