“Yes.” I look away from Grafton. “Mase is nine, and Ginny is seven.” The next question falls out of my mouth without my permission. “And you? Do you have children?”
He lifts one brawny shoulder. “No children,” he admits. “No wife or significant other, either. I always thought the right woman would come along eventually, but…” He trails off. I look up, his blue eyes catching mine like magnets, pulling my stare in and refusing to let go.
“But?” The word is yanked out.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but Christopher has cameras in his office.”
My brows dip at the subject change. “I didn’t know that. Why would he? This building is secure—” I clamp my lips shut as bile suddenly surges into my throat, my subconscious catching up before anything else.
No.
No way.
He wouldn’t.
Would he?
Grafton’s stare hardens to steel as he takes in my reaction. “My security firm is very good at what they do, Lynley. It’s why I pay them so much money,” he adds wryly. “They have systems in place that mean any technology connected into our servers— anything that uses the internet here—is accessible to the security team.”
“I don’t understand why you’re telling me this.” There’s a dark feeling of foreboding creeping through me.
“Every person in my employ is aware of this,” he continues as if I didn’t say a word. “It’s clearly printed in their employment contracts. The cameras your husband?—”
“Please don’t call him that.”
Grafton’s brows lift. “Stop calling him your husband? Isn’t that what he is?”
It’s a leading question, but I don’t take the bait. After a moment, his smile grows, as if I’ve just let him in on a secret only the two of us know. That uneasiness is still here, but it feels distant, hazy, as I stare back at him, feeling like this man is about to turn everything on its head.
“As I was saying,” he says smoothly, “whenChristopherdecided to install cameras, he chose ones that required an internet connection.”
“I’m getting the sense that was a dumb move on his part.”
“Dumbis one word for it,” he agrees, that smile never slipping. “What it means is that it was extraordinarily easy for my security team to get access to any footage he recorded on the premises.”
Chapter 8
Lynley
“Ican’t take it anymore!” The scream echoes down the hallway, bouncing off the walls. “It’s driving me crazy!” I wince, counting down in my head.3…2…1…
Right on cue, footsteps come stomping toward the kitchen, as heavy as you would expect an elephant to be. When Ginny appears, her brown eyes wide and full of frustrated tears, her cheeks red and nostrils flaring with each rapid breath, I straighten away from the kitchen counter, setting my phone down.
“Mom,please,” she begs, voice shrill. “You have to make them take it off.” She lifts her arm, waving it around. “My arm is better, I swear. It doesn’t hurt, so it’s not broken anymore. And I promise to stay off the playground from now on. I don’t need to play during recess anyway. I’ll just sit and—and—and—” Her face grows redder, her eyes flicking around the kitchen wildly. “Read!” she finally yells. “I’ll just sit and read!”
Before I can say a word, Ginny’s face crumples, tearsstreaking down her splotchy cheeks, and I know my girl has reached her breaking point.
“Oh, baby,” I murmur, opening my arms.
She dives into them, her body crashing against mine. “It’s so itchy,” she wails dramatically. I bite back a smile, glad she has her face buried in my shoulder as she sobs, not wanting to risk her thinking I’m not taking the situation seriously.
“We just need to wait a couple more weeks, love,” I tell her, smoothing a hand down her back. “I know how uncomfortable it must be, but a couple more weeks. That’s it. And then everything goes back to normal.” The words fall from me without much thought, and as soon as they hit the air, I flinch.What a whopper.
When I demanded to see the footage earlier, Grafton had been reluctant, only giving in when I had insisted—which is how I found myself watching Christopher railing some woman in a pencil skirt over his desk. Another clip had shown him getting a blow job.
“This is the most recent incident,” Grafton quietly said, right before pointing out the date. My stomach churned uncomfortably because I already recognized the suit he was wearing. I watched as he spoke on the phone—to me—before he fucked her.
I knew the truth, deep down, but I guess there was a part of me that was still hopeful I was wrong.
