Forever (Empire High Book 8)

Chapter 1

Friday

Matt

I could have stared at Brooklyn tied up in bed for a lifetime. Completely at my mercy. But no. Nigel had to go and ruin it.

“And if I ever catch you looking at my fiancée like that ever again, we’re going to have a big problem.” I let go of Nigel, depositing him back into the prom section of Club Onyx.

“But I was just trying to keep you and the lovely mademoiselle safe, Master Matthew.”

“From what? We’re in the middle of a private club.” I started to walk away, but Nigel was hot on my tail. I spun around.

He froze, pressing his back against the wall.

If he was trying to blend in, he was failing. I glared at him and kept walking. But I heard his footsteps behind me. Was he trying to get punched? “Seriously, stop it. Stay right there.”

Nigel froze in the middle of the hallway mid-step. “Like this?”

I ignored him and kept going. Luckily this time I didn’t hear him following me. I opened up the door with the symbol of a masquerade mask and stared at the empty bed.

What the hell? “Brooklyn?” I called and looked around the room.

But she didn’t respond.

I walked around the bed, but no one was there.

“Brooklyn?!” I said again and turned in a circle. My heart started racing as I faced the empty bed again.

I’d left her naked. Tied up. Alone.

Fuck.

I sprinted out of the room. “Nigel!”

“Yes?” His voice was faint in the distance.

“Where are you?”

“You told me not to move!”

I ran toward where I’d told him to stop following me.

He was still frozen mid-step.

“Where the hell is Brooklyn?”

“In the room with the masquerade mask.”

Did he think I was dense? “I know where she’s supposed to be. But she’s missing.”

Nigel’s eyes grew round. “Well, I’d know where she was if you’d let me keep watching. Alas, my duties were tooketh away.”

I hated everything he’d just said. “Do you have cameras in this hall? To see where she went?” But I had this sick feeling in my stomach that Brooklyn didn’t just up and leave. Why would she? We’d been having the night of our lives. And…how could she? She’d been tied up.

“She was bound,” Nigel said. “Which means something sinister is afoot. Luckily I’m always packing.” He pulled a gun out from the back waistband of his tuxedo.

“Jesus, what the fuck are you doing?”

“Saving the day, Master Matthew. Someone must have kidnapped her!”

Oh. Wait. Kidnapped.I laughed as relief filled my chest. Of course.

“This isn’t funny! Mistress Brooklyn is in danger!”

“She’s not,” I said. “It’s just Rob. He told me he wanted to recreate our homecoming where Brooklyn got kidnapped and James saved the day. Only this time…I’d save the day.” I shook my head. I’d specifically told Rob not to do that. And I didn’t love the fact that he’d fake kidnapped my fiancée while she was completely naked. “I’ll go find them.”

Nigel nodded. “I’ll search the room and bring up the security feed. You beat the shit out of Robert!” He sprinted off with his gun.

I was glad it was me rather than Nigel going to talk to Rob. Nigel might have shot him. I laughed again as I walked out of the Club Onyx hallway and back to the dance. I’d been so amped up, I’d let my imagination run wild. Of course Brooklyn was fine. I’d only left the room for a minute or so.

But then I saw Rob dancing with Daphne in the middle of the dance floor. Brooklyn was nowhere in sight. My heart started beating funny in my chest again. I pushed my way through the crowd until I reached them. “Where’s Brooklyn?”

Rob shrugged and kept dancing. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen her in like an hour. What have the two of you been up to?” He winked at me.

“This isn’t funny. Where is she?”

He lowered his eyebrows. “I just told you. I haven’t seen her.”

“Cut the shit, Rob. You said you were going to fake kidnap her…”

“And you told me not to. So I didn’t. We went with your proposal idea instead…”

I grabbed him by the lapels of his tux.

“What the hell are you doing?” Daphne said. She grabbed my arm but I shrugged her off.

“Where. The. Fuck. Is. Brooklyn?”

“Are you high?” Rob said and shoved my chest, but I didn’t even flinch.

I tightened my grip.

Rob sighed. “I was really trying not to recreate homecoming. Please don’t make me throat punch you, man. I’m too old for this shit. How am I supposed to explain a black eye to my daughter?”

“Both of you, stop.” Daphne grabbed Rob’s arm this time.

But I wasn’t letting go. Not until Rob stopped whatever stupid prank he was pulling. He always did this shit. He made pranks too big. Or way too small to even notice. I knew this was the first one. But it wasn’t fucking funny.

“Not again,” James groaned and pushed the two of us apart. “What the fuck, Matt?”

“He…” I pointed at Rob. But Rob looked genuinely clueless. And I knew Rob. He’d have an evil glint in his eye if he was in the middle of a scheme.

Rob ran his hands down his lapels. “Matt’s lost his mind again.”

I didn’t know what he meant by again. But I felt my mind scrambling. “You didn’t fake kidnap Brooklyn?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer. I didn’t even pay attention to his response. I ran my fingers through my hair and turned in a circle. “Then where…” My throat felt tight. Fuck. I couldn’t have a panic attack right now.

Breathe.If this wasn’t a fake kidnapping, it meant it was a real kidnapping. I’d promised Brooklyn I’d protect her. I’d promised. I can’t breathe.

James grabbed my shoulders and made me face him. “Let’s split up and look for her, okay? Where did you last see her?”

I shook my head. “Mr. Pruitt.”

“Her dad is here?”

I shook my head again. No. Well, maybe. All I knew was that if Brooklyn was in trouble, Mr. Pruitt was the one to blame. “This has to be related to her dad. I… I gotta go.” All I could picture was walking into Mr. Pruitt’s apartment 16 years ago and being told Brooklyn was dead. Tears started welling in the corners of my eyes. Not again. Fucking breathe.

James kept his hands on my shoulders. “Last time Brooklyn disappeared, we weren’t there to help you. This time we are. Penny, go find Mason and Bee so they can help too. Daphne, get the lights turned up and make an announcement. Rob, go find Tanner.”

Penny and Daphne darted off. But Rob stayed put.

“Seriously?” Rob said. “That’s the task you give me? Psh Tanner. He probably took her. He’s up to something shady, I’m telling you.”

“Then I’ll find Tanner,” James said. “You stay with Matt.” James ran off to go look for Tanner.

The music cut off and the lights turned on. Daphne tapped the microphone and asked if anyone had seen Brooklyn.

What if she’s dead? What if I lose her again? I can’t breathe.

Rob looked around, trying to spot Brooklyn in the crowd. “Is this a bad time to mention that if you’d let me fake kidnap Brooklyn then she probably wouldn’t be real kidnapped right now?”

I bent forward gasping for air. Fuck.

“Hey,” Rob said and put his hand on my back. “Take a deep breath.”

“I…”

“Don’t talk, man. Just breathe.”

His voice was oddly soothing.

I took a deep breath. And then another. I couldn’t afford to lose my shit right now. Brooklyn needed me.

Rob patted my back. “What would you and Sanders do without me?”

“I can’t lose her again.”

“You won’t. Like James said. You’ve got all of us this time. We’re not going to let anything happen to her.”

But it already had. I stood up straight. The panic had settled in my chest, and now all I could feel was this sense of doom. I can’t live without her.

James, Tanner, and Nigel all ran up to us. Quickly followed by Penny, Mason, and Bee.

“Nigel caught me up on everything,” Tanner said. “Weapon them.”

“Yes, Master.” Nigel pulled out a suitcase from behind his back and popped open the lid. It was filled with guns. He lifted one up and tossed it at me.

I dodged to the side. “Would you stop throwing around firearms?”

Nigel looked horrified. “Why did you not catch it? You’re supposed to be good at American football! And it’s loaded. You could have hurt someone.”

Me?“We don’t need guns. We need to go see Mr. Pruitt.”

Tanner shook his head. “Mr. Pruitt has nothing to do with this. He’d never hurt Brooklyn again.”

“And how the hell would you know that?”

“Because we had a dinner…” his voice trailed off. “It’s not important. All you need to know is that he didn’t put that bomb in Brooklyn’s car. And he’s not responsible for this either. He’d never hurt her. Trust me.”

Never hurt her? He’d fucking stolen her kidney and ruined my life.

“We don’t trust you,” Rob said. “That’s the whole problem, man bun. Get lost. Matt’s real friends can handle this.”

Tanner sighed. “Do I look like I have a man bun, Young Robert?”

“Stop it,” I said. “Both of you. I know it was Mr. Pruitt.”

“Shouldn’t we call the police?” Mason asked.

“I don’t know if that’s the best idea if the mafia is involved,” Tanner said.

Yeah, probably not.

“And we don’t want them poking around in here, scaring off potential lovers. Besides, it wasn’t Mr. Pruitt. She was taken from one of the rooms. You have to be a member to even get access to this floor. Which Mr. Pruitt is not. And even if he did infiltrate somehow, he’d need the key. It had to be a member of Club Onyx.”

“Then one of his hitmen must be a member here.”

“None of his wet workers are club members either. I specifically checked. I wanted Brooklyn to be safe.”

Well, great job with that.“Then it’s someone he just hired. Specifically for this.”

“I really don’t think…”

“I don’t care what you think right now, Tanner! Brooklyn is in danger. That’s all I care about. And I’m going to get to the bottom of it by talking to Mr. Pruitt.”

“Okay,” he said. “But I’m worried we’re wasting time.”

I pulled out my phone and called Mr. Pruitt. It went straight to voicemail. Son of a bitch. “We need to go there. Now.”

“Why?” Nigel asked.

“Were you not listening to anything I just said? Even if Mr. Pruitt didn’t take her, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t someone with the mob. Poppy. Mrs. Pruitt. Fuck.” I had no idea which one of those was worse.

Nigel sighed like I was boring him. “A big, beefy man took her. Not a sexy woman or an old lady.”

I did not love the fact that Nigel thought Poppy was sexy. “What man? You got the video footage?”

“Of course I got the video footage,” Nigel said. “You told me to. I always do what I’m told.”

No, you don’t.“Why didn’t you lead with that?!”

“You didn’t ask.” He just stood there, staring up at me.

“I’m fucking asking now, Nigel. Who took Brooklyn?”

“Not Mr. Pruitt.”

“Told you,” Tanner said.

I glared at him. “Nigel, spit it out.” Every second we spent talking about this was a second I didn’t have to get Brooklyn back.

Nigel pulled out his phone. “Magnus King. He’s been a member of Club Onyx for quite some time.” He pointed to his phone where a video feed was playing. “There he is. See. The big, beefy man who’s stealing your helicopter for your special surprise for Brooklyn.”

I watched in horror as Magnus King carried Brooklyn into the helicopter.

“The escape is in poor taste in my humble opinion,” Nigel said. “Men never steal other men’s air carriages.”

Yeah, that was a dick move. But that wasn’t what I was worried about right now. “Is that video feed live? We can still stop them.” I just needed to make it to the roof.

“No. It’s from about five minutes ago.”

I watched as the helicopter took off from the roof. They could be going anywhere. “Who the fuck is Magnus King?”

“He’s a known enforcer for the Locatellis. I told you something sinister was afoot. They’re probably seeking revenge for the death of their only heir. You know, since Poppy blew him up with that car bomb.”

Fuck.This was bad. Really bad. I pulled out my phone and tried to call Mr. Pruitt again. But it still went straight to voicemail. “We need to go to Mr. Pruitt’s apartment. He’ll know where to find the Locatellis.”

“No need,” Nigel said. “I’ve already checked in with my spy network of houseboys. Or in this case, housegirls. The Locatelli’s are very sexist and only hire housegirls. They forget that modern day boys can also do housework…”

“Nigel focus,” Tanner said.

“Right. The helicopter landed at the Locatelli Hotel in New York City. They’re keeping her there. Probably to murder her for revenge. Luckily, it’s just down the street.”

I took a deep breath. I was done panicking. I was done thinking about the worst case scenario. No one was murdering my girl. I turned to face my friends.

First things first.Brooklyn would want me to make sure Jacob was safe. I took another deep breath. “James. Penny. I need you to go home and make sure all the kids are safe.”

Penny’s eyes grew round. “They wouldn’t…they…” her voice trailed off. “James.” Tears started falling down her cheeks.

James nodded at me. “I’ll call you as soon as we get back to the apartment. We’ll make sure Jacob is okay.” He grabbed Penny’s hand and they ran off.

“I should go with them,” Daphne said. She tried to hide the tremor in her voice, but failed. “And I’ll go get Tyler and Hailey too. They’ll want to make sure Axel is safe.”

“Thanks, Daphne.” I hadn’t even thought about Tyler and Hailey. But of course their son was in danger too.

She gave Rob a swift kiss and then ran off to find Tyler and Hailey in the crowd.

I turned to my brother. “Mason, Bee. Make sure my house is safe.” I was worried we were bugged. Or…worse. I couldn’t get the car bomb image out of my head. I pulled out my key and handed it to Mason. “I know Brooklyn will want to go home as soon as I get her back. And I don’t want any surprises. Double check the cars.”

“We’re on it.” Mason squeezed my shoulder. “Go get her back.”

“And you two are coming with me,” I said to Rob and Tanner.

“What about me?” Nigel asked and cocked his gun.

“You go see Mr. Pruitt.” I was a little worried that Nigel was going to accidentally shoot someone if he kept waving that around. And I’d prefer if it was Mr. Pruitt and not me.

“But he’s not a part of this…”

“Yes he is. This is all happening because of him. Get whatever information you can out of him.”

A smile slowly spread across his face. “I’ll get it all! I haven’t tortured anyone in ages!” He sprinted off with his gun in the air.

What the fuck?I shook my head.

“So what’s the plan?” Tanner asked.

I’d let Brooklyn down a thousand times back in high school. And I wasn’t going to let her down ever again. “Follow me.”