Diablo Blanco Club 1, Unfair Advantage

by Qwillia Rain

  “Oh God.” Richard leaned back in the sofa, his face pale.

  “Neighbors had called the police. They arrived with an ambulance in time to find Lawrence curled around Lyssa in the closet, holding onto the rifle.”

  “If Mattie was eleven, then Lyssa was—”

  “Seventeen.”

  A soft cry from the bedroom had both men on their feet and across the room. Still curled in the center of the bed, Lawrence shifted restlessly beneath the covers.

  “Listen, I’m going to take her home.” Bryce was careful to keep his voice quiet.

  Richard nodded. “I’ll head out too.”

  “We’ll have to—”

  His friend waved him off. “No more until she says she’s ready, Bryce.”

  Another whimper from the bed had Bryce moving into the shadowed room. “Yes. We’ll wait.” Settling onto the mattress, he brushed the hair from his wife’s cheeks. He didn’t pay attention to the sound of Richard collecting his belongings or the whisper of the elevator as he left. Gathering a T-shirt from the dresser, he tugged it on, then his socks and boots. Pulling an extra blanket from the closet, he bundled Mattie up. “Let’s get you home, baby.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Mattie.”

  Dana’s voice from her doorway had Mattie raising her head. The swimmy feeling was slow to dissipate, but she smiled at the receptionist. “Yes?”

  “I’m heading down to sandwich shop for some lunch. Would you like me to pick anything up for you?”

  Mattie’s cheeks heated at the memories of the weekend. Richard’s reference to her being the filling in his and Bryce’s sandwich skittered through her mind again, before memories of the nightmare that turned everything upside down prodded her. Bryce had been very careful with her all day yesterday. It had her unnerved and scared that he’d begun rethinking her suitability as his sub. Forcing her thoughts to the present, she nodded, reaching for the drawer she stored her purse in. “Yes, could you get me a ginger ale and a tuna on wheat.”

  “No pepper jack cheese and spicy Italian?” Dana teased as she crossed the carpet and collected the five-dollar bill Mattie held out to her.

  Shaking her head, Mattie grimaced. “No, my stomach is giving me fits today. I’m hoping something bland will help settle it.”

  “Hmmm, is it possible…?” Dana suggested, her eyebrows wiggling up and down suggestively.

  Fighting the fear that had been growing over the last few weeks, she shook her head. “Not likely, I assure you.” Although as soon as you head out, I’ll be checking out the box in my bag.

  “Oh, I almost forgot.” Dana turned back to face her. “Mark Conlin is on his way up he wanted to talk to Bryce about something.”

  “Bryce is going to be with his brother at least another two hours,” Mattie reminded her.

  Dana nodded. “I know. I told him that, but he was adamant that he talk to someone, so he asked to speak to you.”

  Cursing silently at the delay, Mattie worked to keep her expression unconcerned. “No problem. I’ll keep an eye out for him while you’re gone.” With luck, she’d have five minutes…

  “Perfect timing, Mr. Conlin.” She heard Dana’s greeting through her open door and slid her bag back into the drawer and shut it.

  Rising, Mattie was careful to take a steadying breath and wait until her head stopped spinning before moving away from her desk. As Mark Conlin crossed the threshold of her doorway, she fixed a polite smile on her lips and held her hand out. “It’s nice to see you again.”

  “And you.” The man smiled, his friendliness genuine, as he gripped her hand and returned her handshake.

  “So, you can see my concerns,” he told her twenty minutes later. Mark opened the sheaf of papers to several highlighted pages. “My attorney showed me this. At first, I assumed it was an error. When I said that, my attorney assured me it couldn’t be. The wording was too precise and subtle.”

  Reading through the passages, even with her limited understanding of legalese, she could see the discrepancy. “You realize what you’re losing out on by showing me this, don’t you?”

  He nodded. “I know, but that isn’t the way I do business, and I have far too much respect for Bryce and this company to let this go.”

  “I’m sure your attorney advised against you showing this to us.”

  “Gil has been with me since the beginning. He knows how I feel about this, and I wouldn’t be using him as my legal representative if he was willing to let something this damaging slide.” He chuckled, his long fingers ruffling his cinnamon-colored hair. “Heck, he was the one demanding I get my ass over here and show it to you as soon as we found it. I made him wait while we did a little investigating.”

  “How long have you known about this?”

  “Almost a month.”

  Mattie was sure her suspicions were apparent on her face. His expression and the comments he’d made convinced her he’d read her correctly.

  “I know I should have brought this to you sooner, but I wanted to make sure I knew who was behind it.”

  “Did you suspect someone at your company?”

  “No. Yours.”

  Looking down at the documents spread over the conference table in front of her, Mattie could see where Halsey’s staff would come under suspicion before Conlin’s. The damage to Halsey’s wasn’t irreparable, but they could have been enough to bring the board against Bryce, since it was his idea to absorb Conlin’s company.

  Recognizing what repercussions it could have on the company, Mattie immediately dialed Richard’s office. “Are you going to be there for a few minutes?”

  “Sure. I don’t have to leave for my meeting this afternoon. It was canceled.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Turning to Mark, she explained, “Since Bryce isn’t due back until later this afternoon, Richard should be able to help you get this taken care of.”

  “Aren’t you curious about who did this?”

  Mattie shook her head. “I have a good idea who may have been behind the plan, but since the primary attorney working on the contract was Victor Prommer, I’m pretty sure he’s the one who altered the stipulations.”

  He chuckled. “Bryce always said you were hard to keep up with.”

  That surprised her. “He did?”

  Mark pulled his papers together and placed them neatly in the folder. “Yes. If I’m lucky, I figure I’ll find a sub as challenging as you one day.”

  “Sub?”

  He looked at her, head tilted to the side. “I’ve been a member of the Club for just over five years, about the time Bryce and Richard began my training.”

  She shouldn’t have been so surprised, Mattie decided as she and Mark headed for Richard’s office, the files he’d brought tucked under his arm. Many of Bryce’s business associates were involved with the Diablo Blanco Club.

  Seeming to understand her need to change the subject, Mark smiled at her. “You know, I never did thank you.”

  “For what?” Mattie pulled her mind from the mental search she’d been doing to determine if Mark Conlin had ever been present at the Club when she and Bryce had been there.

  “R and D. I don’t think any of my people or I would have thought of that little stipulation if you hadn’t mentioned it to me. You didn’t have to make the suggestion, and I guess when I found out about the discrepancies in the contract, I felt I owed you something.”

  “The research you started three years ago was decades ahead of the others out there. I would hate to see it go to waste.” Mattie shrugged.

  “Still, I appreciate it.”

  * * *

  After leaving Mark with Richard, Mattie hurried back to her office. Dana still hadn’t returned so she grabbed her bag and made a beeline for the private bathroom adjoining her office. The facilities boasted a full-sized tiled shower with frosted glass door, gray-veined marble vanity, sink, and toilet. Plush burgundy rugs dotted the cool ivory and burgundy-trimmed tiled floor.

&
nbsp; Twenty minutes later, the little pink plus sign taunted Mattie as she stared in disbelief at the pregnancy test stick. “Damn it,” she groaned, allowing her head to rest against the cool marble of the sink beside her.

  It could be wrong, a tiny voice inside tried to reassure her.

  Not when it’s the third positive result.

  Looking into the mirror above her, Mattie smiled wanly. Fate had a decidedly nasty sense of humor, she determined as she examined the pale cheeks and trembling lips facing her. She could count on one hand the times Bryce hadn’t worn protection when making love with her. And the single incident where the condom failed. Other than that she’d been very careful. But not careful enough, obviously.

  The bare expanse of skin revealed by the V-neck cut of her blouse taunted her. If he’d given her his collar, this would have been different. If she were more confident of his feelings, this wouldn’t require the decision before her.

  * * *

  Bryce watched from the doorway as Victor focused on the computer screen, his fingers clicking through commands. He wondered if the man was trying to erase evidence of his betrayal or merely trying to appear industrious. Not really caring either way, Bryce stepped inside and signaled the security guards to remain outside the open door. “You need to collect your coat and leave, Victor.”

  Startled, Victor looked up, his face going pale.

  Bryce wasn’t sure if it was the expression on his face or the sight of the guards that had the younger man frightened, but he really didn’t care.

  “Excuse me?” Victor tried to bluff.

  Bryce shot him down. “Any personal items you leave behind will be returned to you after security has examined them.”

  “You can’t—”

  Bryce laughed. “Trust me, Victor. I can and I will.”

  “I signed a contract.”

  “Which clearly stated that immediate termination was possible if an employee is found to be soliciting or selling information that could be ruinous to Halsey’s or any of its interests,” Bryce paraphrased. “I hope Lionel and Frieda paid you well, because other than your prorated salary for this month, you won’t get another dime. We’ve also reported your actions to the bar association’s ethics committee.”

  Watching Victor, Bryce added, “You let your ego overrule your intelligence.”

  “In what way?”

  “When you weren’t caught feeding information to outside companies, you thought you could worm your way into my office through my executive assistant.” Bryce shook his head. “You should thank your lucky stars she never heard the particulars of that ridiculous wager you started.”

  That seemed to annoy Victor. The flush of red stealing up his throat and into his face betrayed his anger. “What about your wife?”

  “What about her?”

  “Is she being told to pack up her things and hit the road?” Victor sneered.

  “She’s never betrayed this company, Victor. You have.”

  Victor’s laughter was taunting. “You think she’s so innocent, why don’t you ask her who put the idea in Conlin’s head about taking the position in research and development? Hell, he probably screwed her too to get—”

  Bryce’s voice overrode Victor’s. “I can deal with you trying to steal money from my company and destroy what my family has spent almost two hundred years building. That's just business.”

  Victor gave a weak grin. “Glad you see it that way. No hard feel—”

  His words were cut off when the air stopped flowing. The clasp of Bryce’s hand around his throat squeezed off the faint squeak of protest. To make sure the little bastard heard him, Bryce leaned forward. From the expression of fear on Victor’s face, the heat in his green eyes must have belied the ice in his voice. “But one more word about my wife, and not only will you be looking for another job, you’ll be looking for a new career, Victor.”

  The look in Victor’s eyes warned that he wasn’t willing to listen to reason. He tried to speak. “You don’t know about her past. She’s convinced you—”

  Bryce's hand around his throat cut off more than his words. “When you target my woman. My. Wife. In your little schemes. That's where I draw the line, Mr. Prommer. She is mine. To protect, to care for, and to honor. And the machinations of a dried-up harridan and a slimy wannabe lothario can result in much more than a lost job if she is harmed in any way.

  “Know one thing, Victor. You will never work in this state again. If you haven't handed your keys to the security guards here and left the building by the time I return to my office, there won't be a job available to you anywhere in this country.”

  Not trusting himself to keep from harming the young fool, Bryce nodded to the two security guards to watch Victor. “Tell me when he’s left the building. I’ll be in my office.”

  It had all been so anticlimactic, Mattie thought as she shut the door to her office and settled behind her desk. The discovery of the problems in the Conlin merger contract had set the wheels spinning. As if choreographed, information had been collected and a special board meeting arranged. Having just left the meeting, Mattie wondered at what would happen next. The machinations of the Makepeaces and their hiring of Victor had been presented to the board. In just twenty minutes, all the reasons Bryce had asked her to marry him, every obstacle her presence was supposed to alleviate, were wiped away. With Frieda and Lionel losing their seats, the primary opponents to Bryce replacing his father were removed.

  She smiled at the irony. In twenty minutes, Bryce had everything he wanted, including a baby.

  And she was left wanting something more.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “We’re going to the Club after dinner,” Mattie told Lyssa as they dried their hands in front of the mirror. Dinner at La Paloma had been a treat provided by Jacob to celebrate the removal of the Makepeaces from the board of directors. He’d included Lyssa in the party, adamantly insisting she deserved to participate since he considered her family. With the meal over and desserts having been ordered, Mattie and her sister had escaped to the ladies’ room.

  “Are you asking me to come along?” Lyssa teased.

  Mattie started to laugh, but the smile faded as she spotted the older woman standing behind her sister. The ladies’ room door was just sliding shut. “Hello, Mrs. Makepeace.” She offered a brief nod.

  “Bryce thinks he’s so smart, doesn’t he?” Frieda snarled. The smooth, unlined skin of her face attested to the skills of her plastic surgeon, but the bitter look in her watery blue eyes undermined any beauty she’d paid for.

  “I don’t—”

  “You have no place in our world.” Her gaze dropped to Mattie’s bare neck. “He hasn’t even staked his claim, and you think you can ruin my life. Everything I’ve worked for.” Frieda turned on Lyssa. “And you, you’re just an overpaid seamstress.” Shaking her head, she sniffed. “You’re trash. Refuse dropped from the belly of a whore.”

  The smile lifting her lips was frightening enough that Mattie actually took a step back, trying to put distance between her and the older woman. Her sister moved with her.

  “He doesn’t know your secret, does he?” Frieda taunted. “Murdering little bitches like you have no place here, and as soon as the Halseys see you two for what you are, you’ll be out of my hair. Gone.” Pulling the door open, she snorted. “And good riddance.”

  Mattie didn’t know what to say. Standing, shaking, beside her sister, she fought to breathe normally.

  The flush of a toilet shattered the silence, startling Mattie and her sister. Stunned, Lyssa and Mattie watched as the blonde from the Club stepped out of a stall. Moving past them, she began washing her hands.

  “I wouldn’t pay any attention to the old bitch.”

  “Excuse me?” Lyssa gasped.

  Drying her hands, she leaned against the countertop and shrugged. “Frieda has been sniffing after Jacob Halsey for decades.”

  “What does that have to do…?” Lyssa began.

  Feel
ing unsteady, Mattie moved to take a seat on the tiny sofa in the waiting area, her eyes repeatedly going to the diamond necklace around the woman’s throat.

  “She strikes back at anyone or anything connected to the Halseys.” Dropping the paper towels into the wastebasket, she crossed her arms over her breasts. “I should have remembered that when I accepted the invitation she sent me to the retirement party.”

  Shaking her head, she followed Lyssa to take a seat on one of the two remaining chairs. “As soon as I saw Char acting up, I knew it was a mistake. But I have to admit, you did scare her when you walked up to her in the middle of the party while she was hanging all over Bryce and told her you’d pull her arms out and beat her with them if she didn’t leave your husband alone.”

  Mattie recalled the comment she’d made to the drunken model. “I didn’t mean it,” she began, but the other woman’s laughter filled the room, warming the chill Frieda’s vindictive speech had left behind.

  “God, I was hoping you did. The way that tramp tries to steal men from other women, not to mention masters from subs, she’d deserve everything she got and more.” Leaning forward, she settled her hand over Mattie’s and gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze. She reached up and removed the necklace from around her throat. “Listen, this means nothing to Bryce.” Holding it in her hand, she stared at it a moment before tucking it into the tiny purse dangling from a gold chain over her shoulder. “None of the women he gave these trinkets to meant anything to him. As for Frieda’s comments about not being claimed”—she motioned to the rings on Mattie’s fingers—“those are a truer sign of Bryce’s ownership than any bit of glitter he may have handed out before.”

  Watching carefully, Mattie tried to believe what the woman was telling her, but even she could see a hint of doubt in the beautiful blonde woman’s eyes. Knowing how she’d tried to alleviate her doubts, Mattie couldn’t begrudge her the attempt. “Thank you.”