“Jensen!” I scream her name and rage erupts inside me like a volcano and explodes. I pick up the chair and hurl it across the room. Whoever thinks they can mess with me is going to fucking die.
Sudden fear has me buckling over. My chest is too tight. Where is she? Who has her? Did they hurt her? Will they? The sheer white comforter lays at my feet crumpled on the floor. The more I focus on it, the sharper the pain as the recognition guts me. God no. Fuck no! My mind doesn’t want to accept what I see, but I force my grip to latch around the bedding and lift causing my stomach to almost expel.
Blood.
“No…” I scan the side of the bed. More blood. Shattered lamp. “No…” My hands are shaking as I pull my phone out and call 9-1-1.
God, what have I dragged her into?
“I just fucking told you, I have no idea what happened. I left her for twenty minutes tops, and when I came back, she was gone. Stop fucking wasting your time with me and do your job!” I snap at the rookie cop trying to overcompensate. The police showed up before Stephens did. They’ve been grilling me the entire time as if I hurt and kidnapped my own girlfriend. My frustration is at an all-time high. I’m about to fucking lose it.
“Mr. Cross, would you know anyone who would want to hurt Miss Stone?”
Yeah, my ex-employee. My father’s ex-mistress.
“Like I said, I don’t.” Where the fuck is Commissioner Stephens? I need to get to the club. This has Fredrick written all over it. “Listen, do your fucking job and stop focusing on me,” I snarl, looking at my phone for any updates from Kade. I texted him telling him not to let Fredrick leave the club and to take any measures to do so.
“Sir, I don’t think you’ve clearly explained why you were here with the young lady. You seem to be a bit out of her age—”
I jump at him, and my hands grip around his neck. “You watch who you’re talking to, you mother—”
“Damien!” Stephens shouts my name. He’s behind me pulling me off his officer. I fight his grip. How dare this asshole question my relationship with her. He should be worried about who fucking took her! “Damien, let him go. It’s not going to help anyone.”
I release my murderous grip and shove him away. My heart races and my hands shake uncontrollably. It’s been over an hour. She’s been gone over an hour. The things she may be enduring, and I’m not doing shit.
I turn to the commissioner. “She was taken from this room. It’s been over an hour. They need to stop looking at me and start pointing out real suspects.” My voice cracks at the end.
Fuck.
Kade’s words strike me again.
They’ll do whatever possible to get what they want.
Fuck!
The pain in my chest explodes. I need to get to the club. I need to do something. I drag Stephens away from his henchmen and give him the names of who I suspect, then tell him to keep it off the radar. I don’t want anything illegal connecting me to what happens next.
I race out of the hotel, texting Kade that I’m on my way.
The image of her smile and the sound of her laughter play over and over in my head while I break every single road violation. I have a death grip on the steering wheel when each beautiful image of her is tainted with the image of blood on the floor.
Fredrick is a dead man.
The alley that leads to Exquisite comes into view, and I throw my car in park and jump out, running like a madman inside. The club is closed. It’s close to four in the morning. The smell of booze and sex linger, and it makes me sick. I call for Kade but don’t get a response.
“Kade!”
“Over here, boss.”
My head snaps toward the bar. Kade is standing there, next to Fredrick, who’s tied to a chair. He already looks to be in bad shape, blood dripping from his nose and his left eye swollen.
My emotions erupt. “You son of a bitch!” I’m on him in three short strides. I rip my arms out of my blazer and toss it to the ground. My phone falls out from the inside pocket and slides under the bar. My fist goes up and slams into his face. Once, twice, three times. I can’t stop. He’s going to pay. For every single hair harmed on Jensen’s head, he will pay with a broken bone, a missing finger, his life.
“Where the fuck is she?” I bark, grabbing the lapel of his shirt and bringing my face up to his. “Tell me what you did, or I’ll kill you right here.”
My vision fogs over. A sense of madness resides in me. I’ve never been a violent man. Demanding. Controlling. But I have never used force on another person. The urge to rip his arms off until he talks takes over any sense of right and wrong.
“Tell me, you motherfucker! What did you do with—”
“Nothing! I swear, I did nothing!”
I cock my fist back and slam it into his face, satisfied by the crunch of his cheekbone under my fist. Fredrick howls, and I pull back to strike again. “You had her photo. Don’t fucking lie to me. You using her to get me to sell to you? All for the fucking club?”
“No!”
Crunch.
His lip splits open, and blood splatters against my shirt. I cock my hand back again.
“Fine, yes! It was meant to provoke you. We weren’t going to use it.”
Crunch.
“Who’s we? Who are you working with?”
“Patricia. It was her idea. She said you would cave for the girl. She’s the one who wanted to use her for collateral.”
That greedy bitch. Hearing her name makes my rage boil. I turn to Kade. “Where is she?”
Kade nods toward my office. I turn and lift my eyes to the window. “I locked her in your office. She was a bit to handle.” I turn back, now noticing the long scratch from her nails down his face.
“Damien, I swear, I wasn’t going to hurt her. It was all just to—”
“Have you been following her? Where the fuck is she?”
“No! I have no idea!”
Crunch.
“I swear! The information I had was only because of when you had me research her. Listen to me, Patricia orchestrated this whole thing. She’s obsessed. Your daddy made promises to her. The second she got wind of you selling, she lost her senses. She hired some goons. Bad guys to make sure the sale didn’t go through. Your life was a casualty if needed. I want the club, I’ve earned it, but not the way she wants it. I told her I was out. I was leaving when Kade grabbed me.”
I don’t believe him. I pull my fist back again, and Fredrick pleads, “Please! I swear. I told Kade the same thing. I had nothing to do with her kidnapping! You’re wasting your time with me. I just wanted what I felt was rightfully mine. I proved myself to this club. I wasn’t willing to let you sell without throwing my hat in the game. I just wanted the club. I had no idea until tonight what Patricia was truly capable of.”
I’ve known Fredrick for years. I know when he’s lying. My instincts are messing with me. He has to be the one who took her. But my gut is telling me he isn’t.
But if he didn’t take her, who did?
“Bullshit. You’ve been behind this the whole time. Trying to get Jensen out of the picture. Sabotage my relationship. I know you intercepted my letter. Gave her the one telling her to meet me at the club. You set us both up!”
“No! It was that girl. She sought me out.”
“What girl?”
“The ritzy blonde. She approached me the day you fired me. She was practically waiting for me when I left. She remembered my name from the night I kicked her out. I was angry and she was just…there…”
Guilt washes over him. “What did you do?” My voice is eerily calm.
“Nothing.”
I raise my fist.
“Okay! Okay. I was angry. She offered to take me somewhere and have a drink to help me calm down. I didn’t think past her perky tits. She was giving vibes that she was easy and wanted something from me. I’m a man, so I went.”
Jesus. Sylvia. “What happened?”
“I talked. I told her how you were being blindsided by s
ome child. I was going to stop after that, but she came on to me. Fuck, she was rubbing my thigh, convincing me to keep going. I did. She smelled good, and the way she was looking at me—”
My hands go back to his collar and I shake him. “I don’t give a fuck about that! What happened!”
“She offered me sex if I helped her. She wanted me to help her get into the club.”
That explains how she got there. No one would have let her into those private rooms without a pass. “What else?”
“She gave me the best blowjob of my life.”
Jesus.
I release him, shoving him hard enough his chair falls backward. This has all been a waste. He knows nothing, then who the fuck has her?
“Fuck!” I roar, kicking the chair, and Fredrick grunts in pain. Too much time is passing. I have no idea where she is. How to find her. Where to start. My chest is so tight. I feel out of control. I grab at my scalp and yank roughly at my wild hair. If only I could figure out where she is.
Wait…
The phone. I have a tracker on her phone. I step away from Fredrick and dive for my blazer on the floor. I search through my inside pocket before remembering it fell out.
I’m on my knees searching when I see it way under. I stretch my arm—
“Boss, we have a problem,” Kade says, his voice etched with concern.
“I know how to find her,” I say, reaching but still finding an inch between my fingers and the device.
“No, we have a real problem. There’s smoke coming from the storage warehouse behind the building. I checked the monitors. Someone’s setting fires, blocking all three of the exits.”
His words barely register. I just need to get to my phone.
“Boss, I think we need to—”
Kade is cut off by a loud explosion. A blast of flames shoots out from the back room. A loud rumble echoes throughout the bar. The walls shake around us, and a large piece of the ceiling falls. I’m forced to dive to the side to avoid it crushing me.
“Fuck, what was that?”
“We gotta get the fuck out of here. Someone is setting the club on fire.”
Kade goes to grab for me, but I knock his hand away. “I need my phone.” Another loud explosion blasts through the dance floor. The windows above from my office shatter, spitting glass everywhere. I block my face, but it doesn’t stop shards of glass from stabbing into my forearms and legs.
“You’re gonna have to get a new one. We need to go. Now.”
I can’t. I need that phone. It’s the only chance I have of finding Jensen. I shove my arm under the bar. The bottom scrapes my skin, but I force my hand forward, to no avail.
“Damien. Leave it!” Kade’s hands are locked around my shoulders, pulling me away.
“No! Get the fuck off me! I need that phone!” I turn to throw a punch when another explosion sounds, and another chunk of the ceiling falls onto the bar, crushing the top. Flames explode, creating a barrier. I jump at it, not caring if I get burned, but Kade is on me. Fredrick is coddling his broken face as they both work together in dragging me across the dance floor toward the front exit. There’s so much smoke. My skin burns from all the surrounding flames. I start to cough and cover my mouth.
Kade stops and looks up to my office. “Fuck, Patricia. I can’t leave her locked in there.”
“Fuck her. She deserves to burn. Plus, you won’t make it out if you try,” Fredrick says through his own choked coughs.
“That’s for the police to decide. I can’t leave her. Get out. I’m right behind you.” Kade pushes me toward the door and takes off down the smoke-filled hallway leading to the private stairway. I take a step in his direction to go with him. Patricia might know where Jensen is. She might be my only way to find her. Just as I follow in the direction he disappeared, a ball of fire explodes from the hallway, throwing us both back.
Everything goes black.
STOP!
Please don’t do this.
Help!
I’m startled awake from an all too real nightmare. I shake off the horrid images of my bad dream and sit up, but quickly realize I’m already in the seated position. I’m not in my bed. Shooting pain radiates inside my head, and I tug at my arms, but they’re pinned behind me.
Oh God.
Where am I?
How did I get here?
My mind is so foggy. I can’t seem to focus.
Everything hurts.
Panic sets in when I realize I’m tied to a chair. I pull at my arms again, and severe pain erupts up my back. Fabric holds tight around my eyes, blindfolding me. I try to listen for sounds, but it’s eerily quiet. I don’t know whether to scream for help or stay silent.
I fight the fogginess for any memory.
Flashes of yelling, struggling. The pain. The blood.
“What are you doing here?”
“What the hell is going on—?”
“Put me down!”
Oh God! The hotel. The attack. Them.
“Let me go!”
“No, please don’t. Please!”
It’s all starting to come back to me. The text from Christine asking to meet me. Texting back my location. When I opened the hotel door, it all happened so fast.
“What are you doing here? Where’s Christine—?”
I don’t finish my sentence. He attacks me. His arms wrap around my waist, trying to secure a hold on me. I fight him hard, but my feet leave the ground. I start to scream, but his large hand covers my mouth. I struggle, throwing my head back. I meet bone as he howls and drops me, and I fall to the ground, landing wrong on my ankle. I moan as the pain shoots up my leg.
Fear consumes me. I attempt to crawl away and get to my feet, but he catches a chunk of my hair.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going, you little whore?”
I scratch at his arms, fighting against his tight grip. I have no choice but to scramble to my feet unless I want him to rip out any more of my hair.
Screaming, I swing at him, and my nails dig deep, leaving a long scratch down his face.
“Bitch!” He throws me forward. My injured ankle lets out, and I stumble and fall into the nightstand. My head makes contact with the corner of the wood. I bring my fingers up to my head. It’s already swelling, and when I pull away, my fingers are covered in blood. I try to stand, but the room spins. I throw my hand on the mattress to steady myself, leaving a red print.
Two hands from behind me thrust into my back, and I slip, landing on the floor. I yelp in pain but force myself to roll over and avoid his hands as he reaches for me. I try to keep most of my weight on one foot and hop to the bed, jumping up to crawl over it. He manages to get a hold on my ankle, but I kick my other foot back, hitting him in the face.
“Fuck! You’re gonna pay for that.” He dives over the bed. I grab for the lamp on the nightstand and tug it hard, ripping the plug from the socket. I bash it over his head and watch in horror as the impact slices his head open, leaving a gaping gash. He rolls off the bed, hitting the floor like a bag of bricks.
I hear a noise and turn away from him. I take one step forward when I’m tackled from behind. He’s on me, taking me to the ground. This time, his weight and strength overpower mine. I scream again, but he puts his hand over my mouth. I get my teeth around skin and bite down. He grunts and backhands me across the face. I lose focus for a few seconds, but when I come to, I feel him yanking at my sweatpants. My hands go wild trying to fight him off me, but too quickly, they’re locked between his hands, and he’s pulling them above my head. He’s so heavy on top of me, I’m struggling to breathe. My stomach threatens to expel at the feel of his erection jamming into my stomach.
“Please, don’t do this. Please!”
He’s crazed with anger. He doesn’t hear my plea. His hands begin to fumble with my sweatpants again when the door opens.
Thank God. Damien’s back. In mere seconds, he’s going to save me from this nightmare.
“I didn’t say you can rape h
er, Jesus. Do I have to do everything myself?” My body goes rigid. No… It can’t be. But then I see her face. “Night, night, freakshow.” And she jams a long needle inside my flesh.
Fucking Sylvia.
Whatever she stuck me with knocked me out. It’s still lingering in my system because I can’t seem to fight off the grogginess. I try to nudge the blindfold off with my shoulder, but no luck.
“Well, look who’s finally awake.” The blindfold is ripped off my head, and pain from the gash on my forehead turns my stomach. I look around, trying to figure out where I’m at, but the pain and dizziness prevent it. It’s dark, so it’s hard to see, but it looks like we’re in the woods.
I tug at my arms, but the bindings are so tight, it’s scraping away at my skin. “You’re a special kind of crazy, you know that? And you’re so fucked when they find me,” I snap.
Sylvia just laughs, leaving me with an unsettled feeling. I try not to let the fear show, but it’s impossible. She’s a loose cannon and I have no idea what else she has planned for me.
“Honey, I’m not worried about anyone finding you. Probably ever.” She turns to walk away into the dark.
Fuck, how did I get here? How did they get me out of the hotel? There has to be surveillance. Someone had to have seen me. Damien would come back. He would see the room. He would come for me.
My throat starts to lock, but I fight down the emotions. Don’t cry. Don’t cry, I coach myself. I need to stay strong. “Damien cringes at the thought of you, and when he finds you took me, he’s gonna come after you, and he’s going to destroy you when he does.”
She turns gracefully as if we’re at a sorority ball. “Oh, honey. You have it all wrong. See, this isn’t all for nothing. You going bye-bye is going to open so many opportunities for me.”
“You’re nuts. Damien despises you. Getting me out of the picture won’t get you shit.”
She laughs some more, and chills run down my spine. “That’s where you’re wrong. He certainly enjoys me. Before you showed up that night, which I must take credit for that, he and I had a pleasantly good time. Naughty man he is. Very needy with his hands. I have to admit, he definitely seemed to prefer blondes over ratty brunettes.”
Exquisite Taste Page 20