Chapter 26
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
LUKE
Their merciless stares never wavered from the scenes unfolding in front of them.
“I have sixty grand on twenty-nine!” another person called out from the crowd.
“I got thirty grand on sixty!” a woman shouted that time.
“I got another twenty thousand on sixty!” someone else chimed in.
For some reason, my intense glare went back to Felipe, who still stood there calm and collected.
Once again, just waiting for I don’t know what.
He was allowing these rich-ass people to play their wicked cards, because money could literally buy you anything you wanted. Felipe turned and watched from where he stood, his expression void of any emotion.
And that was when I felt her .
Turning, I swear I saw her wearing a black cloak with a black lace mask through the crowd. Except as quickly as it happened, it was over even faster. I looked around for her again, instantly realizing she disappeared.
Fuck.
I turned and sprinted up the stairs. Rushing my way back toward the estate, I needed to find her. I felt like my life depended on it. The rooms were already crowded with endless amounts of people feeding off the evil of each other. Music played loudly through the speakers as everyone mingled and carried on without a care in the world, not giving a flying fuck what was happening on this property.
I hated that Sloan was there among all these soulless people. She didn’t belong in this world.
Not now.
Not ever.
My first and only thought was that they were going to try to sell her. My blood boiled to the point of searing pain, blinded by craze and madness. Looking for her but coming up empty.
I knew she was still at the party.
I still felt her.
But I needed to play it cool, or I could get us both killed. I decided to grab another drink at the bar, hoping it might help my overly distressed state of mind. I couldn’t control the inner turmoil or the wave of emotions soaring through my mind, taking over my body as I stood there trying not to flip the fuck out.
It was by far the hardest thing I’d ever done.
For a man who prided himself on self-control and good judgment, I had absolutely none when it came to her. She was only here because of me and the life I led. My last thread of patience was about to snap for the second time that night as I willingly walked into the gates of hell to rescue her. I’d bid on her if I had to.
A heavy presence filled my lungs, making it hard to breathe.
Hard to see anything but red.
Hard to feel anything but the rage eating away at me.
I downed my drink, making my way toward another room. If I had to check every last one, I would. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours as I tried to find her. The last room I entered had another auction, and I saw a woman in a black cape on the stage. Her back was to me, and I couldn’t be sure it was Sloan.
I did the only thing I could do, I bid on her. This auction was different from the last one. This one, you picked a paddle off the table and raised the number in the air when they got to the slave you wanted. Once again, I waited until they got to her, but she didn’t turn around. I stood there, losing my mind with each passing second.
Just as I was about to bid on her, familiar faint music caught my attention for a moment. Like a moth to a fucking flame, I followed it. My head began spinning, each note dragging me further into the abyss of my own guilty conscience.
Ten steps…
Twenty steps…
Thirty.
Each of my steps were precise and calculated, each stride more determined than the last. I was a man possessed, wearing my heart on my sleeve, holding my last breath.
Forty steps…
And that was when I saw another woman in a black cape right there in front of me. I narrowed my eyes to the vision before me. She had this aura around her.
It glowed.
It was illuminating her with that same magnetic pull she had on everyone partying in the large room. No one stood a chance of resisting her God-given talent. She was born to perform on stage.
Her head was down in the DJ booth. I’d yet to see her face, but I recognized her playlist set. They must have been forcing her to DJ the party. It had to be Duchess. There was no way in hell it wasn’t. Before I knew it, her set was over, and everyone was cheering and clapping, causing me to lose sight of her through the crowd of partygoers.
I quickly realized she disappeared again.
Did I just imagine her?
It felt like my mind was suddenly playing tricks on me, and it was hard to decipher between fact or fiction.
“If you’d like to continue the dancing party, make your way up to the third floor for the next event.”
In the blink of an eye, I ran across the room, dodging people and veering through the crowd. I hauled ass, feeling as though forever flew by until I was finally running up the stairs three at a time. Each step faster than the last, trying to get to her through the mayhem of this party. Once again, my senses kicked into overdrive as soon as I made it to the third floor, praying she was there.
And I’d find her.
Questions pounded through my head as fast as my heart beat through my chest, but I didn’t waver, barreling down the hallway just as fast.
Nothing could stop me.
Hundreds of emotions consumed my mind, but it didn’t stop me from reaching for the door handle and turning it.
All of a sudden, a man with a thick Cuban accent yelled from another room at the end of the hallway, “Duchess, you get your shit together and get your ass to the next event.”
I abruptly stopped dead in my tracks, knowing she was definitely nearby.
Barely having a moment, a second to even contemplate what was happening, I stood near the cracked-open door, and I was greeted by a whole new set of demons, possessing me to watch…
To listen.
“Do not make me repeat myself,” he warned in a hard-edged tone.
As soon as I saw him, I recognized who he was.
This motherfucker…
I stopped breathing.
My hands fisted at my sides.
My body clenched.
My mind went to that dark place inside me.
“No,” she argued in the same hard-edged tone.
It didn’t surprise me that she was putting up a fight. It wasn’t in her nature not to do so. Crouching down to the ground, I grabbed the gun I had hidden in my ankle strap.
“Why are you doing this to me?” she pleaded in a voice that further pissed me off, knowing how hard that was for her.
I was about to open the door. I didn’t give a fuck about the consequences anymore. If he was the only one in the room with her, I could take him before he opened his mouth. I couldn’t just stand there anymore and do nothing.
I laid my hand on the door as he barked, “You’re mine, and don’t you ever fucking forget that.”
If life taught me anything, it was that what didn’t kill you only made you stronger, and I was about to prove that theory for what felt like the hundredth time when he added with conviction…“I love you, Sloan Duchess Del Toro.”