––––––––
Kayla grabbed Greg’s wrist and dragged him to the edge of the property between his townhouse and his neighbor’s residence. She rounded on him like a tornado. “Why are you lying about the knife?”
He stood in front of her, mute. He’d never lied to Kayla before. Well, not often. “This is why you dragged me out here?”
She rubbed a fisted hand with her other as if she considered hitting him. “Did you lose the knife or was it taken?”
“Fuck, I hate you sometimes.”
“You son-of-a-bitch! Tell me.”
The rest of their conversation flared into en français.
She stepped into his space, anger boiling in her eyes. “Where did you lose the knife?”
He turned his back on her, regret flaring to life. During their years together it hadn’t been all lust and roses. They’d fought. Always with words, but it had been brutal at times.
Kayla faced off with him again. “Where, Greg?”
“At a club, okay?”
“What kind of club?”
He pushed his fingers through his hair. “Does it matter?”
“Yes,” she fired back. “It matters. Of course, it matters.”
“Do you need to know every corner and crease of my life?”
She gritted her teeth and said, “I thought I was every corner of your life, but maybe I wasn’t. What are you hiding from me?”
He wound his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her closer. “The place I used to vent my emotions. Don’t ask any more questions.”
“What are you talking about?” She wasn’t backing down, she was getting angrier.
“I went to a club after Diana broke up with me.”
Kayla sneered like he was a low life. “What type of club? A strip bar? Seriously? That’s so tacky.”
Mattie appeared from behind a rhododendron with Austen close behind. “Sorry, the Admiral was translating for me. Greg, you can’t hide a key piece of evidence. Diana was murdered with that knife. Where exactly did you lose it?”
He threw his hands in the air and glared at Kayla. “My fucking sex life is none of your business anymore.”
He only got a couple steps away when she gripped his arm. “Don’t you dare walk away from me. Your life is my business.” She stabbed him in the chest. “So you got drunk and watched strippers. Big deal, Greg. Guys do that. I’m not a Puritan. I get it.”
Austen cleared his throat loud enough to stop everyone. “Don’t think it was a strip club.”
“What?” Kayla spouted. “What else is there?”
He glared at Austen, daring him to say another word. They may have mended some fences, but the SEAL was treading in dark waters.
Austen started to chuckle and then rolled into out and out laughter. “You better tell her and be done with it. You know how she is, she’ll sit on top of you until you do.”
She looked between them. Then over at Mattie. “Do you understand this? Because I sure as hell don’t.”
Mattie shook her head. “No.” Her brows came together. “A club,” she repeated. “So you went to a club. But why did you have your knife with you? I thought you said it was in this Go Bag.”
Greg let out a chest full of air and scrubbed his face. Austen watched him with a smug look. Greg wasn’t going down alone. He’d take that smug fucker Austen down with him. “Don’t fucking tell me you’ve never been to one?”
Austen stopped laughing immediately. “I didn’t say that, and besides you’re on the hangman’s platform not me.”
“Stop it, you two. You’re being stupid,” Kayla barked.
The Admiral groaned as if he’d suddenly been hit with an epiphany. “It would make sense, wouldn’t it?” he said to Greg. “We spoke of it before. The women could have been kept there.”
“Where, there?” she demanded and clenched her hands.
Greg slowly turned his gaze on her. Swallowed thickly, then said, “A BDSM club.”
As usual, she was about to say something when her mouth opened but nothing came out. She jerked her head. “A what?”
“Dog and Tasker frequent the club. They have for years. A long time ago, they brought me as a guest.”
“Those fucking assholes.” She looked like she was about to spit up a lung.
He lifted his hand to stop her from going into a rant. “Kayla, it isn’t as uncommon as you think. Especially for men like us.”
Kayla whirled around and gawked at her husband.
“Listen, sweetheart. Men—” Austen attempted to fend off with an excuse.
“Ohhhh,” she shouted. “Men what? Don’t give me men stuff.” She whirled around and punched Greg in the arm. “You hurt women? I can’t believe you. I can...not...believe this. No, I will not accept this.”
Greg slapped a hand to his forehead. “Would you fucking calm down?”
She hauled off and hit him again. Course it didn’t hurt. Mattie stood beside Austen looking like she wanted to spit out something distasteful from her mouth.
Greg stared at the woman he’d cared for and betrayed for so many years. But he’d done it for her. To save her. “Both of you just take a step back and calm down.”
Kayla’s eyes were sparking with anger. “How...how could you go to a place like that knowing Daniel beat the crap out of me?”
He gripped her shoulders. “That’s not what it’s about. Help me out here,” he said to Austen.
Austen had his hand over his mouth and rippled his brows. “I kinda like seeing that halo tossed off your head.”
The whole situation was getting ridiculous in a funny kind of way, until Kayla said, “Did Daniel go to this club?”
The world came to a shuddering halt. She didn’t belt him again, she stepped away as if he was poison.
“Greg.” She looked horrified. “Did he?” Her hands covered her mouth to stop a scream. “He, he didn’t only hit me. He... he cheated on me and hurt other women for pleasure?”
Oh God in heaven. What point was there for her to dig into this?
Kayla’s face crumpled like an accordion. Her arms draped by her sides, her shoulders sagged. “Daniel accused you and I, Greg, of being unfaithful.”
He gave a small nod. “I know.”
“We weren’t.”
“I know.”
“How long was he unfaithful to me?”
He desperately wished they didn’t have an audience but Austen would be the man to pick her up after she knew the truth.
And Mattie...he didn’t know what Mattie could possibly think, being witness to all this, but the chances were pretty good she’d hate him. When she’d told him about Stuart being involved in the alternative lifestyle, she seemed sickened by the thought.
“Angel Face.” Greg’s heart hammered in his chest seeing the tears of angst well in her eyes. “I thought after the guys introduced me to the lifestyle that maybe Daniel would stop hurting you if he could direct his anger. Control it by accepting what it means to be a Dom. His PTSD changed everything.”
“You. You...” She swallowed and lowered her head. “You suggested he should be unfaithful to me?”
He didn’t have any answer for that. Not one he wanted to voice, but Austen did it for him as he stepped behind Kayla and wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m guessing he did it because he wanted Daniel to leave you.”
She took a stuttering breath but wouldn’t take her burning gaze off of him.
“Sweetheart.” Austen bent and tucked his head next to his wife. “Kayla, I think he did it to save your life because he loved you, not because he wanted to hurt you. You wouldn’t leave Daniel. He kept hurting you, but you remained loyal to him. If Greg couldn’t convince you to leave, I think he did this hoping Daniel would.” He embraced her. “Can you understand?”
“I do. And it’s wrong.” Her voice cracked. “Why did you do this? Why did you hurt women?”
“That’s not what—”
“Bullshit!” She yelled loud enough tourists on the Victoria waterfront could hear. Her brow crushed with pain. “Bullshit, Greg. Your father abused your mother. How could you ever lay a hand on a woman and not see the dangerous waters you’re walking into?”
“It’s not. I...I...” He closed his eyes for a moment. Not able to explain himself. Praying the past would evaporate. All of it. Including his choices. Every wrong decision he’d made.
Kayla struggled against her husband and he let her go. “Don’t. Don’t you fucking dare try and tell me there is anything right with dominating another human being. And I’m disgusted to know you did this too, Thane. You did, didn’t you?”
Austen swallowed and stood to his full height. He ran his hand across the back of his neck and set a chilling look on his wife. “Before we met. Yes.”
Kayla stormed across the lawn. “Let’s go, Mattie.”
Mattie gave Greg a look over her shoulder. “She’s right. It’s fucking stupid to hurt someone else.”
Greg closed his eyes and sighed. “It was consensual.”
“Thanks to you, we’re both in the shit now.” Austen wandered toward him.
“How the hell did that happen? I meant to take that to the grave.”
“Because my wife has the instincts of a wolf. Besides that, at least now we know that the killer must have visited the BDSM club. What’s it called?”
“Dark Angel. It’s an elite club here in Victoria. Only one of its kind.”
“Then we’re going.”
The wind off the ocean wrapped around them with icy fingers. “Are you fucking crazy? Bad enough I just cut her open and made her bleed with something she never should have known. I’m not taking you there.”
“Yes, you are. We have to find a familiar face. One that belongs to a murderer.”
“Are you going to tell Kayla?”
“Have you lost it, JTF? Of course I’m not. She’d fucking skin me alive, even if it’s for recon.”
“How long should we let them cool down?” he asked, sitting on the bench by the back door. Lowering his head, he grabbed the back of his neck with both hands.
Austen chuckled. “Eventually, she’ll get over her desire to drown you in the harbour and then give you the bawling out of your life. Not sure what Mattie’s thinking, but I don’t suspect you earned any brownie points with her. She’s not too happy about it either.” He paused. “Look at the bright side, JTF. Better you know now, than trying to tie her wrists to the bed post and she kicks you in the nuts.”
Greg sat back and started to laugh at the image. Austen was right. “How many of us do you think keep this from the women we fall in love with?”
He pondered on the fact he’d done it for years. Always after deployment or a hard mission. He’d gone to the club for a good reason.
Austen shrugged. “Probably more than what we talk about. The clubs are hopping in San Diego.” He leaned back and crossed his arms. “I’m not going to judge you. I was right about why you brought Daniel into the lifestyle, wasn’t I?”
He turned a look at Austen. “Yes, but it didn’t work. Even though my brother beat his wife, he loved her. In that twisted mind of his, he loved her, even though he hurt her.”
Austen’s brows drew together, and then he blinked.
“What?”
Austen stood up and cocked a look over his shoulder. “So does the Ripper. He loves them, but then...what? He’s looking to replace someone.”
“Who?”
“We need to find him to ask him that question. You ever seen Sergeant Montgomery at the club?”
“I don’t even know what he looks like. But....”
“But what?” Austen narrowed an eye. “But you recognize one of the women, don’t you?”
He nodded and let out a breath. “The first victim. Aimee. I saw her at the club once. Least I think it was her.”
The Admiral grinned. “We’re on the right track. The Ripper took your weapon and used it on his victims. The question is whether or not he’s a friggin’ cop.”
After ten minutes, they wandered inside, but there was no sign of the women or the kids.
“Kayla!” Greg shouted. He shot a look at the key plaque on his wall then walked into the garage and saw his car was gone.
“She stole my car.”
“They’ll be all right. I’ve got the rental. Kayla needs to cool off.”
“Do you think she’ll forgive me?”
Austen pulled his jacket from the closest and threw his arms into the sleeves. “It’s Kayla, of course she will, but you’re gonna get one helluva lecture when she’s ready.”
“I won’t be alone.”
Austen rolled his eyes. “Come on, I’ll buy ya dinner and a Dark Matter, and then we’ll head to the club.”
Greg shrugged his coat over his shoulders. “You really got a love affair going on with that beer, don’t ya?”
Austen held open the door and grinned. “When I fall in love with something, I keep it forever.”
Greg rolled his eyes. “I have no idea what she sees in you. You’re a fucking dick.”
Austen broke into a gruff chuckle as Greg locked the front door.
* * * *
Kayla put a heavy foot on the gas pedal as she drove past the Parliament Buildings. Christmas lights had been strung from peak to pinnacle along its regal architecture. Fountains flowed with alternating colors of red and green on the front lawn. There weren’t many people on the road with the drizzle layering the city in a wet sheet.
“Sure you don’t want me to drive?” Mattie asked. Sloane and Adam were strapped in their car seats in the back. Kayla’s foot relaxed a little on the gas, and so did she. “Why don’t we go to my place?”
Kayla gripped the wheel with both hands. “Because somebody left a body part in your fridge.”
“Okay, then where?”
“Nina’s parents. They’re going to babysit.”
“Nina?” She held onto the arm rest when Kayla hung a right onto Royal Oak from the highway, then a left onto Lockside Drive.
“She followed me to San Diego. We worked together for many years.”
“She’s in the Navy?”
Kayla nodded. “She married Mace. He’s a Navy SEAL.”
“Is it true what they say about the SEALs and the JTF guys?”
Kayla’s eyes narrowed. “That they’re assholes?”
Mattie shoulder checked the back seat. Both Sloane and Adam sat quietly as if they knew their mom was upset and they shouldn’t fuss. Kayla didn’t seem the type of woman who’d run away, but sometimes you needed space to keep your sanity. She’d cool down and everything would be fine.
Mattie watched the traffic lights flash by. “I’m not the type of person to judge someone’s choices, but do you think that lifestyle is what Greg needs?”
“He needs a two by four across the back of his head.” Kayla blew out a breath and relaxed a little in the driver’s seat. She flashed a look at Mattie. “Listen, I can’t condone the lifestyle. Not with what I lived through. I don’t know why anyone would seek pain. It’s nuts. And from where I stand, I’ll be as judgmental as I damn well please after having the crap kicked out of me by the man who was supposed to love me.”
She sat stiffly beside Kayla, not knowing what to say. Her roommate, Mary, would know what to do. She worked crisis cases all the time. “When Stuart asked me for a date, he admitted he was into BDSM. I told him I wasn’t.”
“Obviously, you’re an intelligent woman.”
All the homes in the area were worth millions of dollars. Living in this community meant Nina’s parents were well-to-do. Kayla slowed and turned into a driveway with a ten foot high wrought iron gate across the entrance.
“Mattie, I know what Greg will say. And it’s the same for all of them. When men like Thane, Greg, the guys on the teams come home, it’s hard for them to adjust to civilian life. They’ve been running on high adrenaline sometimes for months. Live or die. Jacked-up on the mission, and for whatever twisted reason, they go to the clubs and use it as a stepping stone to come down off their deployments.” She turned in her seat and ran her hand through Sloane’s silky curls. “Thane may have gone to the clubs out of curiosity, but he’d never do it now. And I know why Greg does it.”
“You do?”
“Probably. Because he grew up in the same house as his brother. Saw what he saw. He was a victim as well, but he channeled his rage, and I’m guessing that’s where he lets it go.”
“I see.” Mattie stared out the side window, her heart sinking. Greg hadn’t hurt her at all when they’d been together. Could he turn into his brother one day? Become violent?
“I know what you’re thinking.” Kayla rested a hand over hers. “Greg is not like his brother. He never was.”
Mattie blinked and faced her. “If you could do things all over again...would you? Would you pick Greg?”
Kayla gazed out the window. “I asked myself that question a million times.” She shrugged. “I couldn’t answer it until I met Thane. I never would have left Canada if it wasn’t for Daniel. I would have never met Thane. I would never want to live through those years again that I spent with Daniel, but because I did, that bold, brazen Navy SEAL I married changed my life. Gave me life,” she said and checked on the kids. “After all these years, I guess my answer would have to be no.” Kayla hopped out of the car and pressed a button on a box attached to a soaring brick pillar.
“Tonya, it’s Kayla.”
“Oh my God, Kayla, what a surprise! Come in,” the voice returned from the call box.
The stylish gates began to open and Kayla got back in the car. “The kids will be safe here.”
“And what about us? We’re not staying?” Mattie asked, as they slowly drove down a weaving park-like drive toward a mansion.
“No. We’ll say hello but we’re going to do some research of our own.” Kayla circled a massive oval garden and stopped in front of two looming front doors.
“Where?”
“The club Greg was talking about.”
Mattie gulped, her throat restricting in fear. “What? I don’t want to go to one of those places.”
“Neither do I, but there’s a killer there and he’s using the place to vent his angst between murders.”
“How do you know that?”
Kayla threw the car into park and shut off the ignition. One of the massive front doors swung open and a bright light shone from inside. A woman in her late fifties stepped onto the landing.
“Because that lifestyle draws you in and never lets you go.”
“I don’t think they’re all bad people,” Mattie argued. “Stuart, he isn’t...wasn’t bad.”
“I don’t think they are either, but one in particular has gone off the rails.”
She wanted to dissuade Kayla from the idea, but didn’t think she’d have a chance. They got out and met Nina’s mother, who instantly took Sloane and Adam and hugged them fiercely, then invited Kayla and Mattie inside.
The house was amazing. Nina’s father, Lloyd, wasn’t home yet. Kayla had explained he was a surgeon with a busy practice.
Kayla visited for an hour and Mattie was extremely impressed because she could talk without showing one drop of the anxiety. She also got the idea that Nina’s mom was like a second mother to her. They talked openly and easily together. They must have known each other for years. Tonya didn’t bat an eye when Kayla explained she was here visiting Greg. They all must have known each other.
“Mattie, how do you know Kayla? I recognize you, by the way, from your column in the newspaper,” Tonya said.
In the last month, she’d found out the hard way, she apparently couldn’t hide her inner thoughts from people. Channeling an easy going aura, she said, “We met through Greg.” Which was the truth.
Tonya’s expression lit with a smile. “Are you saying you and Greg are seeing each other?”
“Not exactly.”
Kayla’s gaze drifted to her, and a slight rise of her brow made her revise her statement.
“We met recently. We really haven’t spent a lot of time together because of my work.”
Nina’s mom didn’t buy it for a second. “Kayla,” she said with a motherly tinge to her name. “The reason you’re here has nothing to do with the Victoria Ripper, does it?”
Kayla gave her a cheeky smile. “What would make you say that?”
Tonya tilted her head. “Because Greg’s last girlfriend was murdered and he was held for questioning.”
Crap. Jig was up.
“All a misunderstanding,” Kayla said without missing a beat.
“I suppose I get to babysit these beautiful children.” Tonya hugged Sloane who sat in her lap.
“Would you mind?”
“Just so happens we have a spare room for children. I’ll feed them and put them to bed.”
“Sure ya will. They’ll be sleeping in yours, I bet.”
She chuckled and lifted Sloane, who sucked her thumb happily. “Probably, but I love when my grandchildren visit and my adopted grandchildren as well.”
Kayla rose and kissed Tonya on the cheek. “We better get going.”
“Love you, Kayla, dear.”
“Love you too, Tonya. I don’t know what I would have done without you over the years.”
Tonya waved to them as they got in the car.
“She’s sweet,” Mattie said.
“She’s an amazing lady, really. Then again, her daughter is my best friend.”
“Kayla, I’m not sure we should go to this club. I don’t want to sound like a tight-ass, but people know me in this town. I don’t want to be associated with some BDSM club.”
“I’m sure you don’t. I think these places have a strict policy about privacy, and I’m not even sure I can get us in.”
Mattie doubted that big time and clutched her purse to her chest while her leg jiggled like a jackhammer on speed. “How do you even know where to go?”
“Already texted Tasker, one of Greg’s team members. He told me where it was. Let’s get a quick bite to eat before we submerse ourselves in the world of submissives.”
“Yeah, food works for me. Maybe I can get you drunk and convince you this is a bad idea.”