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

“Mr. Radclyffe said the people doing the lighting need to know colors,” she explained. “Something to do with having to keep the actors hidden until they jump out to scare the guests, and then help them vanish afterward.”


“That makes sense. If you don’t need me right now, I should check on the security guy to see if he’s found anything.”


“For your sake, I hope he doesn’t.”


Lyle left her to what she was doing and went in search of the man, finding him upstairs. “Anything?” he asked.


“Nope.” The man put a tool back into his tool kit that Lyle suspected, from the mysteries he’d read, was some sort of fancy bug detector. “My guess is, whoever it was ran when he set the alarm off, which means he was probably a petty thief hoping he’d get lucky.”


“You won’t thank me when you get our bill.” When Lyle winced, the man laughed. “Don’t worry, this is part of the contract.”


Chapter 48