Page 55 of Master of Pleasure (Lessons From the Rack 3)

“Andie!” Fulton yelled. “What’s wrong?”

Terrence turned to find Andie sitting pale as a sheet. Other than the pallor though, she didn’t appear to be in any harm.

“I’m fine,” Andie assured Fulton. “It’s only I can’t believe I didn’t realize it before now.”

“Realize what?” Fulton asked. He still had his arms around her.

“My car.” Andie looked up at him. “The one you installed a rear view camera on a year ago, after I was rear-ended and the guy ran off.”

“You have a camera showing the back of your car?” Terrence asked, trying not to allow himself to get excited at the potential.

“Yes,” Fulton said, digging in his pocket. “And everything it records is stored digitally for six months. Hold on a second, and I’ll pull up the file from that day.”

Five minutes later, Fulton had connected his phone to the large screen television in the villa, and they were all sitting around and watching. Terrence didn’t recognize the car appearing behind them not long after he and Ronnie departed from the garage where Andie kept her car while on the island. He certainly didn’t recognize the driver.

But as the car he was driving on the screen slowed down to make the turn into the children’s home, the car behind them drew closer before passing. For a fraction of a second, the sun hit the driver’s hands, and while he didn’t recognize the car, and the video had no clear shot of the driver, the sunlight illuminated the one-of-a-kind ring the driver wore.

“That fucking bastard,” he said, and then to Fulton added, “Stop it and run it back a second or two.” The car on-screen reversed and then went forward again. “Pause it right there.”

“What is it?” Ronnie asked.

“The ring,” he said. “It’s an alexandrite cat’s-eye.”

Fulton took a step closer to the screen. “You’ve seen one like it before?”

“No,” he answered. “I’ve seen that one. There’s only one.”

Five pairs of eyes stared at him in shock, but no one said anything, so he answered their unasked question.

“Ken. My agent.”

Ronnie wasthe first one to talk. “That explains why he dropped you. I bet he was afraid you’d find out.” Her eyes widened in surprise. “Holy shit, it was me!”

Terrence raised an eyebrow. “What was you?”

“He called the day before we went to the children’s home. I told him to try to call you the next day because we’d be on the mainland, and you might have better reception. Fuck.”

“Did he know who you were?” Andie asked.

“He knew the name Veronica Fair, but it’s not like I kept anything about my real identity secret. All anyone would have to do is a quick internet search, and they’d find the name Ronnie Lewis. It’s only that no one ever searched. Until now.” She chewed her bottom lip, staring at him with apologetic eyes.

“Don’t stress out over it,” Terrence tried to assure her. “If he hadn’t found out from you, he would have found out another way. That’s the type of scumbag he is.”

“Do you think he’s the one who called my father five years ago?”

Until she asked, my brain had yet to make the connection, but after, no other explanation made sense. “Shit.” I ran a hand through my hair. “I bet he was. It makes so much sense. He feared I’d find out he was the one behind everything, and that’s why he had me leave town.”

Damn it. It made so much sense. Why hadn’t he thought of it before?

“That might be when he started messing around with your accounts,” Terrence said. “If that’s the case, he’s been up to it for over five years.”

Andie stood up. “Let’s bring this MFer down!” She froze suddenly and placed both hands on her barely there baby bump.

“Andie?” Fulton was at her side in a second, his hands on top of hers. “Are you okay? This is why you have to take things easy. No sudden movements.”

Andie rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, and sudden movements aren’t harmful. I think I just felt kicking.”

“You’re too early to feel kicks,” he said as they sat down. “It’s probably gas.”

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