Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
GRAYSON
The revelation that Vaughn announces rocks the fucking car.
But we don’t have time to dwell on it in any way because as soon as he tells us what he’s found, half a dozen men walk out of the Night Devils clubhouse.
Instantly, I recognize the man in front with the bushy gray beard as the man who drove Nadine’s car away from the construction yard.
We don’t respond to Vaughn’s new information.
That’s going to be something for later.
Maybe when we finally lay our hands on Tate.
“Which one of you is Grayson?” the bearded man booms before we can even approach him.
Lifting my hand, I give him a little wave.
I watch as he crosses his arms over his massive chest, then snorts.
“Seems about right,” he mutters.
“We need to have a discussion,” he says, then flicks his gaze behind me.
“You boys wait in the bar.”
I don’t turn around and look at my men.
Instead, I follow behind the bearded man as he spins on his heels and marches back into the building.
I have no fucking clue what is going on here, but I know that he has Nadine, and I know that this is where Brody is the one in charge, so I’m going on an assumption that this isn’t going to turn bloody, but if it does, I have my own means of protection.
When he turns into a room, I follow behind him and stop when I realize I’m in an office.
“Close the door,” he mutters.
Shutting the door behind me, I clear my throat as I watch him walk over to the window.
It’s dark now, and I can’t help but wonder what the fuck he’s looking out at, but when he starts talking, I realize he’s just thinking.
“We don’t know where Brody is,” he announces.
“We had a meeting scheduled for after work tonight, and he didn’t show up. Normally, I wouldn’t even notice if someone was missing, but he’s the one who called the meeting, and since he’s also the one who leads them, we all kind of noticed.”
“Is that what you were doing at the yard?” I ask.
He turns around to face me, his lips twitching beneath his beard.
“Figured you’d have seen me there.”
“Where is she?” I ask, trying not to sound demanding, but on the other hand, not quite giving a fuck if I do.
“She’s safe. What I want to know is what the fuck is going on here?”
“Man, I don’t even know who you are.”
We stare at one another, and I’m not sure which one of us does it better, but since he breaks eye contact and speaks first, I consider myself the victor.
My lips twitch into a smirk as I listen to him speak.
“I’m Orion. I’m the VP of the club.”
“Why aren’t you the president?” I ask.
He’s got at least fifteen years on Brody, so it would make sense as the obvious senior member that he would have taken over the reins.
At least I assume that’s the way this works, like any other type of organization.
“Brody’s grandfather was a founding member. The seat was his. He had to prove worthy of it, but it was his.”
Well, that answers that.
“His father?” I ask.
“Piece of shit,” Orion snorts.
“Didn’t know Brody or Nadine as kids. She was gone before Brody came here looking for family, for answers. We gave him that, and the rest is history.”
“Now that we have that settled, where is Nadine?” I ask again, this time with a bit more force.
He watches me for a moment.
“Found her out cold in the office. She lost a couple hours. No clue what happened to her. Between that and Brody being gone, I’m inclined to think that they’re related. And also, I’m inclined to believe that she’d be safer right here where she is.”
I almost laugh in his face.
If I wanted a war, I might just do that.
But we may need them, and the simple fact is that they have helped us and will continue to help us as long as we can keep our relationship positive.
Plus, Brody is Nadine’s only family, and he’s missing.
“Can you track Brody at all?” I ask.
He shakes his head once.
“We don’t do that.”
“His phone?”
Orion shakes his head.
I’m not sure where to go from here.
“Have you asked Nadine?”
“Says she went to the yard to look for him.”
Why the fuck would she go looking for Brody?
Then something hits me.
She had to have a reason to go looking for him.
“Let me talk to her. I’m not going to take her out of here yet, but I need to ask her some questions.”
“You can ask her questions in her holding room.”
“Sure, whatever.”
Orion must sense my urgency.
He walks out of the office without saying another word, and I follow behind him, my mind spinning about a million miles a minute as I think about what the fuck all of this means.
He stops in front of a door, jingles some keys, then opens it.
As soon as I step inside, my blood turns ice cold.
There is some scattered food on the floor and a bed against the wall, but the room is empty.
Slowly, I turn around to look at Orion, who is also standing stock-still and staring wide-mouthed at the sight in front of him.
He shakes his head.
“I’m the only one with a key,” he rasps.
“I brought her dinner and locked that door. I even checked the handle to make sure the dead bolt was locked.”
“Where the fuck is she?” I demand.
He shakes his head.
Turning back around to the room, I walk inside and crouch down in front of her chair.
What the actual fuck?
Where is Landon Tate?
And where is Brody?
But most importantly, where the fuck is my woman?
NADINE
Sitting cross-legged on the small chair, I smile down at the food in my lap.
Comfort food.
Maybe Orion didn’t know, but maybe he did.
This meal is exactly what Brody would buy me when we were younger and we’d had a particularly bad night with our parents.
A three-piece fried chicken tenderloin filet meal, which includes a biscuit, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a cinnamon twist with frosting.
There’s no way Orion just knew my order off the top of his head.
Brody had to have told him.
Tears prick the backs of my eyes at the thought of Brody remembering the meal.
It’s such a simple thing, a meal from a fast-food fried chicken place, but at the same time, it’s more than that.
It’s a comforting hug.
Because that’s what this meal is.
It’s my brother’s arm around my shoulders telling me that everything is going to be okay, even when we both knew it wasn’t.
Chewing on the warm, crunchy fried chicken, I pause when the door starts to open.
I don’t know who could be coming in here.
But something niggles at the back of my mind that this is not good.
Taking my purse off, I slide it across the room and underneath the cot, hoping that because it’s black, it will blend into the floor and be unnoticed by whoever is on the other side of that door.
When the door finally swings open, I’m met with a person dressed in black from head to toe, including one of those ski masks.
I almost burst into laughter, mainly because I’m terrified as hell, but also, it’s like a movie with that mask on.
And nervous laughter is a thing.
All I can do is think about Home Alone and the Wet Bandits.
I have no idea why, but that’s the first thing that pops into my head.
“Get the fuck up,” the voice growls.
It’s a woman’s voice, and my heart slams against my chest.
I don’t know why, but why would a woman be here?
I expected it to be Landon, not a woman.
I stand, and my food falls to the floor, but I don’t attempt to pick it up.
I want Orion or whoever is here to find this shit.
I want them to know that I did not leave of my own free will.
Pressing my lips together, I follow the masked person out of the room, then out of the back of the building, where there is an old piece-of-shit four-door pickup truck waiting.
How the hell did they get here unnoticed?
Orion stopped at a gate that had one of the guys guarding it and had to open it for us to pass through.
A hand on the center of my back pushes me forward, and I stumble as I approach the pickup.
“Get the fuck in,” she growls.
She’s trying to hide her voice, growling with every word she says.
It’s odd, but then again, nothing about this scenario is normal.
I just hope that whoever discovers I’m missing can find me.
Though I’m not sure how.
I have no way for someone to track me.
Climbing into the back seat of the pickup, I look ahead at the driver and try to make out who it could be.
It’s a man, but he’s not wearing a mask.
The truck lurches forward, going in the opposite direction of the entrance gate, and I am taken through a very rough and forestlike exit.
Now I know how they got here unnoticed.
This isn’t even a road.
The truck dodges, bobs, and weaves as the driver attempts to miss holes, tree stumps, and branches.
I hold on to a handle next to the door, gripping it tightly in an attempt to keep from slamming against the door and window.
Then the man at the wheel slams his foot on the brake right in front of a clearing that leads to a road.
I watch as he turns his head and his eyes meet mine.
I gasp at the sight of him.
At the sight of those eyes.
I know those eyes.
The other person takes the mask off and turns to look at me as well.
It is a woman.
I knew it was.
But I didn’t realize it was a woman I once knew— well .
If I could gasp again, I would, but the fact of the matter is that I can’t breathe.
It’s not just two strangers.
I know them.
I also thought they were dead.
But they aren’t.
I open my mouth, then snap my lips closed again.
I’m not sure what to say.
I am not only breathless, but I am also speechless because my supposedly dead parents are looking back at me.