Page 35 of Chandelier Enthralled
“They had you sign an NDA.”
“I was going to tell you. Just needed to be sure itwasthe extension I designed.”
“The High Chamber?”
“And their grand hall. I gave them the blueprints and they paid me.”
“I thought you had to see the place?”
“No.”
“I knew you were a member of the club way before us. But didn’t think you were connected other than that.”
“I received an invitation. Which meant I could bring you and Jake in.”
“That was you on the dais?”
“Yes.”
“Fuuuuck.”
I should have had the decency to flinch, but I was too hungover.
“You witnessed Lance’s murder?” he asked.
As did he, with both of us powerless to stop it. By the time we realized what was happening, it was over.
I couldn’t scrub that vision from my brain. “That was the first time I’d been up there.”
“Right.” I heard the doubt in his tone.
“I never saw the sixth floor until the day you went up there, Atticus. I bribed one of the Doms so I could be him for the evening. I followed you—couldn’t let you go up there alone.” I shrugged. “And there you were, walking in with two dominatrices, each on a leash. Me on the dais. If they’d threatened to hurt you, I’d have interceded. You know that.”
“When did you realize it was your blueprints?”
“After you mentioned the elevator led to a secret sixth floor. It was too much of a coincidence.”
“Why didn’t you say something then?”
Self-hate riled within me. “I was waiting for the right time. The optics were not good.”
“That you were hired by Pendulum?”
“I redesigned the upper floor.” I caressed my aching chest. “Structurally nothing changed. So I went with it.”
“Greyson, we knew what we were dealing with.”
“I gave a piece of my soul to them.” My hand flew up in frustration. “I wastheirarchitect. The man who created a space for their depravity.”
Atticus looked thoughtful. “I’d have taken their money and then bulldozed the place.”
I gave a nod of approval. “With them in it.”
“I don’t understand why you didn’t say something sooner.”
“I was going to. That same night when you found me talking with Jewel and Amelia. Jewel threatened to hurt her if I told you anything.”
“That club has been around for decades,” he said sharply. “You merely polished the sanctum.”
