He led the way to a hallway. Cade and Lucien stood outside the room, all looking glum.
“He’s not dead, so stop it!” Jillian snapped, not caring how she sounded. As though on cue, the door opened and a skinny man with red hair and freckles stepped out of the room. He carried a leather bag like old doctors on call.
“His vitals are good,” he said. “The symptoms you listed indicate this wasn’t just one predator drug. They gave him a cocktail of several. I took both blood and urine samples and will have my lab run tests first thing in the morning. Until we know the results, I can’t predict the side effects or how long before they wear off.” He pinched his nose and smiled. “Most often, these drugs are metabolized fast, so it’s a good thing you called me.” He glanced toward the room and added, “It was nice talking to you, Ms. Grayson.”
“No problem, doc,” a woman with a British accent responded.
Rage coursed through Jillian. What was she still doing here? Holding his hand. She pushed her anger down and focused on what the doctor just said.
A predator drug was the polite name for a date rape drug. A cocktail meant Lex had ingested a mixture, each with a different side effect. She’d done stunts in a movie where a rapist used mixtures of drugs. She had no idea how accurate the movie was, but some of the drugs had made the victims hallucinate. Others made them dissociate from reality and not remember anything they did or saw afterward. The movie had made her sick.
“Thanks for coming out, Henry,” Sloan said. “Call us with the results as soon as you get them.”
“No. No, you can’t leave him like that,” Jillian said, nudging Sloan out of the way and blocking the doctor’s path. “I need to know what they gave him tonight.”
The doctor’s eyebrow shot up. “And you are?” Then recognition flashed in his pale blue eyes. “Ah, Ms. Finnegan, I’m sorry—”
“So am I. You can have your lab run the tests tonight and confirm it, so we know for sure that he will be okay. I mean, you said they have different side effects. Combined they might hurt him.”
The doctor scratched his forehead. “Yes. It is rather late—”
“But possible,” she finished, her eyes clinging to his, begging.
“Yes, it is. However—”
“Please. I’ll pay whatever you ask. Just have them run the tests tonight. I have to know that he’ll be okay.” She didn’t care about the woman he’d screwed. Not now.
The doctors glanced at Sloan, then said, “I’ll make the call.”
“Thank you.” She shook his hand. “Thank you so much.” Now for the bitch who thinks she can touch my man.
Jillian slid past the doctor and entered the room. A pretty brunette woman lay on the bed by Lex’s side, stroking his hair away from his face. She wasn’t the woman in the pictures. This one had class oozing out of her pores, from her white designer pants and silk red top to her pearl wristwatch. There was something familiar about her. She had the look of someone who could be on the cover of business magazine with the world CEO by her name.
Jillian cleared her throat and the woman looked up and smiled, but she didn’t move. What the hell was her problem?
“I’ll take you back,” Rake said to someone in the hallway. “Dom and Rod expect me to pick them up from downtown…”
The men’s conversation faded in the background as rage washed over Jillian. “Get up and get the hell out,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Ah, Ms. Finnegan. Nice to finally meet you.” She gave Jillian’s leggings, top, and boots a once-over, probably cataloguing each item and placing a price tag on it.
Jillian was used to such behavior in the Hollywood circle, so she didn’t care. Besides, she’d bought the entire outfit weeks ago while on a shopping spree with Lex. She was rocking designer labels tonight, from boots to scarf.
A derisive smile curled the lips of the British woman as she sat up. “Let this be a lesson to you, dahling. Never let Lex come to Sloan’s parties alone. I never did. They sleep with multiple partners, and what’s the fun in that if you’re not a part of it. This could have been avoided if he were still with me.”
An ex-girlfriend. Great. One into group sex, too. Too bad Jillian wasn’t that generous. She didn’t believe in sharing herself or her man. Lex touched another woman tonight. His ass was toast. But until that was official, he was still hers. She didn’t care that Ms. British had him before. He was hers until she let him go.
Jillian moved closer. “You need to go. Now.”
The woman didn’t look up. “Give me a moment with him,” she snapped.
If she’d asked nicely, Jillian would have let her say her goodbyes. “You have three seconds to get the fuck away from my fiancé or I will kick your ass, bitch.”
“Violent and vulgar. Where did he find you?” Then she grinned. “Oh, how forgetful of me. It’s all over the news. You are the circus rat. Sleep tight, my prince,” she added, leaned down, and pressed a kiss on Lex’s forehead.
Jillian’s hands balled. Just for that…
Taking her time, the woman walked around the bed to where Jillian stood. “You’re pretty, but utterly unsuitable for him. I’ll give your marriage six months, maybe a year. Then he’ll get bored and crawl back to me.” She grinned smugly. “And I’ll be waiting.”
“Then you’ll wait a long time, because he’s already made his choice and it’s me,” Jillian said, her hand closing around a glass behind her on the nightstand. She dumped the entire contents on the woman’s face. “That’s for thinking you have the right to touch and kiss him. No one paws my man.”
While Ms. Grayson sputtered and cursed, Jillian pushed her out of the room and into the arms of Lex’s friends. “Get her away from here or I’ll personally throw her off the island.”
She slammed the door and walked to the bed. For a moment, she stood over Lex and studied his face. He looked so peaceful. So innocent. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about you, but you better wake up soon so I can kick your ass for doing this to me!”
Jillian took the woman’s place, hating the expensive perfume she’d left behind. “I don’t know what the hell happened here tonight, but you’d better have an explanation for the pictures I saw, Lex.” She slipped an arm around him and rested her cheek on his shoulder. “Because no matter how much I love you and want us to work, I’ll leave your sorry ass if you knowingly slept with that woman. But if Warwick—”
Damn, in her anger and jealousy, she’d completely forgotten the bastard who’d done this. Whoever had sent those pictures to the dancers at Eros had received them from someone on this island.
Jillian left the room and followed voices to the living room. Sloan, Cade, and Lucien were cradling their drinks and hurried to their feet when they saw her. The woman was gone, she noted. Good riddance. Jillian wasn’t even going to ask about her or why she’d been at Lex’s bachelor party.
“I want to know everything about Warwick,” she said.
The three men traded glances.
“Don’t,” she said. “Please, do not do that silent communication and give me macho bullshit about Lex telling me everything when he’s ready. Rake already said it, and the only reason I didn’t yell at him was because he was controlling the damn helicopter.” She moved closer. “Lex is in there”—her voice shook, but she didn’t stop—“unconscious because of that psycho Warwick, so I have a right to know what’s going on. Who is Warwick? Why does he hate you guys so much? How can he do all this while behind bars? And what are we going to do to stop him?”
They had poker face down to a science.
Getting frustrated, Jillian focused on Sloan. “The man who danced at my bachelorette party tonight showed me pictures of Lex with a woman in that room.”
“Pictures?” they said in unison.
“Yes,” she snapped. “Of some bimbo all over him. I’d like to believe that he was under the influence of the drugs and that you guys broke down the door to tell him he can’t cheat on me. What are you doing
?” she asked Cade, nearly biting his head off.
“Calling Dom to take the men’s phones,” he said, heading out of the room. “If those pictures got out…”
Lex’s competitors would have a field day, and the whole world would know their marriage was a sham. Jillian sighed. She gave Sloan and Lucien a tiny smile. “You know what? If you don’t want to talk about Warwick, then don’t. I don’t care anymore.”
She turned to walk away.
“Don’t go,” Lucien said.
CHAPTER 12
“Don’t believe what you saw in the pictures,” Lucien said. “The woman was about your height, wore a wig the color of your hair, and Fitz called her Jillian, which wasn’t her name.”
Jillian gave an unladylike snort. “And that’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“The drugs caused him to hallucinate, Jillian.” Sloan spoke slowly and calmly. “He thought the woman was you. I’m sorry we didn’t stop him right away. Lex is not the kind of man you stop when he wants something. Not that he wanted her, you understand,” he added hastily, wincing. “He was in the room with her for… what?” He glanced at Lucien.
“Two minutes. She must have done something to make him realize she wasn’t you,” Lucien said. “He pushed her off him, and she fell and banged her head. Before he blacked out, he yelled to us to find you and help you. He knew that if Warwick could get to him, he could easily get to you.”
She wanted to believe them. God, how she wanted to believe them. “How do you know he pushed her off?”
“She had a bruise on her elbow from hitting the side table,” Lucien answered. “We interrogated the women before letting them go. They were given a list of instructions. What color wig and perfume to wear, what to do and say. She said Lex kept saying she tasted different and her hair wasn’t silky. Even under the influence of those drugs, Fitz knew she wasn’t you.”
Jillian studied their faces, trying to see if they were lying. “Where are they now?”
“We got them off the island,” Lucien said.
“You shouldn’t have done that. I would have loved to talk to them, especially the one who was all over him.” She wanted to run over the bitch with her bike. “I’d still love to talk to her.”
“The cops have them.”
“Oh. I didn’t know you guys dealt with cops.”
Chuckles came from the men. “We are not above the law,” Sloan said.
“Tell me everything about Warwick.”
“Warwick is a serial rapist who terrorized women on campus for two years without anyone knowing about it,” Sloan said. “When a girl came forward and claimed he had raped her, no one believed her.”
“Why not?”
“He was charming, and girls loved him. He also had a steady girlfriend who gave him an alibi,” he said.
A classic sociopath. “He drugged them, too?”
“Yes and used a spermicide. For two years he never made a mistake,” Sloan repeated. “Most of the girls never reported the rape because they blacked out and blamed themselves since they’d been drinking.”
“What happened after two years?” Jillian asked.
“He made a mistake,” Sloan said just as Cade came back into the room.
“Dom wants to run something by you,” Cade said, handing Sloan the phone. Jillian sighed with frustration as Sloan left the room. Now she was never going to hear the rest of the story.
“What did I miss?” Cade asked.
“Sloan was telling Jillian about Warwick,” Lucien said. “We’ll spare you the details. Our fraternity was on a cruise during spring break when we busted Warwick. The girl was dead. They found the bottles of drugs that tied him to the other rapes. We testified against him, and they threw the book at him.”
“How is he hiring dancers? Don’t they freeze murderer’s accounts and throw them in maximum security prisons?” Jillian didn’t realize she was pacing until Sloan entered the room and stopped her in mid-stride.
“Someone is helping him,” Sloan said. “Cops interrogated the two girls and the male dancers. Someone wired money into their accounts, gave them instructions and burner phones to use. All in the last twenty-four hours.”
“Someone close to me is working with Warwick,” Jillian said. “It could be whoever hired these people or someone else. It doesn’t matter. They know personal things about me. What perfume I wear, how I talk to Lex, my favorite tea.” From their expressions, they’d reached that conclusion. “The person might also be the one leaking information about us to reporters. Lex showed me the e-mail Warwick sent. He did that because he knew he could get to me.”
“The police will follow the money and find the people working with Warwick,” Cade added.
“The police take forever. Lex says you are the best in your fields,” Jillian said, her eyes volleying between Cade and Lucien. “Find the traitor, and shut down Warwick.”
“Yes, ma’am,” they said in unison.
She would have smiled at their meek response if the situation wasn’t so scary. Jillian left and went back to the bedroom.
Lex was still out. She sat on the edge of the bed and stroked his cheek, wishing he were awake so she could hear his version of the events. She hated seeing him this vulnerable. Some women might like to see their men helpless and dependent on them, but not her. She liked hers masterful. Challenging her with a look. Controlling her breathing by his mere presence.
She kissed his forehead. “You come back to me, Lex. Whole.”
Instead of lying down, she called her family and spoke with her brothers, then her sisters-in-law about tomorrow. The last call was to her grandmother. Jillian hated that her grandmother was blaming her people for the poison attack when Warwick might be behind it. She felt worse because she couldn’t tell her about him.
Jillian curled up beside Lex and tried not to think about Warwick and how much she hated him. She was falling asleep when there was a knock on the door. It was almost one in the morning.
Sloan was on the other side of the door with the phone in his hand. She tried to read his expression as he handed it to her.
“The doctor,” he said.
Jillian closed the door and brought the phone to her ear. She didn’t understand the medical jargon or the dosage the doctor quoted, but his last sentence filled her with relief.
“He’s strong and healthy, and he should be up and about by tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you, doctor,” she said. “I know I insisted you run these tests tonight, but—”
“You needed answers, Ms. Finnegan,” he said. “I understand completely. Just remember, he might not recall what happened, so go easy with information.”
She didn’t care about the memories from last night. Heck, she didn’t want him to remember. “Thank you for understanding, doctor. Send me the bill, please.” Sloan shook his head, but Jillian ignored him. “To Lex’s address. Do you have it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She gave the phone back to Sloan.
“I appreciate your generosity, Jillian, but I can’t accept it. Send me the bill, Henry,” he said into the phone. Then he hung up. “Before you say anything,” he added when Jillian opened her mouth to protest. “This was my party, so anything that went wrong is my fault and, therefore, my responsibility.” He paused, then said, “Come with me.” He indicated the hallway to his left and grinned. “You need something to sleep in.”
Jillian followed him downstairs to the basement, where he pressed his thumb on a scanner and unlocked a door. “This is my spring collection. I’ll be unveiling a new line in September during Fashion Week.”
September was months away. Jillian looked at the displayed sexy lingerie. Some demure. Others scandalous. She moved from one mannequin to another, wishing she could touch them. Her eyes met Sloan’s. He was enjoying her reaction.
“So no one has seen them?” she asked.
“Only Deedee,” he said. “And now you. Pick whatever you like.”
Jillian’s
jaw dropped. Then she snapped it shut when he chuckled. “Are you serious?”
He walked to a mannequin and undid the belt on a rose-colored silk robe to reveal a two-piece lingerie set. “What do you think of this one?”
“It’s gorgeous.” The silk was the softest she’d ever touched. She moved from mannequin to mannequin. Each piece was different. Whether it was the cut or the placement of the lace. “They all are. Are these going to be available in your stores?”
“Yes, but as my couture line. Each will be unique and unduplicated. You like that one?” He nodded at the one Jillian was stroking.
She nodded, untying the silk belt. The lapels had delicate lace on the hip and shoulders. The robe went down to the ankle, but the sexy baby-doll reached the hips. Jillian let the sleeve caress her skin and sighed. “It’s sexy and elegant.”
“Then it’s yours.”
She shook her head. “Sloan, I didn’t mean to imply I wanted it. As it is, you’ve trusted me with a trade secret. That’s huge and risky.”
“I know you won’t run to the nearest sweat shop and make copies.”
Jillian chuckled.
“But I figured you’ll need something to sleep in tonight and it is the perfect wedding present. So we’re killing two birds with one stone.”
Jillian pressed the silk and lace robe against her cheek. Sloan grinned when she looked at him. “You are too generous.”
He turned, opened a drawer, and pulled out silk panties of the same color as the lingerie. “These should be a perfect fit for you.”
“How do you know my size?”
He shrugged, the corner of his mouth twitching. “I can tell what cup size or panties-size a woman wears by, uh…” He grinned. “Just by looking.”
Jillian’s cheeks grew warm. “That’s terrible. You can’t go around checking out women and imagining them, uh…” She couldn’t bring herself to say naked. Her face was burning.
“Wearing my creation?” Sloan finished. “I think it is a compliment. No matter what shape or size a woman is, I see sexy. A goddess.”
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