Chapter 53
Xander
“Oi.”
I’m nudged awake by a rough elbow to the rib, making me hiss out in pain.
“Shit, sorry,” Jac whispers.
I groan, turning over to see him crouching next to the bed, holding Sid under his armpit.
“It’s almost six o’clock,” he urges.
“Shit.” I slide up to sit in bed—careful not to disturb Camila—and rub the sore spot on my rib. Sid brushes his face against Jac’s chest, purring and swishing his tail behind his arm.
“Sorry,” he grimaces. “Nova thinks she has a lead on Luke, but we need to go now.”
He stands, taking a quick glance at the bedside table where Blossom now sits, and all the emotion drains from his face. He looks over at Camila’s sleeping form and his lip curls up. But he doesn’t push for an explanation. He knows about everything that happened, so none is needed.
I place a kiss on her head before slinking out of bed and dressing in yesterday’s clothes. If Nova has a lead on Luke, I don’t want to waste any time watching the life drain from his eyes.
“Don’t you wanna wake her?” Jac asks, standing next to the door with Obsidian still in his arms.
No.
She’s endured enough of his pain, and now it’s my turn to make sure that part of her life doesn’t live in physical form anymore.
I shake my head as I stuff my pistol into the pocket of my slacks.
“He’s not coming with us.” I point to the furry animal.
Jac pouts. “Why not?” He grabs Sid’s paw and waves it at me. “Please, Daddy Xander.”
“You’re insufferable,” I mumble as I push past him and out of the door.
Our shoes echo off the wooden floors as we make our way to the car. Securing our seatbelts in place, I waste no time in pulling out of the gravel driveway and down the winding path, out of the mansion.
“Where was he last?” I ask, pressing my foot to the accelerator, ramping up the speed.
“Wait—” he starts, squinting his eyes at the screen. “Diamond Lounge?”
“What?” I snap.
“Wait, hold on. Cam’s ringing. Ello, luvah.”
Is this guy serious?
“Hello? Cam? Dammit.” Jac throws the phone in the middle console, cursing under his breath.
“What is it?” I ask, my knee bobbing viciously. “Why would she call you instead of me?”
"Something's wrong."
I slam on the brake, making both of us jerk forward as the car screeches to a stop, and I turn the car around in the middle of the country lane.
Fuck Luke.
“Ezra’s not answering his phone,” Jac sighs.
My skin prickles.
I don’t wait for the gate to open fully before sprinting out of the car, through the small gap of the opening gate, and back into the mansion.
The first thing I see when I run up to the open door of the mansion sets me on edge.
Ezra and Daniel are passed out on the floor.
I curse, continuing through the empty halls.
“Hello?” I call out, but no answer.
It doesn’t take me long to reach the bedroom. My heart pounds when I see the door I closed on the way out is cracked open. Kicking it wide, my heart jumps to my throat when I see Camila is missing, but Obsidian is sitting at the very top of the scratch tower, hissing at me.
“Fuck. Camila?” I yell.
No answer.
I burst into the en suite bathroom.
Empty.
A low buzz sounds on the floor, and I follow it, finding Camila’s phone with that stupid case with black cats in various positions all over it. My arms tremble with nerves as I pick it up, seeing Jac’s name pop up on the screen, attempting to call her.
What the fuck is her phone doing here?
My stomach twists.
“Fuck,” I shout and accept the call. “It’s me. Fuck, Jac. She’s gone. Ezra and Dan are knocked out. Call the doctor.”
His voice drifts through the speaker. “Okay, keep your fucking head on, Xander. Get back out here.” I nod to myself and hang up the phone.
The screen lights up with a previous conversation from an unknown number. It’s Luke. Threatening me. And she… replied.
She’s letting herself be fucking taken?
Rage fills my veins.
She’s protecting me.
I’m going to find him and cut off his limbs one by fucking one.
I’m back in the car in no time. Everything feels like a blur as white-hot anger fills me.
“Diamond Lounge. Now.”
It wasn’t even ten minutes ago that we left, and Camila is missing.
“You think Nova did this?” Jac asks.
My knees stop their jerking.
“She was the one that texted me about her lead on Luke,” he continues, his eyebrows pulling into the middle in contemplation.
“It can’t be,” he murmurs to himself.
“Is he still there?” I ask as I turn on the car screen, displaying a black and white map with a small red dot beeping on DL.
This is fucking it.
We pull up outside of DL, nervous jitters overtaking my body as I grab the gun from my pocket.
“Stay here,” I command.
“No fucking way. I’m coming with you.”
I press my hand to his chest, looking him dead in the eyes. I don’t have time for pep talks, but he needs to hear this. “If anything happens to me in there…” I swallow, not wanting to speak the words out loud. “I need you to find Camila. I need you to make sure she is safe.”
He searches my eyes, sadness filling them. “And what about me? What happens to me if you die in there? I can’t lose you. You almost fucking died a few weeks ago, Xander. I can’t do that again.”
“My head wasn’t there back then… I’m here now. I know what I’m doing. Trust me.”
He slumps backwards against the seat.
A lump forms in my throat, and I grab the back of his neck, bringing our foreheads together. “I love you.” That’s the first time I’ve ever said that to him. But it feels like this time, he needs to know it.
And with that, I exit the car. I can’t waste any more time. As I cross the street, empty except for the glow of the streetlamps, I fix the silencer on the end of the gun.
I kick open the back door to the club to two unfamiliar guards dressed in all black. I don’t hesitate to put a bullet through both of their heads.
They're here.
White-hot rage clouds my vision as I frantically search every single room, only to find the entire fucking club is empty.
My stomach bottoms out. I feel like being sick as I call Jacques. He picks up swiftly.
“It’s fucking empty,” I say, throat tightening.
Where the fuck is Camila?
“I’m gonna attempt to call Robert to see what's happening with Ezra and Dan. Stay in there and don’t move.”
The chime of the phone call ending sounds in the empty main room of the club before black explodes in my vision.