Chapter Sixteen
Zane
“Where is she?” I demanded the moment I stepped into my office.
Ivar and Andy were already there, lounging on the leather couches as if they had all the damn time in the world, each with a half-empty glass of whiskey in hand.
They stood as soon as they saw me, expressions tightening.
It had been a long fucking night and day, and I was done waiting.
I needed answers and I was eager to be face to face with the person responsible for all this mess.
She had a lot to explain, and I wasn’t in the mood for any excuses.
“She’s been in the guest room all day,” Ivar muttered, vexed. I already knew how he felt about the whole thing, and I didn’t give a damn. He could choke on his opinion for all I cared.
I strode out again, ignoring their lingering stares and the burning sensation on my shoulder as I rushed upstairs.
I knew her bedroom door would be unlocked because I held the keys to every door in this house and she wasn’t going to hide behind any of them.
But when I pushed the door open, the room was deadly silent.
My eyes quickly scanned the space until they settled on a small, curled-up body lying on the bed. She was sleeping.
I closed the door, circling the bed until her face came into view. My head tilted to find a better angle, my fingers brushing the hair away from her cheek. And suddenly, everything stopped—the time, the noise, my heart.
It was mesmerizing to see how peaceful she looked in sleep, the way her chest rose and fell gently with each soft breath. I’d never seen anything so beautiful. She looked heaven-sent, a sin with legs, made to tempt even the cruelest kind of man.
Too delicate for this world.
Completely unfit for mine.
Yet, all I wanted was to fall straight into her.
She was only wrapped in a towel, her hair still damp from the shower.
The way she hadn’t bothered to get under the covers told me she must’ve fallen asleep the second her body hit the mattress.
The tiny towel barely covered her ass, and I couldn’t help but imagine how easy it would be to shove my dick into her.
She wouldn’t have to wake fully. Just arch into me, sighing my name, and let me end this excruciating need.
I bet she’d love a good sleep fuck, if the circumstances were different.
My dick throbbed with the mere thought of it, but I quickly shook my head, trying to rid those impulsive thoughts.
Crossing to the bed’s far side, I peeled back the sheets.
Then I circled back, crouching beside her, slipping an arm under her knees, the other behind her back, I lifted her effortlessly to my chest. She didn’t even flinch, her body molded against me as if it was made to fit there.
Her head fell into my chest and I almost stopped breathing. Fucking hell.
Ignoring the way my lungs seemed to swell and collapse all at once, I carried her to the bed’s open side, lowering her gently onto the mattress. She moved a little as I tucked the covers over her, releasing an adorable groan, almost as if she was yearning for my touch in her dreams.
I sighed in frustration, pissed at myself for having all these big ass plans, only to soften the second I looked at her.
My fingers brushed through her hair, sweeping it from her face, revealing her features in the soft light of the sunset streaming through the windows, giving me a breathtaking view, almost like a dream. She looked as delicate as an angel, and as peaceful as one.
But she was no angel. She was a fighter, and everything about her was fierce fire.
The fuck am I going to do with you now?
I stormed into the office again, letting the door slam behind me. “What do we know?” I barked at my three top men already inside. “What the fuck happened at that club?”
Dropping heavily into the chair behind my desk, I watched them move in, Andy and Mike taking their seats, while Ivar chose to stay standing.
“Maybe a coincidence?” Mike offered first, clearing his throat. “We’ve spotted them before in other strip clubs around town.”
“Do I have to remind you what I think about coincidences, Mike?” I bit back.
His Adam’s apple bobbed.
“Maybe someone saw you with her and made her a target to piss you off…” Andy was the next to speak.
“Or someone wanted to use her to send a message,” Mike tried again.
I shook my head in denial. I was with women all the time, it never meant shit. Why would anyone think Chloe was different? There had to be more to it.
“It doesn’t look random,” Andy agreed with me. “We’ve been getting reports of their movements for the first time in years, and now this. Whatever reason made her a target, they’ll come for her again… if we let them.”
“Wouldn’t that be a damn good idea!” Ivar chimed in. “We’d get rid of her and force them to show their hand. Kill two birds with one bullet.”
He was right. If they wanted her, she could be a perfect decoy to lure them out again, and this time, we’d be prepared.
Maybe the universe had sent her my way for a reason after all.
Yet, something about that thought turned my blood cold.
The idea of putting her in danger made me want to punch myself in the face.
“You want to use her as bait?” Andy asked, brows raised like he didn’t like the idea.
“For what other reason would we keep her?” Ivar snapped. “To babysit? Fuck—are you a fucking Nanny now, Andy? Did somebody forget to tell me the business pivot?” He let out a humorless laugh. “Hey, Mike, if you start offering bedtime stories, I’ll be the first in line.”
“How about you fucking use your brain, man? She might know more than we do right now, and we need to be smart about it.” Andy pushed back. “She’s our problem now whether we like it or not.”
“I’ll decide after speaking to her and seeing what she’s willing to share,” I cut it, shutting the argument down.
I had to decide what to do with her, and fast, because letting her go wasn’t an option. Doing so would cost me my credibility among my men, my self-respect, and the only leverage I’d gained in years.
“How about the ballistic?” I asked Andy.
“I took it this morning to my contact. We should get the results in a couple days. Maybe if we know where they got the guns or where they’ve been used before, we can add it to the timeline.”
I nodded.
“And the club?” Mike asked. “Do we shut it down? Use it to send a message?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Not yet. Find out if this was a one-off or if the Red Scorpions keep circling back.”
Mike gave a curt nod in response.
They started resurfacing and now they were making mistakes.
Every crumb they left behind pulled me one step closer to finding them and finishing what we started all those years ago. I could almost taste the sweet taste of vengeance on my tongue again.
“You don’t have to be responsible for her; she isn’t one of us,” Ivar reminded the room after a moment. And it was the tone that made my jaw tighten.
The block of ice in my chest that I’d been growing for years had been turning into a fucking volcano since laying eyes on Chloe. And now, it was exploding.
If I’d been next to him, I’d have been choking his neck for it.