My friends had become my enemies.
My business associate had become my enemy.
My world had started to fucking collapse and with fires all around me, I couldn’t see through the smoke long enough to fight even one.
The night after my conversation with Garrison, one of our regular members hosted a party at The Club. Nothing unusual in either the member or the party until shit went down and Chelle emailed me the guest register.
Redbacks.
Two dozen Redback motorcycle enthusiasts had bullied their way into The Club before tearing it apart. Okay, I was exaggerating about tearing up The Club’s physical structure.
They’d torn apart my soul of The Club. According to the member, he’d been encouraged to host a party to pay down a gambling debt. All he needed to do was sign thirty people into The Club. Most were Redbacks. The others were Garrison and his goons.
Playing back the security footage turned my stomach. I’d watched it three times before Darius arrived and together, we watched it another two.
Even if I wasn’t infatuated with Katie, she was the centre of attention. From the moment the patched members rocked up, they were all over Katie. I admired her spunk and courage. Even when surrounded, even when our own security team were blocked from getting near her, Katie kept swiping the hands away. She kept moving. Not allowing them to pin her against a wall.
The bastards hadn’t come to play. They hadn’t even come to watch and leech.
They’d been sent by their new friend to send me a message.
Katie was his property.
Anyone who got in his way would end up like Steve.
“Steve’s getting released from hospital in a couple of hours,” Darius’ voice was calmer than I knew the man to be. Not every tech nerd could handle himself, but Darius Patera wasn’t a normal tech nerd. Easily the best chief information officer in Australia, together with Mason Winters, they’d built Softli into a billion-dollar tech empire. He worked for pleasure. We’d built The Club for our own mutual pleasures.
Darius had never shied away from a physical or technical threat. But my friend was smart enough to be concerned now.
“That’s good news.” I played a straight bat. Now that The Club was involved in my shit, I needed to know how far Darius wanted to go.
“He wants your woman.”
“Steve? Unlikely.” Shit, I’d just admitted Katie was mine. “In any case, I don’t have a woman.”
“Time for being cute is over. Your business partner, Mr. Templeton, wants your nightclubs. He wants Miss Katie Elias wrapped around his cock and he’s willing to take down The Club to do it. Plain enough for you?”
“I’ll deal with him.”
“How?”
“Got any suggestions?”
“Keep him the fuck out of The Club. I warned you this shit would get ugly.”
“D—”
“Don’t fucking D me. I’ve got your back, but I don’t know how far I can help.”
“I’m gonna go and have a chat.”
“Steve’s not gonna be any help. He’s got concussion from the king hit and a few more ribs than he started with.”
“I’ll be fine.”
I distracted Darius with ideas Katie had come up with for coordinating fetish theme nights between CandyShop and The Club. Those who wanted to be seen at CandyShop and those who wanted to indulge at The Club. Darius didn’t hate the idea, but he was right. We couldn’t move forward until I put the current shit to bed.
Garrison. The fucking asshole.
I’d underestimated him every fucking step of the way. Business should have been kept strictly business and even now, with the video footage in front of me, I still couldn’t believe the lengths he was going to over two girls. Using two innocents in whatever twisted games he wanted to play with me.
The bastard had gone too far.
“So glad you decided to have a conversation like the professional gentlemen we are,” Garrison greeted me. Not bothering to stand as I approached the oval table at the back of his restaurant.
His half a dozen muscle eyed me in my tailored business suit. Yes, I could have come in my nightclub boss-man swagger, but I wanted to remind at least one person we were businessmen first. We had a business arrangement that could still make us both a lot of money.
Goons flexed and I held my nerve.
Garrison was surrounded by men who could take me apart. I’d come alone. In either a sign of respect for the bastard, or proof I’d finally lost my mind. Turning up, unannounced, to the restaurant that Garrison owned and used as his personal office.
“Last night was an escalation we can’t afford.”
I’d practiced the words on my way over. Still, they sounded clipped and forced. Possibly because I couldn’t unclench my jaw to have a normal conversation. Not with visions of Katie’s tormented face last night still haunting me.
“Nonsense, my friends were having fun and your security misunderstood.”
“Steve didn’t misunderstand a thing. I’ve seen the security footage. Your guys were out of line.”
I kept my palms open and tone as light as I could muster. Needing to make a point without starting a fight that I’d lose. Yes, I’d take out one or two, but since no one would let me get to Garrison, I’d lose.
“My employees were doing their job. They felt I was being threatened.”
Garrison considered the Redbacks his employees. Shit.
“By a girl, damn it man. You’re twice the size of any of my hostesses.”
At least I refrained from calling Katie by name. To Garrison, she had to be just another hostess. I needed to be the type of guy who’d protect any employee.
“Each of whom may have been carrying a weapon. My employees were simply trying to frisk search them.”
I could only hope the heat in my face wasn’t visible, and that my white collar hid the throbbing veins I could feel pumping up my neck.
The vision hadn’t been clear, but Chelle’s tears and distress were real. Katie’s stress from the past weeks had been real. Steve’s injuries were real.
“Here’s the deal,” I spoke calmly with each syllable clearly pronounced. I was about to put my balls in a vice. Either I’d come out of here in one piece or my friend’s band could sing songs at my funeral. Either way, I’d be respected for my stance. “If you can’t feel safe in any of my premises without touching my staff, or intimidating my staff, then keep away. Don’t spend your money in my clubs and don’t show your face. We have a business arrangement, that’s all.”
“My dear Ibrahim,” Garrison’s tone didn’t hide the menace behind his plumped-up vowels. “You’ve come into my place, yet you don’t seem to know your place. We have nothing more to discuss.”
I didn’t need the guided arm to escort me from the restaurant.
Fuck.
Katie
Life needed to slow down or at least get less complicated.
Yes, some of the complications were of my own making.
For a start, the way I felt about my boss. I had to stop thinking about Ibby as a man and remember that until my social influencer status paid for my rent, he was and probably always would be the man who wrote the cheques.
Then there was my passion. The whole idea of building my social media identity into not only an influencer but rivers of gold seemed a logical step. The world seemed intrigued by everything I did. How close I walked to normal people’s illicit fantasies without crossing a moral line. They wanted to see what I saw without getting their hands dirty.
In their eyes, I was the modern-day Pretty Woman.
Each day my followers grew, and each post or random thought bubble got more traction. But the more content I gave, the more they demanded. Maintaining quality over quantity needed much more work than either Dee or I expected.
Even just filtering through the offers for free stuff. We’d prefer cash, but right now we were inundated with offers for free product. How to decline when it either did
n’t match our personal brands or fit with what our small client list expected was almost impossible to get right.
My shifts at The Club were sandwiched between easy influencer gigs. Dee and I dressing to kill, jumping in a car or limo provided by the new club or emerging DJ and turning up. See and be seen. Connecting with people who somehow thought we were living the dream. Sharing a glimpse into our world of adult clubs and party lifestyle.
But since the night we almost had a moment, Ibby hadn’t asked us back to CandyShop.
And since Garrison’s interest became impossible to ignore, I hadn’t wanted to leave the safety of my home. Even to see Ibby at work or make my mark on a new profession.
Life had become insane and complicated.
The one man I wanted, kept sending out mixed messages. The bags under my eyes required increasing layers of makeup to hide. Each evening it had become an emotional fight to leave home, plaster a smile and turn on the charm for clients.
Ditching my work look for faded jeans and navy-blue puffer jacket, I dashed downstairs to be hit by the familiar Sydney humidity. Already late for my colorist, I needed to focus on today’s schedule. Hair, tan, eyebrows, nails and all things glam. If only people understood the time needed to appear naturally stunning.
Yes, lack of time was another complication, but generally I could manage.
Then there was the complication to rule them all.
Until recently, I’d easily been able to diffuse a male who became too attached.
Garrison scared me. His stares had turned from lecherous to terrifying. His comments from harmless to menacing. Garrison wasn’t the only regular customer at The Club to be connected or dangerous. But he was the only one who screamed dangerous to me.
Once stuck in my head, I couldn’t get the words out. He terrified me. He scared me. He was dangerous to me.
Lost in thought, I hadn’t noticed the lack of taxi cabs at the rank.
I didn’t hear the van pull up alongside.
Or the black sliding door open.
I didn’t notice or hear the padded footsteps of men until they stopped alongside.
After the dark hood covered my face, I barely had time to suck in one last breath of fresh air before rough hands strapped my wrists together, picked up my body and threw it into the back of a van.
I was no more than a sack of potatoes.
Over the sound of the running engine and rap music, I could somehow hear the blood pumping through my heart. But nothing could drown out the male laughing.
Ibby
“Mr. Ibrahim?” Katie’s voice sounded unrecognizably faint and she never used that name unless clients were around.
“Katie, how can I help?”
Seeing her name flash up on my phone had restarted my heart, lungs and every other fucking organ that refused to obey without reason to live. Somehow, I kept my tone light and easy. The fucking opposite of how I felt.
Twenty-two hours and sixteen minutes. That’s how long I’d been looking for Katie Elias. Reaching out to every damn contact, friend, even business associates I normally went out of my way to avoid.
Redbacks and Kingsmen.
Everyone that Darius or I knew had been offered a handsome reward for her safe return.
What we knew, was she’d missed half a dozen appointments around town. Tracking back, someone had cleared all the taxis from the rank near her house for a fifteen-minute period. Pulling CCTV footage from local council, my contact described a blonde girl being abducted from her street. Three men all in black with beanies covering their faces were able to grab a girl, throw her in the back of a van and drive off in the middle of the day. No one saw and no one reported.
Katie hadn’t even been reported missing for ten hours until she didn’t turn up to work, and her social media accounts had been unusually silent. Chelle had checked with Katie’s hairdresser, then some woman about nails before calling Darius in a panic.
Darius had been a rock. Cool under pressure.
It wasn’t his woman missing.
Twenty-two hours and sixteen minutes of frantic searching until my phone rang with her name. Now her voice.
I nodded to Darius, Kingsmen president Luther, Redbacks president Karnal, Dimitri and Steve who’d turned my private viewing room into a search and rescue war room. Katie, I mouthed.
“I’ve been asked to tell you to call off the search.”
“You had us worried, especially when we heard you were last seen wearing a black hood and being helped into a van.”
We couldn’t waste time with hearsay. I had my phone on speaker so everyone could hear Katie receive muffled instructions.
“I—” Her voice dropped for ten, maybe fifteen long seconds. “I had a sleep over with some friends, but the party is over, and they are dropping me off at work shortly.”
“Katie, are you okay?”
Stupid fucking question, if they still had her, what the hell did I expect her to say.
“Mr. Ibrahim.”
I looked to the others. I didn’t recognize the male voice. It certainly wasn’t Garrison. If it had been a rogue biker, then their president would sort it out later. Right now, I was getting shakes all around.
“Yes.”
“That is all.”
The phone went dead.
After holding it together for twenty-two hours and twenty-seven minutes, I lost my shit.
“What the fuck just happened? What does that is all supposed to mean?”
Karnal and Luther exchanged looks, “Was it one of your guys?” Luther asked.
“Nah, my beef is with you and the Kingsmen, not with Ibrahim or the girl. I thought it was you. Stirring up trouble to drop me into it.”
“Not fucking likely. We prefer to keep innocents out of play and out of the press. What if someone had gone to the press or police to report her missing. Not my style.”
“Did anyone recognize the voice?” Darius broke through. “It seems personal. I’ve got my family under increased security but why would they target Katie, and why would she contact you?”
I ignored my business partner for what mattered, “Steve, can you go downstairs and wait for her. Take my thick jacket, she’ll be in shock. Bring her up here and we’ll get a doctor to check her over.”
“You can use my room, less mess,” Darius offered.
“Thanks, but it might make her feel better to know the lengths we were going to. Luther, Karnal, I know you boys have your issues, but I’m begging you to take it outside my clubs for a while.”
“Garrison?” Luther asked.
“Probably, but that wasn’t him on the phone. He’s got a hard-on for Katie and Chelle.”
Not waiting for their response, to Darius, “I know Chelle is important here, but she’s got a lot of financial skills. Can you put in a good word for her with Scott Alexander?”
“You want Scott to give her a job at Softli?”
“If he could. I’ll pay for security to and from her home to work, but we need to get her out of sight and away from The Club.”
“We’ll miss her here. She’s been the one to hold things together.”
“I know, but I didn’t choose who Garrison would get the hots for.”
“Fine.” Darius snorted. “What about Katie?”
“Let’s see what she needs. I—”
“As a sign of good faith, one of my boys will keep an eye on her,” Luther offered. “We’ve done business together for years and my issue with the Redbacks has nothing to do with you or the girl.”
“How about one of my boys keeps an eye on the other girl, Chelle.” Karnal offered.
“Cara, it’s Ibby. I need the number of that doctor friend of yours. I need her to make a house call—”
“Mate,” Darius pulled me aside. We could hear the excited squeals from the hostesses downstairs, announcing Katie’s return. As if Steve’s text hadn’t been enough.
“What,” I snapped. He would have time for lecturing me later.
“T
hink about what you’re going to do.”
“I’m going to—” I stopped. The fight had been to get her back. Darius was right, I had no idea what to do next.
“I know you want to help, but tell me,” Darius lowered his voice, not that anyone was listening. Even Luther and Karnal had left to put in place their offers of increased security. “If you care so bloody much about the girl, why didn’t you do something about it before now?”
“It’s complicated.”
“I get that, but why?”
“Because there’s a financing thing with Garrison and I didn’t want her caught up in the middle of it.” Spilling my guts had never come naturally. Especially not to mister tall, dark and impossibly rich Darius Patera.
“She is now.”
“Yeah, but—”
“I can walk, you know.” We looked towards the door, as Katie’s tired but spunky voice approached.
Later, Darius mouthed.
“But why should you have to?” Steve patiently placated Katie. “I’m telling you, if you trip over the carpet, we’d have to restrain the boss-man from burning the place down.”
“Welcome back, Princess, you had us all worried,” Darius reached her first. Greeting Katie with a hug and kiss before helping Steve carry her to the couch.
As helpless now as I’d been for the last day, I could only stand, transfixed in the corner. Wanting to speak, to order everyone from the room and have her all to myself. Instead, I had to wait for her to be welcomed back by the dozens of staff who’d hidden their own panic behind helping to find her.
Katie had her work mask of happy smiles in place. Understandably relieved she’d been returned. But even across the room in dimmed club lighting I could see the frightened doe behind her sunken eyes. I could see the dark circles. I could see the pale skin that no makeup could hide.
I wanted to be the one cradling her in my arms. I wanted to be the body she sunk against instead of my leather chaise. I couldn’t even be the one to get her a glass of water, it seemed everyone coming into the room to check on Katie either had bottles of water, sandwiches or fresh clothes.
“Ibby’s got a doctor on her way to check you out, unless you want to go to the hospital?” Darius tucked the blanket around her while her knuckles were white from gripping onto my jacket.
Hard Bargain: a Billionaire Suspense Romance (City Sinners Book 3) Page 7