Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lucas
There’s crushing pressure and screaming in my mind. Jerking in pain, I look around and push myself away from the table as I shake my head so I can think. I’m drawing concerned glances, but I ignore them as I stagger to the door.
“Sir?” Paula asks, standing.
The men surrounding me stand respectfully, trying to figure out what’s wrong. I can’t draw a breath as I wheeze, throwing open the door.
“Grant!” I scream, uncaring that I’m pulling attention to myself. I’m the goddamned CEO. What are they going to do about it?
He is my best option for helping to find her as well. Deep in my heart, I hope that he’s comforting her, and that we can figure out what’s wrong together. Somehow, I don’t think it’ll be that simple.
My nerves feel as if they’re on fire, but more disturbing is when Grant runs out of the boardroom with Leila strapped to his chest, and she’s screaming as if someone were hurting her.
I sidestep out of people’s way as they stare at me as if I’ve grown several heads, making my way over to Grant.
“Do you feel that?” I gasp, my hand moving over Leila’s head as her face turns a disturbing shade of red. “We’re working on it, baby girl. I promise.”
“There’s screaming,” Grant says, shaking his head and looking lightheaded. “Isolde went to the bathroom not too long ago. Leila started crying when the pain also started in my body. Fuck, it feels like I’m being tased.”
My eyes widen and I turn to find the nearest restroom.
“No, no, no,” I chant, my legs taking me to the door and pushing it open. “Isolde!”
I’m past being polite and I look into the empty space. Fuck!
“Is she missing?” Paula asks, eyes wide as my gaze finds her.
“If she’s not, someone has some explaining to do for hurting her,” I growl. “She’s being electrocuted, Paula. I can feel it.”
“Shit,” she whispers, turning to face the room. “Has anyone seen Mr. Reid’s omega? Please, it’s a matter of life or death! We have to find her.”
Two of my medical sales reps look over guiltily as they attempt to slink toward the elevator. Glancing at my watch, I see that they’re probably headed toward lunch at a doctor’s office. They have pamphlets in their arms as they hurry off.
It’s really too bad that they won’t make it to that lunch.
“Miranda and Tracy, a moment please?” I bark out.
I can see the shudder across the room as my anger and frustration expands through the room. It’s no wonder that Leila continues to cry as Grant begins to clear offices and closets as he looks for our girl.
If she’s unconscious and if one of my staff members hurt her in some way, there will be hell to pay.
The problem with my bond with Isolde is that it’s still so new that I can’t use it to pinpoint where she is. I’m really wishing I had agreed to let Grant inject a tracker under her skin while she was sleeping. The moment I find her, I’m convincing her that it’s needed.
Life is too unpredictable.
“Mr. Reid, we’ll be late if we don’t go,” Miranda whimpers.
I am not a typically scary alpha. Her reaction to my anger is quite telling that she’s in the wrong. Stalking in their direction, I ignore everyone’s fear. If they’re innocent, they have nothing to worry about.
“I don’t fucking care,” I snarl. “Have you seen my omega in the last few minutes? Something is wrong and if you don’t tell me, you’ll be responsible for her death and mine.”
“Oh my god,” Tracy whispers. “It’s true. You bonded with that freak!”
“Please, speak about her like that again so I can show you how protective I am. She’s the mother of my child and my omega. Now tell me about your interaction with her.”
“I didn’t know she was in the restroom,” Tracy rasps. “I swear it.”
Both women have crocodile tears shimmering in their eyes but I don’t care. My anger is overriding any protective instincts I may normally have toward my staff. I need answers.
“Tracy,” Paula hisses, eyes wide as she joins me. “I gave very direct instructions that everyone be on their best behavior today.”
I had a feeling that she would make a statement to the staff. I hate the fact that people can’t simply be nice.
“I didn’t know she was there,” Tracy whines. “The girl hid when we came in. Who does that?”
“We were talking about her and she slammed out of the stall,” Miranda adds, seeing that I’m very close to exploding. “She told us off.”
“What is her name?” I ask, eyes narrowing. Both beta women pale and I shake my head. “I just fucking said it, but you don’t seem to care very much about a girl that you insulted. What did you say to her?”
“I would rather not say,” Tracy says, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. “I was too unkind to repeat the words.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t work here,” I decide.
“Paula, please have Human Resources begin the paperwork to have Miranda and Tracy terminated. See how I can remember your names when my company employs so many people? Very demure, very mindful. You’ve broken the etiquette clause in your contract, ladies.
I will not be writing a recommendation letter. ”
Leaving Paula to also call security, which I can tell that she is doing from the way she pulls out the radio she keeps on her hip, I face the rest of the office. Grant is speaking to someone several feet away, and I walk over to see if he’s having better luck than I am.
“Sir,” he says, reverting to his professional demeanor to handle the situation. If we both panic, all will be more fucked that it already is. “I may have found something here.”
“We saw her,” Jacob says softly. “Isolde was upset and hiding her face as she left the bathroom. She went out the exit there.”
He points at the door that leads outside to the attached stairwell. At least he bothered to learn her name.
“Grant, get the cameras pulled up and give me your gun,” I grunt.
When Grant makes a noise, I shake my head.
“It’ll take too long for you to give me Leila, and I shouldn’t be holding her when I’m this angry.
She’s feeding off the energy in the room.
Step away and help her calm down while I go check. ”
Grant makes a face, and everyone freezes as he pulls out his weapon to hand to me. He’s the only one allowed through security with it other than the guards who work in this building.
“Does he know how to use that?” Jacob breathes as I take the firearm and remove the safety easily.
Grant moves away to pull up the cameras on a computer, while I walk toward the exit. Neither of us respond to Jacob.
“No one follow Mr. Reid,” a security guard yells as they enter the floor with a few other men. “Allow him space to handle this.”
Other security guards would attempt to stop me, but my guards are fully aware that I’m not an angry CEO that one should cross. If I am going after my girl and my personal guard isn’t making a fuss, then they shouldn’t either.
My hand shoves straight out to push the bar on the door, my eyes moving over the space to assess the situation.
A dead man is lying on the ground, leaking blood all over, and Isolde’s knife is nearby. Sucking in oxygen, my eyes see where a body upsets the blood pooling around the dead man, as well as the boot imprints of large men.
It appears as if there were three men based on how many sets there are, and as I look for clues, I also see one of Isolde’s hair pins almost glowing in the sunshine. It shouldn’t be so pretty today on one of the worst days of my life. It’s too cruel.
Blowing out a breath, I step outside as I avoid the blood to search for a video camera.
“Fuck,” I curse, incensed as I engage the safety again. There isn’t a fucking camera up here.
It’s like the confederacy of dunces chose today to come together and fuck up any chance of a decent lead.
Going back inside, I wave over Ryan, one of the security guards that’s been with us the longest.
“I need you to call the police, and not allow anyone to use the exit behind me until they arrive,” I murmur softly. “We have a body.”
“On it, sir,” he says, already walking to stand by the exit so no one will approach it.
Seeing Grant’s face, I sigh as I head over to see what the verdict is.
“As you saw, there isn’t a single camera at the exit you searched. I’ll be changing that in the near future,” he grunts.
Grant is keeping his emotions out of his tone in an attempt to help Leila. She’s still gasping slightly from how hard she was crying earlier, but she’s calming down.
“There is one on the third floor landing, and it caught two males carrying Isolde. She was floppy and unable to hold her head up, making me believe that she was unconscious,” he adds.
There’s absolutely no inflection, yet I know he has to be freaking out on the inside.
“I called the security downstairs to catch them. They’re waiting at the bottom. ”
“If they hurt her,” I breathe, struggling to follow his emotional verbal indifference. Fuck, I can’t breathe.
Pushing at the bond, I find that there’s nothing. Silence, darkness, and no more pain. She’s not dead, I’d know it if she were, but I fucking hate that I can’t feel her.
Paula runs over in her heels, radio in hand. Everyone else mills around, terrified of being fired for breathing funny. I don’t blame them, but I’m not an unfair boss.
My ability to handle bullshit is simply very low at the moment. My omega is my entire life, fuck around and you’ll find out really quickly how fast I’ll show you the door.
Grant takes the gun in my hand that I’ve nearly forgotten about and tucks it away.
“I’m on the guards’ frequency,” she says breathlessly, shaking the radio. “I forgot to change it. It’s a mess downstairs. The men burst out the stairwell and opened fire. One of them had Isolde thrown over his shoulder…”
“I see it,” Grant growls, opening those cameras.
There is a special website to gain access to the building’s cameras, and he has all the necessary passwords. No one on my team blinked an eye when he insisted as my personal guard.