Lyle Atwood's company is hired to costume a party given by multi-millionaire Warner Radclyffe. As he and his employees begin preparations for the job, Lyle begins to feel as if someone is watching him. Then he meets Damien Sauvage, the newest tenant in the apartment building where he lives. Damien tells Lyle that he's a waiter, and when Lyle confides in him that he thinks he's being stalked, Damien offers to help find out who it is. What he neglects to tell Lyle is he actually works for Radclyffe, who wants him to protect Lyle from a very powerful enemy. As Damien gains Lyle's confidence, he becomes attracted to the younger man -- an attraction that Lyle reciprocates. He fights his feelings, knowing Lyle will hate him when he finds out his secret -- and even more so when he learns what Damien really is. Radclyffe orders Damien to continue the job, as he has a secret of his own involving Lyle. A secret that cannot be revealed until the night of the party. Can Lyle survive what is to come, or will the lies of omission be the death of him -- or worse?

Lies of Omission

Fifteen nervous minutes later he turned onto a wide avenue divided by a center meridian. According to the address he’d been given, Mr. Radclyffe’s house should be at the far end of the block. The homes along the avenue were large and well maintained but nothing compared to the one he was looking for, as he discovered when he turned onto the driveway leading to it. Through the wrought iron bars of a tall fence surrounding the property he saw a huge stone mansion with a square tower at one end and gables over windows at either end of the third floor.


Swallowing hard, he got out of the car to press a button on the callbox on one pillar beside the gates. A disembodied voice asked who he was, he told them, and moments later the gates swung open. Back in the car again, he made his way up the curving driveway to a wide space in front of the porch which he figured must be where visitors were supposed to park.


Chapter 4