10. Chapter 10
Chapter ten
Dax
I’d spent the entire day dreading this moment.
Fuck, who was I kidding? I’d spent the last several days dreading it—facing the damned situation I decided to put myself in.
I’d tried my hardest not to look at her, even though my station was literally right across from hers.
My traitorous eyes couldn’t resist glancing up every few minutes to see her loading racks of plates into the washer, scrubbing pans, buffing the flatware.
I had to admit, I admired her tenacity, it was something that couldn’t be taught. It made me feel like even more of a dick for setting her up to fail the first night she was here.
And then she slipped on that damn piece of ice, and I almost kissed her senselessly in front of my entire staff.
I could barely control myself around her, and this was not a familiar feeling for me.
I was always in control. It was what I prided myself on more than anything.
She was dangerous. Magnetic. Terrifying.
I didn’t glance backward as I led Lucy from the main room of the restaurant. When we got to my office, I shut the door and motioned for her to take a seat on the other side of the desk. I slid mine as far as I could from her, trying to keep some space between us.
She didn’t meet my eyes as she sat down. “So, do you really have paperwork for me?” She sounded nervous.
I pulled open a drawer in my desk and grabbed a manilla folder filled with the standard onboarding paperwork for new employees.
“Yep,” I said as I slid it toward her. “Pretty standard stuff, just need your info to get you on payroll and all that. Fill it out for me when you get a chance so I can get you in our system.” My voice cracked.
She finally looked up at me, those caramel eyes shining with something that had me wondering if she’d been thinking about the same thing I had. “Is that the only reason you pulled me in here?”
Jesus. If she was fishing for me to mention the incident earlier, I wasn’t gonna bite.
“No,” I said carefully. “I thought you’d want to know I got the augmented security footage back.
” My lips pursed tight, something dithered deep in my throat before I spoke again.
“I haven’t watched it yet…I wanted to wait for you. ”
Part of me wanted to watch it alone first, but it felt like that would be overstepping.
Even though this was my restaurant, and it was perfectly within my right to watch my own security footage, what happened that night was extremely sensitive.
It lit a hot rage inside of me, but I also wanted to respect Lucy and her friend.
They were the ones who were affected. And it happened right under my own roof.
Bellissima. A home away from home for many.
The sense of safety and comfort I’d tried so hard to build had been tarnished irrevocably.
The least I could do was let Lucy know I understood that.
Immediately, her eyes grew big, and I watched the apprehension sink into her features. She sat up straighter. “Okay.” Her voice sank to a whisper. “Let’s watch it.”
There it was. Despite the nervousness, there was that fire beneath her words.
I gave her a nod, not trusting myself to say anything else yet. I tilted the monitor toward her and opened the file Emile sent me. I glanced at her one more time, not asking for permission but making sure she was ready. I hit play.
The footage started with a clear image of Lucy’s friend getting up from the table to follow her toward the bathroom.
The two dirtbags at the table watched her walk out of frame, and the audio started to come through the speakers.
It started with a gravelly sound that encompassed the noise of the restaurant.
The chatter of different conversations, the sound of a cocktail getting shaken in the background, soft music.
The sounds of clinking glassware faded as the audio focused on the conversation being held between the two men at the table.
The sound was a little muffled, but suddenly the soundwaves picked up the distinct timbre of a male voice.
“What about the brunette bitch?” The redhead’s mouth moved in sync with the sound.
My hand curled on its own accord as I realized he was referring to Lucy. I moved it from the desk and placed it on my knee, splaying my fingers across it.
“She might be more trouble than she’s worth,” the other asshole on screen said. “They only asked for the blonde one. The other was just bonus points.”
“We should teach that stuck up little slut a lesson,” he replied.
Anger furled through my chest. A wave of distant memories threatened to rise with the fury, but I pushed them back down. Now wasn’t the time to think about that. I needed to keep my shit together in front of Lucy.
“We will. Just not tonight,” the blonde guy said. “Wait. Is she fucking leaving?”
The fuck they will. I was seething.
The red-haired prick picked up a pressed cloth napkin and swiped the sweat from across his forehead before abruptly standing up and flinging it back onto the table. The blonde—Chad—followed, pushing himself up from his chair. The video cut to another feed.
Lucy’s friend stood outside. She stumbled over a planter on the edge of Bellissima’s patio before straightening herself up and abruptly turning the corner.
The feed cut again to a darker view of the street. The screen brightened and we watched Tara halt in the middle of the sidewalk. The black Escalade was parked only a few steps away. She pulled out her phone and began tapping a message. I paused the screen and zoomed in.
MESSAGE TO: Lucy
I’m sorry, ok? I’m waiting outside. Let’s get the hell out of…
Tara’s fingers on the paused footage covered the rest of the message so it was impossible to see. I took a look over at Lucy. Her eyes were welling with tears, and my heart pattered against my chest. I fought the urge to reach over and take hold of her hand.
She pinched her nose, gaze locked on the screen. “Keep it going,” she sniffled.
I hit the play icon again instantly. An enlarged view showed Tara’s phone slip from her hands as I released the zoom to see the whole feed.
Those ugly fucks stalked into frame, closing in behind her as she reached to pick it up from the ground.
The muffled audio clarified, and Lucy jumped at the ear-piercing scream that blasted through the speakers.
The blonde one rushed to cover Tara’s mouth as she fought futilely against him, her shoes flying off her feet.
The other crushed her phone in a hair-raising crunch with his boot.
The backdoor of the SUV swung open and a figure in a cowboy hat slid out.
They dragged her kicking toward the vehicle, and the figure bound her ankles with duct tape before heaving her inside.
They jumped into the front seat while Chad and Gabe climbed in the back to hold Tara down.
The engine roared to life and the SUV sped away.
The scene made my blood curdle, but I tried to keep my face stoic as I paused the video again.
This time, I dragged the playback cursor in reverse for a few seconds.
When it started again, I realized I went too far and the footage began to replay the figure stepping out of the SUV.
I paused and zoomed in for a moment to try to get a better look at them.
Even with the enhanced quality, the hat concealed its wearer’s face from the camera’s angle.
I dragged the cursor forward a beat. There it was. It looked like any other unobvious California license plate. T3GNP2Q. Current tags. No scratches. I breathed out a heavy exhale, looking over at Lucy once more. Her cheeks were sucked in as she blinked at the screen.
“Well,” she finally said, “we got the plates. What should we do now? Go to the police? Tara didn’t want to report what happened, but couldn’t this be the proof that could get them locked up?”
“No.” It came out harsher than I intended. “You don’t seem to understand, Lucy. These people could be far more dangerous than you know.”
“Obviously they’re dangerous! This is my best friend.” She pointed at the screen. “Do you have any idea how hard this past week has been? Meanwhile they are just roaming freely, waiting to find their next victim!”
I swallowed down the annoyance in my throat. “Yes, Luce,” I said. “And did you hear them? That could easily have been you. The police aren’t enough for this. Who the hell knows what these fuckers have planned for you?”
“What does that even mean?” She sounded exasperated. “If I was in some kind of danger, then why wouldn’t I go to the cops? That seems like the only logical fucking thing to do at this point!”
I tried to contain my cringe. I knew it wouldn’t make sense to someone like her.
Someone so young and full of light. She had no idea how the world’s underbelly operated.
How corrupt the system was. I wished I could preserve that for her, keep that innocence alive inside her.
Unfortunately, naivety was a privilege she couldn’t afford anymore.
Before I could think about what I was doing, I leaned over the desk and grasped her chin in my fingers, tilting her face toward mine.
She blinked up at me, her frustration replaced with surprise.
“I promise I will never let them or anyone else lay a fucking hand on you,” I vowed.
I was trying to keep my voice even, but it came out as a rumble.
“The police do nothing but give people a false sense of security, meanwhile they turn a blind eye and let shit like this slip through the cracks every single day. You can’t put your faith in them.
But I swear I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you out of harm’s way. ”
She looked numb for a moment, her long lashes blinking, stunned. My ribs throbbed with my pounding heart. I dropped my hand from her face and backed into my chair. I shouldn’t have touched her like that.