SECRETS

**Rebecca’s story**

As much as I wished I hadn’t heard that, there was nowhere to hide. And I didn’t expect Logan Elliot, my subordinate, to be here. Was there another undercover assignment I didn’t know about? And Dominic seemed to know him, too. It wasn’t like Logan was an actor. And the way he made his appearance made me even more confused. I almost couldn’t believe my ears. I expected the agency to investigate Tom’s death, but I didn’t expect Dominic to be so involved. How was that possible if he came to my rescue?
He had time to tell me almost everything that was needed. Tom was an outlaw and now I found out something connected Dominic to him, too. Somehow, I had to continue the conversation with Logan at another time. I needed to know more. But a lie was a lie, and it was there. And the worst part was that Dominic admitted to me that Tom had died even though I didn’t remember, but he didn’t confess to knowing him somehow.
“Is everything okay, Dominic?” Logan was testing his temper, but it was a terrible idea.
He had just stepped into the tense scene, darting arrows from his angry eyes. His target, Dominic. And it seemed for a good reason, one that I was about to find out. Dominic got so angry that if eyes could kill, Logan would be long gone. I know he crossed the line there by telling me what he did, but he crossed it for my protection and for me to dig further.
“None of your business, Elliot!” Dominic thundered, gathering more eyes around us.
His anger reached an alarming rate. Just looking at him, I could feel his rage rising. They were so close to one another and I just had to intervene, as I didn’t want to have unwanted attention. I tried to get between them, but the way they towered over me made me feel so small. I had no power, but I had to at least try.
“You two, stop that right now!” It was my turn to thunder.
My firm voice echoed over the fuss created in the hall. I knew Dominic could easily lose his temper when it came to me, so I turned to Logan and put my hand on his chest. This innocent gesture infuriated Dominic so much that in just a few seconds, I pushed his massive body away from Logan with all my might. The situation was getting out of control. It was only seconds away from escalating and I didn’t want to blow my cover.
I was still standing between the two men who were glaring angrily at each other without even thinking that they were right in the middle of an event broadcasted on TV. It literally trapped my body between their growing rage, trying desperately to calm them down. It was to no avail. None of them were willing to give up. This situation overwhelmed me so much that suddenly, the ground was moving more than usual. The last thing I remember was a pair of powerful arms reaching towards me before I hit the floor. I was the only one, though I knew it was the only way to break them apart.
“My God, Rebecca, are you okay?” The next thing I felt was him carrying me out to the hotel terrace to get some air.
It wasn’t until I realized I was away from everyone inside, and by that I meant Logan too, that I opened my eyes wide.
“Where am I...?”
“Sit still and breathe easy. You fainted, but now you’re okay.”
“I fainted... what happened?” Somehow, I had to stray from the subject. I needed a diversion because I didn’t know all the details.
“If you want to go home, we can. You need your rest. Besides, if I win Best Movie, Spencer will get it for me”
“No, I can’t do that to you. I came here for you and I’m going to stay till the end. I’ll sit at the table so I don’t overdo it, I promise.”
Somehow, I had to bury what had just happened. It didn’t sound like Dominic had heard anything. He was just jealous. Things then moved quickly and without further incident. Again, Dominic won the second category. Same speech with some additions, same applause, same cheerful faces.
I didn’t even feel the time pass, and we returned to Dominic’s house, only this time I had to return to my apartment and to my life. I needed my freedom to move around. Logan had told me some things that were hard to digest. So, I had to meet him urgently. So, I decided that this would be my last evening under the same roof with him.
Too much we haven’t told each other since we got back and until morning came. What else was there to say? Maybe I didn’t do it right either, but I took advantage of the time when he wasn’t home and left. Not before I left him a brief note of appreciation.
Even though it was all leading to things that were incomprehensible as far as Dominic was concerned, I was grateful to him for saving me from those wild beasts that he, I remembered, called werewolves. What a hilarious joke. At least in all this trouble, I was amusing myself at the expense of a fantasy.
As I had nothing of my own, I left wearing my clothes, although I had some belongings, but no time to take them now. I ordered a taxi and asked the driver to take me to the address showed by the GPS.
And so, I arrived. My little apartment with an improvised garden. Although not that big, it was in a luxury apartment building. Mine wasn’t any less, and I chose it because it was on the ground floor and I loved the idea of a garden.
I loved the mornings I spent with myself on my beautifully decorated terrace. Sometimes I was in the company of my good old friend Samantha. Maybe it was time to reconnect with her. I really missed the woman. And she could give me the best advice on men. Because even though Logan had told me what he’d told me, I still couldn’t command my heart. Something had happened to it since Dominic first kissed me.
Now, by the time I was going to call Sam, I needed to see Logan urgently. We had a conversation on hold.
“Hello, Logan? Can I see you?” I couldn’t waste any more time on pointless things. I had to get to the bottom of what Logan wanted to talk to me about. From the moment he accepted my invitation to the actual meeting, it took only an hour. We met at a nearby pub.
“Hey, what was the rush?” he asked as soon as I approached him. I couldn’t believe he had started all this, and he was the one asking what the hurry was. He was unbelievable.
“Are you serious right now?” I held his gaze for a few seconds, then sat down. He’d already ordered two coffees. He looked at me, stunned, as if he’d forgotten what we’d talked about the day before. Then, after a sip of coffee, he was another Logan.
“Okay, okay, don’t despair. I knew you’d call me. You know, neither of us could sit with our arms crossed. We had to find out something. We learned later that wild beast killed your fiancé. At first, I treated it as a murder since you disappeared. You were in the company of a man and you still are. Then someone from the agency saw you and told us you were fine but that you’d suffered an attack and they had killed Tom. Since nothing had appeared in the local newspapers, I went with murder, and that’s how we figured it out.”
I sat and listened to him, but also felt the need to clarify a few points.
“Logan, I’m no longer in his company. Dominic just saved my life. And now you show up at his gala and tell me he’s having less than normal connections with Tom? How does he know him? Tom was my fiancé; he didn’t know Dominic. Or did he?” Maybe those were the questions I was most afraid of. It was all closing in around me, and I didn’t like that at all.
“If it had not been true, I would not have come. Besides, you know I went into the film business undercover. I met Dominic many years ago, and he never gave me anything bad to suspect. Until I told you that someone in the agency saw you with him. He saved you and he cured you. You were practically staying with him in his house.” All of that was true, but I couldn’t confess to Logan now that I had fallen in love with this man and was postponing my departure. “And I found it suspicious!” he finished, sipping his coffee at the last drop.
“Okay, then tell me the rest! Because surely you had something else to tell me when Dominic interrupted us,” I insisted a second time, this time successfully.
“Becca, look...it seems Tom wasn’t exactly clean, if you know what I mean. He had a few connections so shady that I initially thought that’s what got him killed. He was up to his neck in shit. And somehow, in all of this, Dominic’s name comes up and so does his father, William Stone. But it’s all kept so secret that I don’t know what it’s all about. I’ll let you find out.”
I could barely catch my breath. I got up out of inertia and headed for the exit. Logan shouted after me, but I seemed to be driven by an unseen force. He had lied to me; Dominic had lied to me. I suddenly felt that I was no longer alone. At the same pace as my own, other footsteps were pounding the pavement. It was Dominic.