Lessons in SECRET (11 page)

Kurt told us the
clients would already be here by the time we arrive. He also told us
that no electronics are allowed inside of the house. Most of the men
who attend the parties are paranoid about blackmail threats, so while
there are cameras filming all of us downstairs, there are none
anywhere else. They allow the men to have their security teams sweep
the house when they arrive. In return, the men have nothing with them
but the clothes on their back. Kurt has his phone, but he has to
leave the house once the last of us is “won.” Secrecy is
paramount, which is a little frightening if you’re one of the
women. The men could do anything, and no one would hear you scream as
the bedrooms have ben soundproofed.

Kurt takes my coat and
whistles at me. “Trying for a high bid I see. I knew you were a
good pick.”

I roll my eyes and
follow him into the Great Room. Ellie, Max, Grace, and six other
girls I’ve seen around school, but never talked to, are in the room
already. Kurt doesn’t introduce us, he just says they’re his go
to girls. Ellie and Max give me small smiles, while everyone else
glares at me. I wanted attention tonight, and I’m getting it.

It’s pretty boring at
first. We just walk or lounge around, trying to look sexy but not
obvious. About fifteen minutes in, things start to happen. Kurt calls
out a name and a room number. One of the “go to girls” goes up
the staircase. It continues on until I’m the only one left. Kurt’s
watching his phone anxiously for a few minutes, and then he smiles.
“You just got the highest bid ever, Isabelle. Go to room ten and
have some fun.”

I walk up the stairs on
legs that are a little shaky. I have to take several deep breaths
before walking inside. The man stands in the shadows until I close
the door. Once it’s shut, he steps out and relief floods my body.

“Ryan,” I say,
running into Ryan Griffin’s outstretched arms.

“Hey, Isa. Put this
on.”

He takes off his suit
jacket and puts it on me. “Thank you. For the coat…and this.”

“Of course. My mom
had me register with this exclusive club a couple of weeks ago. It
took some time to get approved. In fact, the approval just came
through today, along with the party invitation. I was a little
worried that I wouldn’t be able to help you.”

“But you did. I’ll
pay you back, you know.”

“Nah. Ainsley and
Scott are going to get our money back. But if they couldn’t, it’d
be okay. You’re family, and I always take care of my family. Even
the badass secret agent ones.”

“Our? Did someone
else have to chip in?”

“Oh. No. I meant Nate
and Aiden’s money.”

“They’re here?
Thank God. They got Ellie and Max?”

“Yeah. Aiden bought
Ellie, and Nate bought your friend, Max.”

“Someone should’ve
bought Grace. She thinks she wants this, but she’s just really
messed up.”

“We couldn’t get
anyone else approved so quickly, or we would’ve bought them all.
I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You did
what you could.”

“There’s something
else, though. Kurt’s boss met with Nate, Aiden, and me before the
bidding to welcome us and go over everything.”

“So you know who it
is? Thank God. I am so ready for this to be over.”

“Isa. You should sit
down.”

“It’s that bad?”

“Yeah, honey. It is.”

“What? Who?” I ask,
my stomach sinking.

“It’s Mason Wells.
He’s behind all of this.”

“No,” I tell him,
backing up towards the door. “No.”

“Aiden said you’ve
been
with
him for the
past several weeks.”

I nod. “No. Please
God no. It’s a mistake. Maybe it just looks like him.”

“I wish it was a
mistake. I really do. But he told us his name. He said it was all in
the name of full disclosure between everyone.”

I fall to my knees and
Ryan comes over to pull me into his arms. “I’m going to throw
up.”

He picks me up and
carries me to the bathroom, holding my hair as I do just that. Once
there’s nothing left in my stomach, he grabs a washcloth and helps
me clean up. Then he picks me back up and sets me on the sink,
handing me a toothbrush and toothpaste.

“I probably shouldn’t
tell you that he looked like he wanted to kill me when I won.”

“If he loved me, he
wouldn’t have sold me to you.”

“I can’t argue with
that.”

“We can’t do
anything until tomorrow, so I would really just like to sleep.”

“Of course. I’ll
take the floor.”

“Ryan, that bed is
big enough for ten people. And you’re like my brother. A brother
who’s madly in love with his wife and would never cheat on her. You
can take a side.”

“Thanks. I wouldn’t,
you know. Cheat on Chloe, I mean. This was just for show. She knows
I’m here.”

“I was never
worried.”

We take our sides, and
I try to sleep. I can’t, though. All I can think about is how Mase
or Jake or whoever the hell he is, told me he wasn’t keeping
anything from me. But also how it felt like a goodbye almost every
time I was with him. And I was just with him yesterday.

He came over and stayed
with me like he promised he would. He also asked me a few weeks ago
if all the Griffins were involved in the Foundation. I lied to him
then, and I’m glad for that now. He would never have let Ryan in if
he’d known. What else did he lie to me about?

Love. That’s what
else. There’s no way he could have let me go out those two other
times or had me here up for bid if he loved me. Yes, he tried to tell
me not to come here tonight, but he could’ve stopped it on his end.
He didn’t. He let me be bought by the highest bidder.

I make sure to be quiet
as I cry all night. Quiet is what I do best, after all. Look what
happened when I tried to put myself out there for once. My heart just
got shattered into a million pieces. I should’ve let someone else
have this mission, and just stayed quiet. Too late for that now,
though. Because I’m going to take down Mason Wells, and take him
down hard.

* * *

Mason

I’m going insane.
Like seriously insane. Isa—
my
Isa—is up in one of those bedrooms with Ryan fucking Griffin. He’s
got a beautiful wife and a little daughter, but it’s not enough. It
never is for powerful men like him. Which is why we’re making so
much money here. I don’t care about the money right now. I want to
run up to that room, and pull her out of his arms, but my boss would
kill me. I know that without a doubt. So I’m just sitting here in
the guest house drinking enough to get buzzed, but not stupid drunk,
and thinking of what that bastard is doing to the woman I love.

The woman I betrayed. I
can’t hide much longer. She’s getting too close. If she took Kurt
in, he’d break under even the hint of torture. He knows our boss is
bad, but he doesn’t know just how scared he should be. I know, and
that’s why I haven’t told Isa the things I should have. The
things she needs to know. I could give her enough to bring down
everything, but I’m a coward. I’m too scared for my own life to
do the right thing.

So instead of helping
her, I’ve let her be bought and sold over the last few weeks. And
then I’ve gone over afterwards to make love to her. Or fuck her,
depending on what she’s said she needs. Who does that? Oh yeah, me.

I wouldn’t have told
Luke if I’d known that he was connected to the famous “Society.”
I was having a casual lunch conversation with him and his friends
Nikki and Michelle at that training day. I thought it would be fun to
shock them. Turned out the joke was on me. Especially when Isa walked
into the room. I should have kept things professional. I planned to
keep them that way.

But then she asked me
to kiss her. And I had to. Everything in me was calling out for her
lips. That one kiss condemned me, and when she gave me everything
else, I knew it was over. I wasn’t kidding about that reserved spot
in Hell being saved for me. I’m just not sure when I’ll be using
it. I only know that it’s probably going to be soon.

I watch the sun come
up, and I start getting the alerts that the “guests” are leaving.
Within the hour, the girls are all gathered in the Great Room again.
I sit up straight when I see Isa crying. What the fuck did that
bastard do to her? I’m going to kill him. I swear he’s a dead
man.

A few minutes after I
watch her leave the house, I get a text from her asking me to come
over. I immediately tell her yes. I go into the bathroom and splash
water on my face, and then change my clothes. The girls think the
“boss” lives in the main house, but this is where I really live.
I don’t need fancy because I’m not doing this for the money.

I know Kurt, and
probably Grace, are still on the grounds so I force myself to walk
slowly to my car. I should debrief with him, but it can wait.
He
can wait. Fuck, all of them can wait. Isa needs me, and she’s all
that matters. Even if thoughts like that are what’s going to get me
killed.

Isa

The bastard who I gave
everything I have to is on his way over to my place. My first kiss,
my first lover, my first
love
.
He took it all, and gave me lies in return. I want to curl into a
little ball and cry, but I won’t give him that, too. I’m going to
destroy him, and only then will I let myself feel the hurt.

I’m not surprised to
find Reina in my apartment when I get there. “Tell me what to do,
Rei.”

“He can’t know you
know yet.”

What? “You can’t
expect me to pretend I’m still in love with him.”

“You are still in
love with him, Isa. Feelings like that don’t just go away. Believe
me, I know that from experience.”

“Fine. I love him.
But I can’t be
with
him.”

“I wouldn’t ask you
to do that. He thinks you spent the night with Ryan. Tell him you
can’t sleep with him. He’ll understand, or at least pretend to.”

“What’s wrong with
me, Reina?”

“Nothing, Isa.
Absolutely nothing is wrong with you.”

“I believed him. He’s
been lying to me all this time about who he really is. That means he
lied when he said I was beautiful…and that he loved me.”

“I can’t answer
that, because I honestly don’t know if everything was a lie.”

“I’m such a fool.”

“He fooled us all. We
should’ve done a background check on him, even if he did come to
us. I was just glad to have an ally, so I dropped the ball on this.”

“He was just that
good, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, he was. We just
need a little more information, and then we’ll get him Isa. I meant
it when I said that I don’t want you to do anything you’re not
comfortable with, but I want Ainsley and Tegan to dig deep, because
after hearing who else was bidding tonight, I’m worried that this
goes bigger than Vegas.”

“You think there are
other cities with the same set-up?”

“Yes. I’ll take
Kurt and Mason down if they’re all we can get, but I’d like to
try for more.”

“Okay. I can pretend
if it means saving some more people.”

“We’ll do this as
fast as we can. I promise.”

“I know you will.
Maybe I can get some info from him.” And then I realize I have
something. “He asked me to call him Jake.”

“Jake?”

“Yeah. He said his
good friends call him that because he doesn’t like his name.”

“I’ll let the girls
know. And I won’t tell you not to try and get more information,
because we need it. But don’t put yourself in jeopardy. We don’t
know anything about the others who might be involved.”

“I’ll be careful.”

“Okay. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

She opens the door and
literally runs into
him
.
“Oh sorry, Reina.”

“Not a problem,
Mason. Take care of our girl.”

“I plan to.”

I try to smile, but I
just can’t. I guess that will work with him thinking Ryan ravished
me all night. “You made it here pretty fast.”

“I was so worried.
Are you okay? I mean, of course you’re not okay. But…God, Isa…I
wish you didn’t have the job you do.”

Some truth from him.
Well, isn’t that refreshing. “I love my job.”

“Even when you have
to do what you did last night?”

“Even then. I don’t
want to talk about last night right now. Or ever, maybe.”

“Of course. I’m
sorry. What can I do? I’ll do anything you need me to.”

No, he won’t. Because
I need him to take back all the lies he told me, and tell me what’s
really true. Reina needs time, though, so I have to be the strong
woman everyone tells me I am.

“I need you to help
me wash off last night. I want it scrubbed from my skin.”

Audrey taught me to
infuse some truth in my acting, and what I said was true. My world
imploded last night. Just not for the reason he thinks it did. I can
see on his face that he wants to ask me what happened, but he stops
himself.

“Dammit, Isa. I want
to kill him. You don’t know how much I want to kill him.”

“You don’t even
know who it is.”

He looks me straight in
the eye, and lies again. “That’s true. But if you know his name,
I’ll find him. I swear it.”

“It’s over now. I
mean, yeah, I did things with him that we’d never done, but I’ll
get over it. Eventually.”

Another truth dished
out because I’ve never slept in a bed with the man before me where
we weren’t touching. Even when he’s just slept with me, he always
holds me. And yes, I did say it the way I did to get a reaction from
him. Even though I know he doesn’t really care about me. He only
cares about whether I can put him in jail or not.

“What did you do?”
he asks, and for a moment I believe he is really jealous and angry.