Cailin watched her a moment longer, then nodded. Turning back to him, she said, “When Allen was talking, he said this was how the company was run, that there was only one place for a woman.” A shiver shook her frame, and her eyes glazed over as her focus turned inward. “This was how it had always been and always would be. What if—”
His brain ramped up at her words, and he didn’t like where it was headed. “What?”
“What if…this isn’t the first time?” Cailin rubbed a hand across her swollen cheek. “What if this has happened before?”
“But we’d—” Sara Beth’s voice cut off, probably with the same realization he was coming to. She wasn’t slow on the uptake, even if John was her father. “God, I think I’m going to be sick.”
Sam squeezed her waist and guided her to a seat. “So…are we thinking just Allen, or…?”
A hard lump settled in his throat. “John’s in charge. Always has been.” And his iron fist wouldn’t have let anything slip through his fingers. “The corporate culture of Keane Industries is what he made it. And there are an awful lot of his college buddies, men he’s known for years before Sara Beth was born, on the board of directors, investing, filling prominent positions. It’s why we knew it would take time to win the board over; we’d have to wait for at least a few to retire.” He might just join Sara Beth in being sick. “John would have known, even if he hadn’t participated himself.”
“But you think he did,” Cailin said. It was a statement, not a question.
Thinking back to the night of the party, he considered John’s warning. Why push Alex away from his secretary if John didn’t uphold the same standard? What would John have done if Cailin had brought a harassment suit against Alex?
“If something went wrong between us and you caused problems, John would have to step in,” he mused, working through the scenario in his mind. “How hard would it be for me to tell he’d done this before, either for himself or others? Maybe he didn’t want me knowing, guessing. Maybe he wanted to make sure their good-ol’-boy club stayed just that—no new members.” His gaze met Sara Beth’s. “Members who could use that knowledge against him if they chose to.”
Was John the instigator or just the cover-up man? Somehow the latter didn’t seem to fit. And when he remembered the way John had stared at Cailin that night, his gaze trailing the bare expanse of her back as she stood in the foyer, Alex knew. He knew, and the knowledge could be what he needed to find a quicker way out of this mess.
“Alex, how…? We can’t.” Sara Beth swallowed hard enough for him to hear it. “That would be blackmail.”
Resolve hardened his words. “Yes, yes, it would.” He looked at Cailin again, at her injuries. “And blackmail would be exactly what he deserves. That and a whole lot more.”
Chapter Thirteen
Ten days later, Alex was lying on his bed, the stereo on, when Sara Beth knocked on his door. He’d considered going home with Cailin but, after the day they’d had, figured Sara Beth might need him tonight. Apparently he’d been right.
The door opened, and his best friend scampered across the room to pile up next to him. He squeezed her to his side, inhaling the fresh, wild scent of her red hair, and was surprised by a vague sense of regret. It wouldn’t be long and these moments would be gone. They would both be holding someone else, and as much as he loved Cailin, Sara Beth had been his anchor for eighteen years. His life would have been far different without her. And after the consortium this coming weekend, everything would change. The thought made him both hungry for Cailin and sad for Sara Beth and himself.
When he chuckled, Sara Beth turned her face toward him. “What’s so funny?”
“I was just thinking we’re both about to leave the nest. ’Bout time, huh?”
Sara Beth’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Yeah, about time.” She went back to staring at the ceiling.
He linked his hand with the one resting on her stomach. “I’m sorry about today.”
Another one of those unhappy smiles. “Me too. I mean, as much as I’d prepared myself for it to happen, I guess you can’t really ever be ready to find out your father’s a complete prick, ya know?”
No, he didn’t know. But he had seen what the knowledge cost her as they’d talked to Corrine Henderson today. It had been Sara Beth’s idea to contact John’s longtime secretary. They’d both known it was a risk. There were no guarantees that Corrine would tell them anything, nor that the woman wouldn’t run straight back to John. What they hadn’t expected was a complete chronicle of the life and times of John’s male-only “club.” Apparently John was no stranger to blackmail—Corrine had kept her job and protected herself by documenting everything she knew about John’s activities. When Sara Beth approached her, she’d practically handed them a gift-wrapped guide to taking John down.