16. Zayn
CHAPTER 16
ZAYN
Elixir pulsed around me—familiar with its dark lights, potentially deeper deals, and a steady hum of power I never stopped feeling as I walked through the lower-level club. Everything moved like clockwork down here. That was the point—predictability in a world of chaos.
I climbed the stairs to my office, avoiding the hum of activity on the club floor. It was late afternoon, and the main club was hosting an event involving many balloons and female chatter.
Letting myself into my office, I saw Rye standing at the desk, flipping through a spreadsheet on the laptop. His expression was unreadable, but I could tell something was on his mind.
“You’re late,” he muttered without looking at me. “You were meant to be here two hours ago.”
“I was busy,” I said, taking off my jacket. “Life doesn’t always move at your schedule.”
“You mean she doesn’t.”
I turned to look at him. “You got something to say?”
He raised both eyebrows. “You tell me. ”
I walked around the desk and sat in my chair, stretching my arms overhead. “If you’re going to interrogate me about Isla, save it.”
“I’m not interrogating,” he said coolly. “I’m just noticing patterns. You’re distracted. Soft.”
“Soft?” I repeated, giving a dark laugh. “You want to test that theory?”
He didn’t flinch. “I’m not questioning what you’re capable of. I’m questioning how long you’ll stay capable if you’re not paying attention.”
“She’s not a distraction,” I said, voice low. “She’s the reason I’ve got clarity.”
He rolled his eyes at that. “She’s not part of the plan.”
“She is now.”
Rye’s jaw ticked. “That’s not how you work.”
“I know.” I stood up, slow and deliberate. “I know exactly how I work. But we’re not machines, Rye. You can build walls, but eventually, someone slips through. And when they do, you decide if they’re worth the risk.”
“And you decided she is?”
“I didn’t decide,” I said. “She just is.”
We stared each other down in silence, the tension thick between us. Then Rye glanced away, blowing out a breath, moving on. “You talk to her about the Julian thing?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“She told me first,” I said. “That’s what matters.”
“She told you because she knew if anyone else did you’d be pissed.”
“Maybe.” I sat back down, and the earlier tension disappeared. “But she still did it.”
Rye didn’t answer.
After a long beat, I looked up. “What? ”
“I don’t like this,” he said. “Not because of her. But because of you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What the hell does that mean?”
He stared at me for a moment longer, then said quietly, “You’ve got something to lose now.”
I didn’t answer because he wasn’t wrong.
“I’m just saying,” Rye added, voice level, “you make different decisions when you’re protecting something. Someone.”
“Are you trying to tell me I’ve gone soft again?” I tried to lighten my tone, but it didn’t work.
“I’m saying you’re playing a different game now.”
I nodded once. “Then I’ll learn the new rules.”
Rye didn’t look happy, but he didn’t say anything more about it. He snapped the laptop shut and shot me a sideways glance. “Where’s Isla?”
I didn’t answer right away. I finished reviewing the footage on the main monitor, tapping through camera feeds like muscle memory.
“She’s at work,” I said finally. “Back at The Grand, she’s got three events this week. She’s good.”
Rye grunted, arms folding. “She okay to go back?”
“She says she is. I believe her.”
He gave me a flat look. “You let her go outside alone? Should I be impressed?”
“She’s not alone.”
Rye blinked. “You put someone on her?”
“Of course, I did.” I smirked. “What do you think I am?”
His mouth twitched. “Possessive.”
“Exactly.”
He raised an eyebrow but didn’t challenge it. That was unusual. Still, I saw the shift in his stance and the quiet tension .
“She knows how I feel about what happened,” I added, disliking the need to explain myself but understanding that it was necessary, or he would gnaw at it like a dog with a bone. “And I understand why she let Julian through that door. She owed herself the closure. I get it.”
Rye didn’t look convinced. “You don’t think she’s a threat,” he said flatly. “Fine. But that doesn’t mean she’s not a liability.”
I let the words hang in the air before I corrected him. “She’s not a liability.”
His jaw ticked. “She makes you touchable , Zayn.”
I glanced at the monitors showing the event happening downstairs. “She keeps me human.”
“Exactly,” Rye muttered. “That’s not the asset you think it is.”
I didn’t rise to the bait.
“We’ll see.” I took a breath. “The way I see it, she didn’t lie,” I carried on. “She made a bad call, but she owned it. Told me the truth before it reached me through anyone else. That counts.”
Rye nodded once. “And Julian?”
My mouth tightened. “Still hiding. For now.”
“I don’t like loose ends,” Rye muttered, his eyes flicking to the front entrance monitor.
“Neither do I.” I didn’t tell him that Julian wasn’t the loose end I was focusing on. Delaney was who I wanted to watch bleed.
The room was silent for a beat, the hum of the club alive beneath our feet.
“I don’t trust her,” he said.
Ah, there it was. “You don’t trust anyone.”
“Exactly.”
I almost laughed. Almost .
“And right up until Isla Wells walked through those doors, neither did you,” he scolded.
“She’s mine,” I said. “And you don’t have to trust her. You just have to respect that I do.”
Rye said nothing, but his silence didn’t feel like agreement. It felt like a warning.
I turned back to the screen, scanning every face and each move, just as I always did. I was accustomed to pressure and expected it. But now, the stakes were different because I had something to lose—something more than just money.
I spoke to him as I scrolled through screens. “Can you drop this now? I don’t want to listen to you bitching again. You’ve said your piece, several times, now let it go.” I looked up at him. “I won’t discuss this with you again. Understood?”
“This blows up in your face, and I’m saying I told you so.” He left the office. He didn’t say goodbye. He never did. However, the door clicked shut a little harder than usual.
I sat back, staring at the monitor, where camera feeds flicked silently from the club floor to the loading bay to the back alley.
Rye was right.
I’d made her visible. Which in turn made me visible. That wasn’t my way. Being open meant being open . And in this world? That changed everything.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t protect her. It simply meant I’d kill anyone who tried to get close.
I picked up my phone and scrolled through the notifications. No messages from her. That was fine. She was working, and I appreciated that she wasn’t always checking in. She had her own life. Her own drive. That’s what made her different.
That’s what made her mine .
The fact that I had Jayden watching her and sending me regular updates didn’t make me a hypocrite at all.
She called me two hours later. As promised, her phone had been replaced, but her number remained the same. Despite Rye arguing for at least ten minutes about why that was a bad idea, she refused to consider it. Her clients recognized that number; she wasn’t going to confuse them with a different one now. I understood her perspective, but I didn’t have to agree with it, so we cloned her phone to ensure Delaney wasn’t the only one monitoring it… if he was monitoring it.
He’d be watching it.
If it were me, that’s what I would do. If it were Rye, he would do the same. So, Rye added an app that ensured all her calls and texts were encrypted for anyone other than us.
“Hey,” I greeted, hearing the sounds of a bustling hotel behind her. “You okay?”
“Hi.” Her voice was warm though I detected a slight strain beneath it. “Wait a minute, I didn’t expect you to answer so quickly.” I heard a door close, and the background noise diminished somewhat. “Hi,” she repeated with a light laugh.
“Hi.” I smiled, already grateful Rye wasn’t here to witness this call. “How’s work?”
I heard her huff in frustration. “Gerard is a lovely man...”
“But?” There was definitely a but to come.
“But he must be insane or something,” she snapped, and I heard the creak of a chair as she sat down. “I told him all about my?—”
I grinned as she abruptly cut herself off, her uncertainty echoing down the line. “Are you scared I’m going to steal your idea?” I teased her .
She hesitated, and my grin widened. “Yes… Does that make me a bad person?”
“Yes,” I replied without hesitation.
“Zayn!”
I laughed out loud. “I have no interest in glamping, Is.”
“How…” I heard her quick inhale. “How the hell do you know about my idea?” I heard her get up, and it sounded like she threw open the door. “Have you got someone watching me?”
I leaned back in my chair, and the smile on my face felt permanent as I heard her frustrated anger, imagining her scowling at an empty hotel hallway. “Did you really think I was letting you go alone?”
“ Zayn !” The door slammed shut again. “That isn’t even reasonable behavior!”
“Of course, it is. Four days ago, you were kidnapped. You wanted to return to work, and I support that idea. It doesn’t mean you have to go alone.”
“Who is it?” she demanded, still quite pissed off despite my perfectly reasonable explanation. “It can’t be Jayden,” she continued, murmuring as she thought it over. “He’s far too hot to blend in.”
He’s what?
“What the fuck did you just say?” I asked her, sensing the growl in my voice, which was probably why the little devil let out a delighted laugh. “You like making me jealous, Is?” I asked, a smile forming in spite of myself.
“You enjoy having someone follow me around?” she retorted playfully.
“I like knowing that you’re safe,” I told her in a calm voice.
“I like knowing you’re interested enough to be jealous.”
“I’ll show you how interested I am when I bend you over the bed and fuck you later,” I promised, and I heard her breath hitch as I spoke.
“Well, damn.” She cleared her throat. “As much as I want that”—she paused—“I really want that,” she admitted. “Gerard called a meeting for later this evening, so I don’t think that will happen tonight.”
We had made arrangements earlier. I had even given her the code for the house and emailed both the chef and the housekeeper to inform them that there would be an extra guest. Isla would be staying with me for the foreseeable future. She hadn’t protested although she did ask to stay in the guest room and not move into my room when I offered.
I respected her boundaries. But considering I’d be sleeping in her bed every night anyway, I didn’t really give a fuck which room held my clothes.
“Then I’ll come to The Grand later,” I told her, watching the screens. “I’m at Elixir now. If you want, you can come here after work and stay in the loft, and we’ll go home together when I’m done.”
“Oh…”
I knew that oh meant she was tempted. “And if you fall asleep, I’ll wake you up nice and slowly.”
Her little gasp made my cock twitch. “You’re a bad man, Zayn McCabe.”
“You’ll come here later?”
“With you? Always.”
I laughed at her playfulness.
“And now I’m blushing,” she muttered, and I knew her cheeks would be flaming red. “Yeah, I’ll let you know when I’m leaving.” It was another topic we had discussed this morning before she left for work—check-ins. She hated it, but the other night was still too fresh in her mind to fight it. In time, it would become a habit, and she wouldn’t even remember why she had protested so much.
I heard the door to her office open and what sounded like Isla attempting to muffle the call. She wasn’t very good at it.
“Tell him I’m on a call and I’ll be there in five minutes.”
“Ask for water,” I told her when she was asked if she wanted tea or coffee.
“How... Water,” she snapped. “Sorry, that’s not directed at you…I’ve got a bully on the line.” She paused, and I could feel her anger when she spoke to me next. “Could you try not to be such an overbearing control freak asshole?”
“No.”
“Ugh, I’ll talk to you later. Oh, and I’m having coffee.”
She hung up.
You need water, keep hydrated
Why? You think they’re watching me?
Shit , I didn’t mean to scare her.
Unlikely. I’m just planning to fuck you hard later, and you’ll last longer if you’re hydrated
I have a meeting, and you’re making me blush!
Enjoy your meeting
Asshole…
I checked in with Jayden, who was at The Grand, ensuring she was okay. He told me the meeting was about the number of yurts to build on The Grand’s land. I pitied him for having to listen to that shit. I thought about what Isla had teased. Jayden was a good-looking guy, and I thought about it some more. Would it be too obvious if I replaced him?
You’re being an idio t . Yeah, I knew that too.
I watched the club floor for another ten minutes, watching as the event wound down and the cleanup commenced, subtly so as not to disturb the lingering guests from the party—low-key and controlled.
Control.
I’d built everything around it. No surprises. No missteps. No attachments.
And then? All three had walked through my door in the form of one woman. And still—I’d take it. I’d take every risk that came with her.
Because Isla Wells filled the silence.
My phone rang, disrupting my thoughts, and when I answered, Rye’s voice came through.
“You need to see this.”
“What is it?”
He didn’t answer.
I sighed and pushed away from the desk, grabbing my jacket. As I stepped out of the office and into the hall, Rye was already there, on his way back, holding a slim black tablet.
“Delaney’s crew,” he said simply, flipping the screen toward me.
The footage was paused on a still image—a grainy security camera shot outside Elixir’s alleyway entrance. Three men. Not ours.
And not randoms.
I stared at them, my jaw tightening. “What the fuck are they doing here?”
Rye’s mouth was a thin line. “Could be nothing. Could be a message. ”
“They’re not stupid enough to come into my territory uninvited unless they want to be seen.”
He nodded. “That’s what I thought too.”
I looked closer. All three men had that casual alertness. Like they were watching. Waiting.
“Did they try to get in?”
“No. They didn’t step past the alley. Stood there for five minutes. One lit a cigarette. One looked straight into the camera. Then they left.”
“They wanted us to notice.”
“Exactly.”
I looked down at the tablet again. My thumb hovered over the image. A slow burn started in my chest.
I thought it was too soon for this. Julian’s screwup had opened cracks in the foundation, and I had yet to start patching them, but I was planning a very painful death for Patrick.
I handed the tablet back to Rye. “Don’t engage yet, but start tightening things. No more open walk-ins. Run IDs and inventory every movement.”
Rye’s jaw ticked. “What about Isla?”
I didn’t answer right away. He didn’t push. But I saw the question in his eyes.
Would I tell her? Would I keep her in the loop now that she was inside my world—even if it meant showing her exactly how far my reach went?
“She’s under watch,” I said finally. “But she doesn’t need to know about this. Not yet.”
Rye gave a slight nod, and I took it for the agreement it was.
But we both knew the truth. If Delaney’s crew was watching me, they were watching her, too.
And that? That was a fucking problem.