A few more minutes of searching revealed several more families that she recognized with details on the companies, the owners, and the au pairs who worked for them. The depth of personal info that Bogdan had on her friends, especially the stuff on their families and even people they’d dated, was downright creepy.
Then she found Bogdan’s file on her, detailing the poor relationship she had with her father and her brothers, and her involvement with Lennox. There were even handwritten noteson the “date” they’d had at Legoland. So much for Talia beingpart of the family.
What the heck was going on? It was one thing for Bogdan to have files on Fredrickson, McDaniel, and the other powerful families in the San Diego area, especially if he was somehow involved with Keller and his terrorist group in their efforts to somehow gain control over these powerful families. But if that was the case, why the hell would Bogdan have files on all their au pairs? Why would he have files onher?
Talia was still standing there staring at all the paperwork on the desk when she heard a noise from the front of the house. Bogdan was home.
Crap.
As Talia turned, ready to run toward the door, she caught sight of a sticky note attached to the last page of the file on Fredrickson.Thursday @ 1 AMhad been circled twice while the address in La Jolla had been underlined three times. Whatever it was, it must be important.
Reading the message through twice more to memorize it, Talia took a few seconds to reorganize the desk, hoping the files looked the same way they had when she came in. Then she darted for the door, flicking off the light as she slipped out of the room.
A second later, she heard the front door open then leather soles clacking on marble floors. Talia ran toward the kitchen, tiptoeing in an attempt to be as quiet as possible—and probably looking ridiculous as she did. She could duck out the back door and Bogdan would never even know she’d been in the house.
Not that she shouldn’t be there, of course. She was in the main house all the time. But she was afraid he’d take one look at her face and know she’d been up to something.
Unfortunately, her plan didn’t work. Bogdan’s footsteps echoed in the hallway, coming her way.
Heart pounding, Talia looked around the chef’s kitchen. There was no way she could reach the door before he caught her. Instead, she crouched down behind the prep island on the left side of the room, hoping Bogdan was coming in for a late-night snack. If he was going to make coffee, he’d see her for sure and she’d be screwed!
Her prayers were answered when Bogdan headed straight for the fridge. She heard him pouring something into a glass, followed by the sound of a cabinet door opening then the rattle of cellophane. Bogdan was raiding the cookie stash. Vera would be furious if she knew. Her husband was supposed to be on a diet!
Talia waited out his snack attack, breathing a sigh of relief when the cabinet door closed and the sound of footsteps crossed the kitchen and disappeared back down the hallway. A few seconds later, she heard him go into his office and close the door.
A split second later, Talia jumped up and darted for the back door.
She forced herself to walk calmly once she was outside, not wanting to draw attention if someone at the guard shack happened to be looking at the exterior video cameras. But while her face might be calm, her stomach was doing backflips. She’d call Lennox the moment she got to her cottage so she could tell him about that meeting in La Jolla. They needed to find out what that was about.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lennox was checking the stack of pizza boxes he’d put in the oven to stay warm when the doorbell rang.
“Coming!” he yelled in the direction of the door before heading that way.
His heart thumped a little faster when he opened the door and found Talia standing there, looking as beautiful as she had last night, and thankfully safe and sound.
He stepped forward to wrap Talia in an embrace. It was probably an overreaction, but he’d been in constant freak-out mode since she’d called last night to tell him about snooping around Bogdan’s office and almost getting caught.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he murmured, breathing in the scent of her hair, all strawberries and flowers. “And that you’re okay.”
He expected Talia to take a step back and say something silly about having never been in any real danger, so he was surprised when she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tight.
“I’m glad I’m here too,” she whispered into his chest so softly that he barely heard the words.
But the hug conveyed a lot of emotion, suggesting she’d been as freaked out about last night as he had.
“Don’t worry about me, you two,” Katrina said from the doorway. “I’ll just stand out here in the hall while you guys make out.”
Lennox stepped back, almost feeling bad about ignoring her until he saw the snarky smile on her face. Then he thought about leaving her out there for the rest of the night. Before he could come up with a way to tease her about that very thing, the thump of heavy steps on the stairs distracted him. Kyla and Wes, along with some of his other Teammates, had arrived.
He made the introductions as everyone filed into his apartment. “You already know Kyla, Wes, and Colt but I wanted to introduce you to a few other members of SEAL Team 5. This is Darwin, Simon, and Kirk. They’re in a different platoon than us but we all worked together on our recent mission out of town, so they’re aware of what’s going on with Keller. They also know about Anna, and our suspicions about the Rybaks and other families.”
“You already told them about what I learned last night, right?” Talia asked Lennox.
He nodded. “I told them the basics but maybe you could go over the entire story again.”
As Talia told her story, everyone moved into the kitchen for pizza. By the time she was done, they’d all grabbed seats in the living room with their plates and drinks.
