He glanced down at the file in his hand. Before he had chance she started ranting again. In that moment he wished he’d told her truth.
“Possession is a secret society where you manipulate women into doing as they’re told? Or a bloody BDSM club where you share women? Tell me about it, Stephen. I want to know the man I’ve given my body to. The same man I’m sharing a house with. Tell me what the f**k is going on,” she said without taking a breath. He flicked the file open seeing as much detail as possible to raise questions. He recalled his conversation with James back at his own club. Someone was trying to cause problems, and they were hitting at the women.
“Where did you get this?” he asked.
“Why does that matter? I want to know who you are. I have a right to know.”
“You’ve thrown your accusations at me. I have an obligation to know the person who has this information on my business.” He shouted all the words at her. The fact someone was able to gather pictures as well as the type of information to place in a file put him and the members of both clubs at risk. The images were more explicit than the ones James had received.
“You think those people are more important?”
“I think keeping the secrecy of a club that has been going since before I was f**king born is more important than dealing with any kind of issue. Some of these men are f**king powerful people, Ursula. Whatever you know, I need to know it now.” He hated shouting at her. The tears filled her eyes. He saw them, and they cut him deep to know he was the cause for her tears.
He moved closer to her, but she took several steps back. Stephen followed her until she had her back against the wall. He cupped her cheeks. “I love you,” he said. For the last few weeks he’d been aware of the way he felt about her, but he had never told her. He thought it would be best if she said the words first or at least say them when he proposed. He knew proposing would be the last thing he did now.
“How do you know?” she asked.
He pressed her hand against his heart. “I’ve known for a long time. I know this has shocked, maybe even scared you. I promise you that I’ll love you no matter what. My club is important. Please, tell me who gave you this file.”
She paused for several long minutes. He thought she wasn’t going to tell him. “Paul stopped me outside of college. He gave me the file.”
“Did he say who gave him the file?”
She shook her head. Stephen nodded, kissing her lips. “I need you to give me some time. I have some calls to make.”
“Why?”
“This can cause some serious problems. I can’t tell you everything you need to know right now. Give me this time, and I promise you I’ll tell you everything.”
“I’ll be in the library. Studying.” She left him. He saw the change in her. Her back was ramrod straight.
When she was out of sight he went to his office, closing the door for added privacy. He stared at the pages more closely then picked up the phone. James answered on the third ring.
“Mr. Knox calling me from his home once again. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Stephen ran his fingers through his hair. “Ursula was given a file today by her ex.”
“Really? How fascinating.”
“Inside it were pictures of you at Ravage with your sub. These images do not look good. The same goes for the pictures at my own club.”
There was no noise from the other end.
“You need to show me that file.”
“Agreed. I’ve got to deal with Ursula first. She’s not in the best of moods at the moment. I’m going to bring her to my club. Be there by ten tonight, and call the other men.”
“Since when am I your slave, Knox?”
“Since this can cause us some serious shit and I’ve got a woman to calm. Do this for me. You’ll get to meet Ursula tonight.”
“And you think your woman will be an incentive for me?”
“I thought Lucas was handling this problem. I don’t think anything has been handled,” Stephen said.
“We’ve done everything we can. Eugene is either more intelligent than we gave him credit for, or someone else is working the scenes,” James said.
“We’ve not had any contact but this. I think they’re targeting us because of Dominic.” Stephen ran his fingers through his hair, the stress of the moment finally getting to him.
“I’ll be in touch with the others. I’ll see you at Possession in a few hours.”
The call ended. Stephen flicked through the pages, hating the images he saw of Ursula in his arms. She didn’t deserve to be mixed in the trouble the clubs could cause. The stuff he was learning put her in too much danger. The information annoyed him. Possession and Ravage were not about defiling women. The men loved their women. He was growing annoyed with every word written on the page. He slammed the file shut then went to find her. She sat in the library with her arms wrapped around her legs. The coffee table in front of the couch where she sat had her college books. The silence unnerved him. Ursula had never ignored him, but he felt ignored as he moved closer to her. Stephen moved the books she’d piled onto the table out of the way, then sat down where the books had been. He placed the file next to him. He didn’t want to sit next to her. Being face to face was for the best. His heart ached for the pain she must be going through. She’d left before he’d even woken that morning. He hadn’t anticipated Paul beating him to it. He should have known. Stephen knew he’d made a stupid decision to keep it from her. He went to touch her, but she moved her hands away. It was as if she couldn’t bear his touch.
“I need you to listen to me,” he said, pressing his palms together and resting them between his legs.
“Is that true?” She nodded her head to where the file lay next to him on the coffee table.
“Some of it is true. Not all of it. No, listen. I need to talk to you about this.”
“I’m listening,” she said. The tears in her eyes killed him.
“I know you hate me right now.”
“I don’t hate you, Stephen. I could never hate you. What I don’t like is finding this stuff out about the man I love from someone else instead of you telling me yourself.” She looked down at her hands after she spoke. He’d heard the words but didn’t know what to say.
His heart stopped beating. “You love me?”
“Of course I do, you dope. How could I not? I’ve given you so much of myself already. I spend most of my days not wanting to be anywhere else, but I need to understand what that is.” She rubbed her hands over her knees. The tears spilled down her cheeks. “Explain it to me, and I’ll try to understand.”