Chapter 25 – Alec
ALEC
Oscuro. Opening night.
I roll my shoulders and straighten my spine. A soft opening, really. Only the bottom three floors will be accessible to the public tonight, while we organize the finishing touches on the rest of the building.
But it needs to be perfect. Everything tonight needs to be perfect, with so much riding on this.
The board of directors is already on my ass about this venture, questioning the expense, the time and energy we’ve dedicated to this project.
And it feels like someone has been trying to sabotage this launch at every opportunity.
I’ll be damned if I’m going to let them get away with it.
Behind me, Ashton stares at the security feed that dominates half the manager’s office. We spent a small fortune to have extra cameras installed, last-minute, to cover every open area of the club. If someone tries anything here tonight, we’ll see it.
“Have you seen Doc’s new setup at home?” Ashton asks, fidgeting as he watches the monitors.
The black-and-white feed shows a small but growing crowd already filling up the first-floor bar.
We’ve limited capacity tonight to just friends and family—a short list of people known to the club’s partial owners and employees—but we’ll start letting in more as the night goes on.
“I’ve seen it,” I answer. Hard to miss, now that Sebastian has converted a full room of our compound into a veritable altar to his voyeuristic tendencies. One full wall of monitors, each showing a different camera feed of Sydney’s shop and the stairs leading up to her apartment.
Ashton rubs the nape of his neck, looking uncomfortable. “I’m starting to think it was a mistake to encourage this. The, uh, watching.”
I turn to raise an eyebrow at him. “You’ve never had a problem with him watching before,” I remind him.
Frankly, I’ve never given a shit either way, but there’s no hiding that Ashton is a bit of an exhibitionist. Showing off to an audience has always been his preference, not mine.
“That’s different,” he grumbles. “That’s just sex, you know? But watching her all day? Checking in on her while she’s working?” He shakes his head. “That’s not normal.”
I check the time on my phone and scowl. Doc and Viper should be here by now. I want all four of us here tonight, in case something goes wrong.
“I don’t give a fuck if it’s normal,” I assure him in a low voice. “It’s about keeping her safe. That’s all I care—”
No.
It’s just like the first time I saw her. My eyes find her immediately on the monitors, pulled to her like a magnet.
Sydney. She’s here, downstairs, at my club.
Even through the black-and-white video feed, I recognize the red dress she’s wearing. It’s the same one she wore the first night I saw her, bright red and skintight. My woman in red.
But I don’t recognize the man with her. The man who’s currently putting his arm around her, guiding her inside. Touching her so casually.
Touching my fucking woman.
From the angle of the screens, Ashton can’t see her. I only realize I stopped speaking mid-sentence when he nudges me.
“Boss? What’s up, what’s going on?”
I’m dialing a number on my phone before the words are even fully out of his mouth.
“Doc? Where the fuck are you?” I grind out, voice lethally low, eyes fixed on Sydney through the monitors.
The roar of background noise lets me know he’s on his bike, taking the call through his helmet. “Calm down,” Sebastian says. “We’re on our way. Traffic’s brutal tonight. We just—”
“Get to the club. Now.” My eyes track her figure as she moves on the screen. “Sydney is here. And she’s with someone.”
A pause. “Give me five minutes.”
“What? Sydney’s here? What do you mean she’s with someone?” Ashton can’t seem to form the questions quickly enough. He’s up and out of the seat before I have a chance to answer.
“Sit back down,” I command.
“Fuck off.” His eyes roam over the monitors, searching for her. “Where is she, where did you see her?”
“I told you to sit down. We can’t afford to be distracted tonight. Let Doc handle this.”
“Fuck that!” Ashton briefly turns to glare at me before giving his full attention back to the video feed.
“You don’t make the fucking rules, you know.
And you can’t just keep me from her forever.
I’m not about to sit here and…” The words catch in his throat when he spots her.
Sydney, arm in arm with another man as he leads her to a booth, holding her hand as he helps her take her seat.
He doesn’t speak. He just stares at them, mouth open in shock, hurt filling his eyes.
“Doc will handle this,” I repeat. “Just calm down and—”
Too late. Ashton’s already moving, barreling toward the door, his fists clenched. I barely get there in time to stop him, planting myself directly in his path. When he tries to get past me, I brace my forearm against his chest and shove him back into the room. “No. Not here, not now.”
But he’s not listening. His eyes are wild, unfocused, his breathing too fast. He’s determined to get to Sydney.
“Move,” he grunts, trying to push me out of the way. When I won’t budge, he doubles down, slamming his body into mine, fighting me to get to her.
He manages to do it, too. He shoves me hard enough to make an opening, getting past me just enough to get to the door, fumbling to open it.
Fuck this.
There’s only one way to stop him, one way to get him to listen when he gets like this.
Pulling my arm back, I swing, slamming my fist into his face so hard my arm shudders with the impact.
“What the fuck?” Ashton stumbles back into the room, one hand gripping his nose. His voice is high and nasal, full of shock. “Are you fucking serious right now?”
Before he can make another attempt for the door, I slam it shut and brace my back against it, my fist throbbing. It’s been a long time since he and I have come to blows. I’d forgotten how much it hurts.
“I’m not doing this with you. Not tonight,” I snap. “You need to calm down. Let Doc handle this. He’s the one she trusts right now.”
He stares at me, a deeply pained look of betrayal on his face. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he sputters. “Don’t you even care about her anymore?”
“Of course I care about her!” I shout. “What the fuck do you think I’m doing all of this for?” I motion to the room around us, to the monitors. “She’s not safe until we find Dante and put a stop to all of this. All of this is for her.”
“Then why won’t you fight for her?” Something fractures in his expression. “You could fix this,” he pleads. “Please. We have to go out there. We have to do something.”
I don’t answer him. I can’t tell him that I’m the last person she wants to see right now.
When I choose silence, he keeps going. “It’s not going to be just Doc out there, you know. Viper is with him. You trust Viper to deal with this? There will be blood!” He wipes his nose as he says it, then stares down at the splash of red on his hand. “Well, more than there already has been.”
“We stay.” My voice is steeled against any argument, and finally, Ash falls silent.
The minutes tick by so slowly it’s painful. There are no more words between us. We both sit silently, obsessing.
Watching.