23. Jace
Jace
The music from the stage is loud. I push through the crowd near the left side of the pavilion, my eyes scanning every face lit by the colorful stage lights.
The crowd thickened when the song started, people pressing forward to get closer to the performance, and somewhere in the surge I lost Sadie's hand. One second she was right beside me, her fingers laced through mine like they’ve been all night, and the next the bodies closed in and she was gone.
My heart pounds hard enough that I can feel it in my throat. This wasn’t supposed to fucking happen.
I pull out my cell phone, my fingers moving fast over the screen as I call Crewe. The line rings once before he picks up, his voice urgent.
"Jace. I saw someone take her. A guy in a dark jacket grabbed her from behind while the crowd was moving. I tried to intercept but there were too many people in the way. He pulled her toward the back edge of the pavilion near the dunes. I lost visual but I’m heading to your location now. Stay put."
What the fuck? Someone took her. Right here in the middle of the concert.
Vanguard Helix. It has to be them. They are onto us, onto Billy, and now they’ve got Sadie.
My grip on the phone tightens until my knuckles ache.
I scan the crowd again, looking for any sign of her pink dress or the way her hair falls when she moves, but there’s nothing.
Just faces and lights and the steady beat of the music.
"Got it," I hang up and immediately dial Sloane. He picks up on the second ring, his voice calm but sharp like always.
"Sloane here. What’s the situation?"
"Sloane, it’s Jace. Put a lockdown on the whole event right now. Sadie's been kidnapped. Someone grabbed her in the crowd during the performance. We need every exit covered and every bodyguard on alert."
There’s a brief pause, then Sloane's voice comes back steady and professional. "Understood. I’ll send out an 808 text to all the bodyguards working the event. Full lockdown protocol. No one in or out without clearance. We’ll coordinate from the command post near the main entrance. Where are you?"
"Back left near the oak tree. I’m meeting up with my brothers and father now. We’ll set up a small base at the end of the pavilion to locate her. Send your team there."
"Copy that. Mobilizing now. We’ll find her, Jace."
I end the call and push through the last of the crowd toward the oak tree where we had met earlier. My brothers are already converging there, their faces tense as they scan the area. Crewe reaches me first, his expression hard.
"I saw it happen," he says without preamble. "Dark jacket, average build, moved fast. He had help. Another guy cleared a path. They headed toward the back dunes. I tried to cut them off but the crowd was too thick."
Colt appears next, his usual grin gone. "What the hell happened?"
Banks and Mack join us a second later, their eyes sharp and ready.
I look at all of them, the shock and anger I feel reflected in their faces.
Then Billy steps out of the shadows near the tree, his expression grim but steady.
Seeing him there with all of us still hits me like it did the first time tonight.
We finally found him. And now we have another person to rescue.
"Sadie's been kidnapped," I say, my voice pained and threadbare. "Crewe saw it happen. Vanguard Helix grabbed her in the crowd. We need to rescue her. Now. They’re onto us, and they’re not waiting. Sloane from Sunbreak Security is putting the whole event on lockdown and sending out an 808 to all his guys. He’s mobilizing a team and we’re setting up a small base at the end of the pavilion to locate her. "
My brothers exchange looks, the tension between us shifting into focused determination. Crewe nods once. "We fan out from here. Cover every exit and path to the dunes. If they took her that way they couldn’t have gone far yet."
Colt cracks his knuckles, his voice tight. "They picked the wrong night to mess with our family. We get her back. And then we finish this."
Banks stays quiet but his eyes say everything. Mack already has his phone out, probably pulling up maps or security feeds. Billy steps closer, his hand landing on my shoulder for a brief second.
"We do this together," he says quietly. "No more losses. We find Sadie, we get Nash and Sin, and we end the threat. That is the only way any of us gets a normal life after this."
I nod, my chest tight with a mix of fear and resolve.
Sadie’s out there somewhere, taken because of us, because of this mess my family has been in for years.
But she’s strong. And she has us now. All of us.
I pull out my phone again and text Sloane our exact location at the end of the pavilion.
He replies almost immediately that his team is on the way and the lockdown is active.
The music continues from the stage, but it feels distant now, background noise to the real mission.
We move as one toward the far end of the pavilion, away from the main lights and crowds.
The area’s quieter here, with fewer people and more shadows.
Crewe starts directing positions while Mack sets up a small folding table from somewhere, probably pulled from one of the vendor areas.
Banks keeps watch on the perimeter. Colt stays close to me, his presence steady.
Billy stands at the edge, his eyes scanning the dunes like he’s done this before. Which he probably has.
Sloane arrives a few minutes later with two of his guys, all of them in dark jackets with earpieces. He nods at me once, all business. "Lockdown’s in effect. No one leaves without being checked. We’ve got eyes on every exit and camera feeds pulling now. We’ll locate her."
I look at my brothers and my father, the team we have become in the space of one night.
The shock of finding Billy is still there, but it’s hardened into something sharper.
We have a missing woman who means more to me than I ever expected.
We’ve got two brothers still out there somewhere.
And we have a company to take down so that Billy can finally stop running and we can all have something like a normal life again.
"We start the search from here," I say, my voice steady even as my mind races with images of Sadie in that pink dress, her hand slipping from mine, the fear she must be feeling right now.
"Sloane's team has the tech. We’ve got the numbers.
We find her. We bring her home. And then we finish this once and for all. "
The music from the stage fades into another song, but none of us are listening anymore. I have to get her back.