Page 66 of Bling

Chapter Fifteen

Garrett walked into the conference room at Solitaire and took his place next to Lance, who was lost in something on his laptop as usual.

“It sounds like you’ve had a fun week, Garrett,” Dakota said. “And I’m not just talking about that viral lip lock with Isabelle either.”

Garrett lifted his middle finger in her direction, but the southern sub just laughed and brushed him off.

Austin and Patrick strolled in holding hands and Matthew followed close behind.

“Afternoon everyone,” Patrick said before kissing his wife on the cheek. She sat next to Dakota, and Patrick stood at the head of the table where Elijah Barrett normally stood.

“Eli and Holly had to make a trip to London, and they won’t be back until late tonight, so I’m going to run this meeting unless anyone has any objections.”

Everyone murmured their agreement as Russell and Hunter came through the door talking in hushed tones. Samuel, as was often the case, was calling in via video call.

“First things first, I think we need to address Garrett’s little show on the red-carpet Monday night.”

Garrett raised one eyebrow. “What’s the problem? I kissed my date on the red carpet. That’s not a crime, is it?”

Patrick remained solemn. “That’s not the problem. The problem is what happened when you were leaving the event.”

Garrett winced. Had the reporter’s question made it onto a website somewhere?

Lance tapped some keys beside him, and Samuel’s face disappeared from the screen on the wall. In his place, a video of Garrett and Isabelle walking to their car surfaced. It was almost inaudible, but in the background, he heard a reporter shout, “Did you meet her at a club called Solitaire?”

“How did you get that? I’ve been scouring the news and the internet for any sign that it got picked up by a news outlet and it didn’t to my knowledge.”

Lance cleared his throat. “That’s the problem. It was emailed to the Solitaire information account from an anonymous sender. No message, no threats, just the video.”

Garrett’s mind went back to the phone call Isabelle got this morning. “You think it’s the precursor to a blackmail threat.” It wasn’t a question. The men and women in this room were all prime targets for various forms of extortion and blackmail, given the amount of money they had. But Garrett also wielded a considerable amount of power because of his political connections. He’d done his best to keep his name from being associated with Solitaire despite sitting on the board. If it became national news that he was a frequent attendee at a BDSM club, a lot of his political power would vanish, at least for a little while. In some ways, he wasn’t sure if that was such a terrible thing, but he also didn’t want to drag Isabelle’s name through the mud.

“I think it’s worth digging deeper into,” Lance said. “I’m doing my best to trace the sender of the email, but I keep getting stuck. It’s definitely corporate cyber security so I don’t think your average journalist sent it.”

Garrett nodded. “Isabelle got a phone call from a reporter this morning asking about her ties to me. She didn’t tell them anything, but in the same breath, the reporter also asked about the attack on her uncle outside my warehouse.”

Lance nodded as he typed something into his computer. “It might be fruitless, but I can see if I can trace the call later if you want.”

Patrick cleared his throat. “The point is, we need to alert Isabelle that there is a chance she could be outed. It’s the ethical thing to do. The question is, how will she react and how do we make her feel safe? I am distressed that this is the second time this has happened in a few months. Austin being outed we thought was just a lucky guess on the reporter’s part because Hunter and I have never tried to hide our connection to the club. But Garrett hides it well, so now I’m concerned for all of us.”

Samuel coughed, and everyone turned to the video screen. “Have we considered shutting down for a few months or at the very least restricting access so it’s founding members only?”

“We’ve run that idea past David and he’s not a huge fan but says he’ll ultimately leave it up to the board to decide,” Patrick said.

David Eastman was the club's founder and provided most of the initial capital needed to get it started. He’d undergone intensive treatment for cancer and didn’t sit on the board anymore. Instead, he put friends he trusted in place to run the club and generally let them do so with no interference. He’d been so focused on his treatment that he’d been to only a handful of parties in the last year and a half.

“I’m not sure that’s necessary,” Garrett said. “I understand that we need to be vigilant so I’m definitely up for increasing our security measures and doing more extensive vetting of potential members, but it seems a little drastic to jump straight to shutting down.”

Everyone murmured their agreement and Samuel held up his hands. “I was just asking the question.”

“It needed to be asked,” Dakota said.

Garrett ran a hand through his hair. “I promised Isabelle a phone call when I’m done here. How much should I tell her?”

“Since she’s at risk of being outed, you tell her as much as you see fit. You’re the one dating her, but my advice is to tell her everything,” Austin said.

He knew she was right.

“I’ll speak to her and we can also talk to her as a group tomorrow night.”

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