Hunting Truth (Orion the Hunter Part Four)

by J. D. Chase

  “I’m struggling to see how photographs could’ve been taken. Unless . . . was the door open? I noticed that some couples, or groups, like to leave their doors open for passers-by to see what’s going on.”

  “No way!” he said, vehemently shaking his head. “Come on, Issy. You know me better than that. I’m too private a person for that.”

  “Oh. Yes, of course. But could another member have opened the door and sneaked some photos of you?”

  “No,” he said firmly. “I always locked the door. And for another thing, the angle they were taken from was too high—” He broke off, abruptly, his eyes suddenly alert and I knew something had occurred to him.

  “I’ll be back in a second,” he said, as he slid me off his lap.

  “Where are you going?” I asked, not wanting to be left alone in the club by myself, especially since I’d be totally alone.

  “I’m going to check something in the room I used to use,” he said as he stood.

  I jumped to my feet. “I’m coming with you,” I said firmly. He looked like he was going to overrule me but then reconsidered and took my hand.

  We walked, well I half ran to keep up with his stride, to the rooms that Scott had shown me. Lucas led me to a room in the far corner, entered and stood in the center, looking around. There was a wooden framed bed in the middle, covered in a black satin sheet. Wooden cupboards and drawers lined one wall and there was a large wooden cross bolted to the floor in front of another wall. The sight of it brought back such exciting, delicious memories and I found myself longing to be in the playroom with Lucas. I looked over at him as he wandered around, his head turning to and fro. He froze suddenly before whipping out his cell and initiating a call. He barked instructions about wanting the tech team here straight away and Carter too. I was left wondering what the hell was going on.

  Before I could ask him, he grasped my hand and half pulled me out of the room. He led me back to the inner reception lobby and into a room I realized immediately was some sort of security control room. It was deserted but there were banks of CCTV screens. Lucas began to switch the live streams from each of the cameras, throwing his hand through his hair every so often in a gesture born of agitation. I stood back, deciding that he clearly had something on his mind and it was best that I let him get on with it.

  A low growl left his throat before he took out his cell and dialed a number. The recipient picked up almost instantly. A terse conversation followed but I couldn’t keep up. Whoever it was, and I assumed from what Lucas said that it was a member of security staff who worked there, they were given no alternative but to get their ass back into the building immediately. He hung up abruptly and stormed out of the room, back into the main room. I followed hastily, just managing to catch the door so I wasn’t locked out.

  I caught up with him at the bar where he was pouring himself another Scotch. He tossed back half of it and then seemed so caught up in his thoughts that I don’t even think he knew I was there. He looked angry, so angry that he seemed to be fighting to keep it in check. I was too wary to put my arms around him as I longed to do, so I stood feeling increasingly uncomfortable and contemplated asking him to call me a cab to take me home. There was nothing I could do and I didn’t appreciate being left to just hang around, not knowing what was going on—as usual. But I’d promised Lucas that I’d be by his side until we’d gotten through this. I knew he was used to being alone and dealing with things by himself—he was a control freak after all—and I told myself he wasn’t deliberately keeping me out of the loop. I just wished there was something I could do to help.

  The next hour passed in such a blur. Carter and a group of men—the tech team, I assumed—arrived. Lucas took Carter to one side and conversed with him privately for a few minutes. Then Carter led the men out of the room. He didn’t even acknowledge my presence. Almost immediately, another man arrived and, as soon as Lucas saw him, he hurried over to meet him. I followed quickly and again managed to slip through the security door before it closed. I lurked in the doorway to the room of security monitors and soon gathered that Lucas believed that there was—or had been—a CCTV camera in one, possibly all, of the private rooms. I figured that’s where Carter and his crew had gone.

  Lucas questioned the guy, who denied all knowledge of the existence of any such cameras. He was then set the task of going through a cabinet of old tapes to find footage of any of the rooms or any footage that was date marked within a certain timescale. I guessed the timescale matched the time that Lucas had been active at the club. It didn’t take a genius to work out why. Lucas obviously believed that the photographs being used to blackmail him originated from recordings taken from a CCTV camera inside the room.

  I then understand his barely controlled anger. Not only was it a gross invasion of privacy, and probably illegal which was bad enough, but it was being used to cheat him out of his company, his hard earned assets . . . and me, I realized with a shudder. I knew that it meant the photos were genuine, beyond any doubt. I also knew that it meant there was no way out of the blackmail attempt. Lucas could either do the best he could in terms of damage limitation to protect himself and the other high-profile members, refuse to give in to the blackmail attempt, and ride the resulting storm, or he’d have to roll over and give up everything he’d worked so hard for.

  Just then Carter burst through the door looking even grimmer than Lucas. “We’ve found old wiring behind the plaster,” he said. “Looks like you may be correct in your assumption.”

  Without acknowledging him or me, Lucas strode off, Carter following on his heels, and me following on Carter’s. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I re-entered the room that Lucas and I had been in a short time before. Holes had been knocked into the far wall, revealing the electrical circuits. The men who’d arrived with Carter were covered in plaster dust and were now packing away their equipment. Carter pointed out a cable that terminated in the wall, not connected to anything. He said it was the correct type of cable for a CCTV system and that it was still live but that the ends of the wires had been made safe. I looked more closely and saw a block of plastic on the end. Carter also said that it had been plastered over the top and then decorated so it was hidden completely.

  Lucas stood staring at the wall. He no longer looked angry; he looked broken. I looked at Carter and caught his eye. He looked distinctly uncomfortable for a second but then quickly took charge. He barked orders at the guys to search the server and all hard drives and removable storage devices that they could find within the building for any footage that may have been taken from inside this, or any of the other private rooms. They obeyed instantly. Then he walked up behind Lucas and, looking distinctly uncomfortable, squeezed his shoulder briefly before looking embarrassed and making a hasty retreat. Clearly Carter knew the severity of the situation. Of course he would—he was Lucas’ right-hand man. He probably knew more than I did.

  I walked over to Lucas and stood in front of him. He looked a million miles away, and probably wished he was. I slipped my arms around him and rested my head on his chest and hugged him gently. At first he remained frozen, as if he hadn’t even noticed me, but then his arms slid around me and he returned my hug. I lifted my face and kissed his neck, squeezing him a little tighter. Gradually, I felt him begin to relax. His tense, taut frame sagged a little and his breathing became deeper before he rested his cheek on the top of my head. “Oh Issy, it’s hopeless,” he sighed. “I’m going to lose everything. I can’t fight this, it’s pointless to try.” He suddenly hugged me to him so hard that I could barely breathe. “But I’ll be damned if I’m losing you. Maybe I can hide some funds—not enough to be missed, and we could emigrate, somewhere remote where Joel can’t find us. We could make our own paradise in the wilderness. In fact, if he has my company and my assets, I doubt he’ll even bother trying. And even if he does, we’ll be too far away from here to be affected by any fallout if those photos get published. What do you say?”

  He sounded excited,
almost childlike, but I couldn’t feel the same. I knew he’d be miserable hiding away and keeping a low profile—he’d done that for so long, trying to evade Joel’s cruel attempts to derail his businesses. It wasn’t fair for him to do it again. And though I wanted to be with Lucas more than anything, did I really want to give up my life to live in the wilderness? Wasn’t Lucas my life now? He was but I feared that the stress and pressure of such a situation would tear us apart anyway. The situation seemed truly hopeless as well as blatantly unfair. I needed time to think it through. “When’s the deadline for you to hand everything over?”

  He looked at his watch. “I have a little over forty eight hours. We could do it, Issy.”

  I didn’t want to crush his enthusiasm. I hated seeing him looking so broken. “Lucas, can we go home now there are others in the building? I think we need to think carefully before we make a decision.”

  He gripped my upper arms and held me at arms’ length, an expression of confusion and hurt upon his face. “What’s there to think about? Besides, I want to stay here to see whether Carter’s crew can uncover anything.”

  I sighed, attempting not to sound exasperated. “What’s the point, Lucas? Does it matter whether you find footage to prove that these rooms had cameras that recorded secretly? Does it really matter how those photographs came into existence? The fact is, they exist and they’re in the hands of a psychotic blackmailer. It doesn’t matter how they got there. Knowing that won’t change the fact that he has you where he wants you. The only thing that matters is what you do when time is up.”

  “It matters to me,” he said, simply. “I want to know how he got hold of them and any other information he’s in possession of. And I want to know who helped him because my gut is telling me that he had inside help. And I want to make them pay as well as Joel. Big time. Even if it takes me years to achieve it.”

  His face had darkened, his eyes were black and glossy—and not in a good way. “So not only are you going to let him have the business you worked so hard for, the wealth that you have accumulated, but you’re also going to let him destroy you through your need for revenge? Lucas, you’ve played that game once. For fuck’s sake, that’s what got you into this mess! If you’d left Joel alone to run your father’s company and ignored his attempts to ruin you, you’d not be in this mess.”

  “Oh, so it’s my fault that I’m being blackmailed?” he spat venomously. “Well, thanks for your support, Issy. The one person I thought I could depend on to get me through this thinks I deserve it.”

  I felt my fists clenching but before I could open my mouth to retort angrily, a loud, deliberate cough sounded from the doorway. We both turned to find Carter, looking uncomfortable yet again. He clearly wasn’t having a good day either.

  “Have you found anything on the tapes?” Lucas demanded.

  “Not exactly, but we’ve found something on a hard drive. You’d better come and see for yourself,” he replied.

  We both made to follow him but he turned and said, “I think it best if just Mr. Hunter came with me, ma’am.”

  Indignation raged inside me and tilted my chin. “Not a chance, Carter. This affects me too.”

  He looked to Lucas and when he didn’t respond, said reluctantly, “As you wish.”

  Chapter Eleven

  I followed them back into the main clubroom and then to the security room which I noted was devoid of anyone else. Carter strode inside and leaned down in front of a monitor, taking the mouse in his large hand. Lucas and I stood either side of him as he clicked open a folder and hovered the cursor over an MP4 file. “Are you sure you want to see this, ma’am?” he asked suddenly.

  “I am,” I replied firmly, although I had begun to wonder whether it was a good idea, given that they were searching for footage of sexual activity that had taken place supposedly in private.

  Without further ado, he double-clicked the file and instantly an image of a woman lying motionless on a bed and covered in a sheet of the deepest red appeared. It could have been Ava; if not, she was very similar in appearance, but it was hard to tell for sure because the room was dimly lit and the camera was obviously some distance away. Then a rear view of a naked man came into the shot. I knew instantly who it was.

  “Pause it and wait outside,” Lucas said, his tone brooking no argument.

  I thought he’d changed his mind and was talking to me but, before I could protest, Carter paused the video and straightened. Without a word, he left the room and closed the door quietly.

  “Issy, I don’t think you should see the content of the video. I’m sure you can work out what it’s likely to contain. The only reason that I want to view it is to see whether it contains the footage on the still photographs that I’ve received, and I think it might. Believe me, I have no desire to view it for any reason other than that,” he said quietly.

  “So that’s Ava then?” I asked, nodding towards the monitor.

  “Yes,” he replied simply, and I felt my stomach begin to churn.

  I knew I shouldn’t. That I probably wouldn’t like what I saw but a part of me wanted to see him in his dominant role with someone else. To see what he did with Ava and maybe compare it to what we did together. That part won out. “I want to watch it. It’s not like I haven’t seen porn before,” I said, attempting to sound nonchalant although my stomach was turning somersaults at an alarming rate.

  I heard him release a long breath but he didn’t move. I thought he was going to overrule me until finally he bent and took the mouse in his hand, clicking the play icon. As the clip played, I noticed that he straightened and kept the distance between us, showing how uncomfortable he was feeling. I briefly wondered whether he knew I was bluffing but I was more interested in what was happening on the video.

  Lucas approached Ava and bestowed kisses across her collarbone as he deftly lifted up her arms with one hand and retrieved a pair of handcuffs with the other. He began to kiss her lips hungrily as he slid one cuff around her wrist. There was no sound but I could almost hear the click when it snapped shut. Ava’s head jerked in recognition of what he’d done but she didn’t show any sign that she didn’t want it. The other cuff was just as smoothly placed around her other wrist and Lucas held them by the chain. I couldn’t see how but he somehow attached the chain to the frame of the bed.

  Then he lifted his head and walked to the foot of the bed where he proceeded to kiss the sole of her foot. She pulled it away hastily—I guessed she was ticklish. Lucas grasped it and kissed it again. Once more she pulled it away. He shook his head and bent down, retrieved something long and slim from under the bed, and attached it to that foot. Then he lifted her other foot and attached that to the other end of what looked like a metal bar. This meant that her feet were held what looked like a meter apart.

  He then bent and kissed her foot again but she didn’t pull away. I couldn’t understand why until I noticed that he’d placed his palm on the bar and was holding it down. He kissed her foot repeatedly, intermittently running his tongue up and down her sole. She was clearly attempting to move away but was unable to do anything but arch her back slightly and thrash her head from side to side. Her lips were moving but I couldn’t tell whether she was admonishing him or begging him to stop. Both probably, given the look of satisfaction that Lucas wore when he finally ceased his tormenting . . . or so I thought.

  He walked over to a cupboard and retrieved something. He had his back to the camera so I couldn’t see at first. When I saw a brief flare of bright light, I guessed he had lit a candle. When a warm glow followed, I knew I was right. He took it over to the bed, a smug smile on his face, and placed it on Ava’s flat stomach. Grinning cockily as he moved away, he returned to the foot of the bed and resumed his assault on her feet. This time only her head moved and I could see the strain of keeping still on her face as she appeared to be clenching her teeth.

  When she’d proved she could do it, Lucas must’ve decided to push it further because he began to suck her big toe
as his fingers tickled the bottom of her foot gently. I saw the toes on her other foot begin to wriggle and then curl over completely as she tried to absorb the sensations. I gasped slightly when my own toes curled but that was nothing compared with the heated, tingling sensation I felt between my legs.

  Lucas must have heard my gasp because he turned to me and demanded to know whether he should turn it off. I felt my cheeks flush as I tried to reassure him that it was okay. I could hardly tell him it was turning me on. Oh my God! Watching him with another woman is arousing me and they’re not even having sex yet! Get a grip, Issy! Why the hell would that turn you on? Because you remember how good it felt when it was your toes he was sucking and nibbling, that’s why. Oh thank fuck for that . . . I’m not a voyeur . . . I’m just jealous that it’s not me . . . I want it to be me!

  Lucas narrowed his eyes, clearly aware that something was going on and I hoped he assumed I was finding it hard to stomach . . . and not that I was getting wet. Oh jeez . . . now I’m getting wet. What’s wrong with me? How the hell will my body react when he’s fucking her?

  I fought hard to remove those thoughts from my head and I’d almost succeeded when Lucas removed his hand from the bar as he licked up the inside of her foot. Immediately, Ava jerked her foot away, pulling the bar and her other foot with it. The candle, which must have been holding quite a lot of hot wax by then, tipped over. The molten wax extinguished the flame as it began to pour down one side of her groin and then continued its escape . . . all the way to her pussy. Her back arched as it ran across her most sensitive of places, cooling and hardening as it went.

  It was over in seconds but the effects on Ava were longer lasting. I could see how rapidly she was breathing but it was the hungry look on her face when she lifted her head and said something to Lucas. He shook his head, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

  “What did she say?” I asked without thinking.