by Tate James
“Whatever he tries,” he assured me, holding onto my hand, “we will be ready. He’s not catching us off guard again.”
The steady confidence in his eyes warmed me inside. Lucas had slipped into his role in my team effortlessly, like he’d been born for this lifestyle. Part of me twinged with guilt over that, but the rest of me was just overwhelmingly glad to have him at my side.
“What do you have on today?” I asked, changing the subject. Unless one of us suddenly developed psychic powers, we weren’t going to predict Chase’s next move. We could only continue on with our own plans and hope the scales continued to tip in our favor.
Lucas straightened up, stretching. “Uh, I need to hit the gym as well. Gotta stay in shape if I want a headline spot when Timber opens.” He shot me a wink, and I grinned. He really did love stripping, something I was more than happy to take advantage of in private.
Luckily, I felt secure as fuck with our relationship, or I might stab every woman watching him dance when he was next on stage.
“I’ll come too,” I offered, sliding out of my seat. “I could use some exercise myself.” And the view in the gym with all three of them working out was like something out of a dirty dream.
Lucas grinned, intercepting me before I left the kitchen to get changed. “Babe, as much as I love you drooling all over the gym floor... don’t you have a meeting with your bar management team for Timber?”
Shit. He was right.
I groaned and gave him a sad face. “Remind me why I have businesses to run again?”
Lucas beamed back at me. “Because you’re running a goddamn empire, Hayden, and slaying it, too. You would never be happy playing bored housewife, and you know it.”
He was right, but I still rolled my eyes and grumbled all the way up to my bedroom to get changed out of my sleep shirt.
Zed came clattering up the stairs while I styled my hair into careful waves, shouting out that he’d be ready to come with me in ten minutes. Fucking men had it so damn easy. Guaranteed, he’d be ready in less than ten minutes and look like he’d just walked straight out of an ad campaign.
Sure enough, just as I was applying my scarlet lipstick, Zed slouched against the doorframe looking all effortlessly gorgeous in his navy pants, leather belt, and crisp, white button down.
“You ready?” he asked, rolling his shirtsleeves up to reveal his tanned forearms. Goddamn, did he know how hot that was? Rolled-up shirtsleeves with strongly muscled forearms are to women what great cleavage is to men. Or, they were to me.
“Mm-hmm,” I replied, smudging my lips together, then blotting them with a tissue. It’d taken a long time to find a red lipstick that wouldn’t smudge, but this one was unbeatable. So long as I let it set for a few minutes, I could kiss Zed stupid and not smear it all over his face.
He cast his appreciative gaze down my body as I turned to face him, and a suggestive smile ticked his lips up.
“Do we really need to go to this meeting today?” he asked, tipping his head to the side. “Or can I just take you out for a lunch date?”
“Tempting,” I replied, grinning as I slipped my arms around his waist and pressed a feather-light kiss to his lips. “Can we do both?”
He kissed me back just as softly. “Hell yeah, we can. Let’s get this done quick.” Wrapping his hand around mine, he led the way down to the cars and opened the passenger door to the Ferrari for me. Such a gentleman.
Zed’s phone rang when we were halfway to Timber, and Katie, the name of Timber’s bar manager, flashed over the screen. Zed frowned and answered the call on speaker.
“Hey Zed,” she replied to his greeting. “Look, I don’t want to waste Hades' time today, but it might be best to reschedule this staff meeting.”
Zed and I exchanged a look.
“Why?”
Katie sighed with frustration. “Because only six staff turned up for it. The others can’t be reached for whatever reason. I dunno what’s going on, but it’s kind of a pointless meeting with only six here, right?”
Zed gave me a questioning look, and I shrugged. “We’re already on our way; we may as well come chat with those who did bother to turn up.” I pursed my lips. “You haven’t heard from the missing staff at all?”
“Nothing, sir,” Katie replied. “I’m so sorry; I know staffing is my responsibility. I can’t even imagine what went wrong. Even if they think it’s a different day, surely they’d answer their phones.”
I blew out a long breath. Somehow, I was afraid I knew what’d happened.
“Don’t worry about it, Katie,” Zed told her. “We’ll sort it out. See you in twenty minutes.” He ended the call and cast a long look at me. “They could be ill.”
I scoffed. “How coincidental. No, this is Chase. I knew he’d been too fucking quiet; he was planning something.”
Zed sighed. “And he’s predictable, so hitting your businesses is his logical move seeing as he can’t strike at you directly again and you’re hitting his business.”
I rubbed my forehead. “My guess? Those missing staff won’t be found. We’ll have to push off the opening of Timber again.”
“Fuck that,” Zed scowled. “We’ve already pushed back because of his meddling. No, we can make it work; we just need to borrow staff from the other venues until Katie can train up a new crew.”
His raw determination brought a smile to my face. “I guess we still have a few weeks to make it work.”
Zed reached out, clasping my knee like he always did when we drove together. “That’s more like it. No more letting that bastard win, not even on the small things.”
I let out another long breath, letting some tension ebb. Zed was right, I couldn’t let Chase have any win, no matter how minor. We’d open Timber as planned in three weeks, even if it meant shutting one of the other clubs to make it work.
Zed gave my knee a reassuring squeeze. "We've got this, baby. Everything is on track. You're hitting him back now, and he's scrabbling. This is what we predicted."
I nodded, swallowing hard. We had predicted backlash, yes. We'd even predicted collateral damage, and I'd made the decision that the loss of a few was worth saving the many. But now, with twenty of my new staff potentially dead in retaliation for my actions? That call was sitting on my mind like a black cloud.
We drove the rest of the way to Timber in relative silence and headed inside to find the six staff who'd been spared Chase's games. I was relieved to see Bethany among those six, along with a dancer who Bethany had told me was also interested in joining the Timberwolves.
Zed sat down with them all and ran through our hastily thrown-together plan to keep on track with our opening date in three weeks, and I sat back to observe each of the remaining staff. Were any of them working for Chase? He could have his spies anywhere. Now that I knew he had access to the entire Lockhart fortune, his pockets were even deeper than mine. And mine were deep.
No one triggered my instincts, but that meant nothing. When Zed was done, I pulled Bethany aside and gave her the invitation to the mayor's gala that'd been secured for her. She beamed with nervous excitement, and I tried really hard not to grin back.
"Call my assistant Hannah," I told her. "Tell her you need a dress, and she'll sort you out."
Bethany's eyes widened even further, but I dismissed her before things could get too sappy. With the staff gone, Zed and I took a look around the club to make sure everything was exactly how we wanted it to look and noted down any areas that our builders needed to come back and fix.
As we were locking up some time later, my phone rang with Rodney's name on the screen.
"Boss," he grunted when I connected the call. "You got time to swing past 22 today?"
I frowned, exchanging a look with Zed. "I'm leaving Timber now; I'll be right there. What's going on?"
Rodney heaved a long sigh. "You're not gonna like it, Boss."
"Spit it out," I snarled.
"Club's fucked," he grunted. "Totally flooded."
&n
bsp; "What?" I exclaimed. "How? When?"
Rodney sighed again. "Looks like the fire sprinklers activated some time after we closed up last night and just... never shut off. Basement is almost full, and every stick of furniture is soaked through. It's a fucking mess, Boss."
"How the fuck does that happen?" I demanded. "Those sprinklers are linked to the fire alarms. Why was no one notified? Why did they not shut off in the allotted time?"
"Beats me, Boss," Rodney replied, as helpful as a lump of dog shit on the sidewalk.
I ended the call, too angry to continue talking to him about it without seeing it first for myself. I slammed Zed's car door so hard that he gave me a reproachful look, until I explained.
He let out a string of curses and gave me a knowing look. "Chase."
37
Rodney hadn't been exaggerating. Club 22 was totally ruined. It would take months to repair the water damage. All the drywall would need to be ripped off and the insulation replaced to avoid mold, and the furniture was totally destroyed. Velvet couches and heavy quantities of water did not mix.
Zed and I spent most of our afternoon there picking through the mess and talking to our new insurance company. Of course, now we were within a no-claim period, and they basically told us too bad, so sad.
When my phone rang again as the sun started to set, I groaned. My anxiety had been on high alert all damn day, and I just knew this call was going to carry more bad news.
"It'll be fine," Zed assured me as I stared down at my phone, not answering it. "Whatever it is, we knew this was coming. Lucas and Cass are safe. So is Seph."
And that was really all I could ask for. Everyone else... fair game. I couldn't save the whole world, after all.
"Alexi," I sighed, bringing the phone to my ear. "What's happened?"
The sound of sirens in the background sent a ripple of worry through me, and I held my breath as I waited for him to deliver Chase's next strike.
"Hannah," Alexi replied, sounding grim.
Oh fuck.
My chest tightened up, and my stomach turned to acid. "She's dead?"
Alexi grunted. "She's fine."
The relief that rushed through me was enough to weaken my knees, and I crashed down in a sopping armchair. "So, what happened?" I asked again.
"Someone came after her," Alexi elaborated. "She was shopping on Magnolia Street with the pretty waitress from Timber"—Bethany—"and after the other girl went home, Hannah was walking back to her car when she got jumped."
I swallowed hard. "How'd she get away?"
There was a scuffle of noise, and in the background I heard Hannah snapping at Alexi to give her the phone. Hearing her voice brought a smile of reassurance to my face.
"Boss?" she asked. "Fucking hell, I told that dickhead not to bother you. I'm fine; Alexi is just insisting I go to the hospital to get stitched up. But he wasn't supposed to call you about this; we've got it handled."
I smiled at hearing her with more steel in her voice than her usual submissive tone. "I'm glad you're okay, Hannah. Can you pass the phone back? I need to give Alexi some orders."
"Yes, sir," she agreed. "But also, I'm having Alexi drop your dress over tonight, and Bethany is all sorted. I assume Zed has sixty thousand suits to choose from, but does Lucas or Cass need one?"
I laughed and ruffled my fingers through my hair. "We can sort something out tomorrow, Hannah. Go let the paramedics take care of you."
She huffed a sigh. "Alright, well, I'll call when I'm done at the hospital and get their measurements."
"Hannah," I said sternly.
"Yes, sir?" She was hesitant, like she thought she'd pissed me off.
"I'm glad you're okay," I told her softly. "Keep watching your back."
I could hear the smile in her voice as she promised she would, then handed the phone back to Alexi.
"Tell me what happened," I barked at him, all traces of softness gone.
He blew out a breath and paused a moment like maybe he was getting out of Hannah's earshot. "Dude attacked her in the parking lot near her car. Hannah fought him off somehow and bolted back into the street. He chased her, but she ducked into the jewelers here on Magnolia." He grunted a sound that was pure respect for what she'd done. "Then she smashed a display case to trigger the security gate. Kept her safe inside while she called me for help."
My brows rose. "That was smart."
"Damn smart," Alexi agreed. "Her elbow and arm are a bit sliced up from smashing the glass and she's got a few bruises and shit, but otherwise..."
I clicked my tongue, thoroughly impressed. "Otherwise, still breathing. Nice work, Hannah."
"Yep, I thought so too," Alexi agreed. "I'm gonna grab a copy of the security footage around here and see if we can get an ID, but my guess is that he was a paid thug."
"Go with Hannah to the hospital," I ordered him. "Stay with her until you can get one of your other guys on her for protection detail." Suddenly I found I needed to add Hannah to my list of non-negotiables.
Alexi murmured his understanding, and I ended the call looking up at Zed with wide eyes.
"I got parts of that," he told me, folding his arms. "Someone hurt Hannah?"
I nodded. "She got away, though. I told Alexi to stay with her, so let's head over and review the CCTV footage ourselves. It'll be one of Chase's lackey's no doubt, but goddamn, it'll make me feel better to cut down his goon squad by one more."
Zed flashed me back a feral smile and held out a hand to pull me back to my feet. "Do you want to swing by home first?" he offered. "For some dry pants?"
I wrinkled my nose, inspecting my soaking wet skirt. Sitting on a saturated armchair really hadn't been the best idea I'd had all day. It was a black skirt, though, so maybe I could get away with it.
"Is it noticeable?"
Zed tilted his head, squinting at my butt, then gave me a confused look. "What was the question?"
I laughed and headed out of our destroyed club. At the front door, Rodney was nailing up a sign informing our patrons that we were closed for the foreseeable future, and it made my skin prickle with frustration.
Still, it wasn't Rodney's fault. It was pretty damn clear that the sprinkler system had been tampered with, and there was no doubt in our minds who'd done that.
"Wait." Frowning, Zed stopped me before I could get into his car.
It took me a second to understand what his problem was, then I threw up my hands in exasperation. "Seriously?"
"What?" he protested. "You know that—"
"Oh my fucking god," I muttered under my breath, glancing around to check no one was watching before I shimmied out of my wet skirt. "Happy?" I snapped, sliding into the passenger seat in just my slightly damp panties instead, my skirt on my lap and not touching the leather.
Zed flashed me a wide smile. "Ecstatic." He closed my door and circled around to the driver's side to get in. The heated look he gave my bare legs said he was already considering a detour on the way to Magnolia Street.
"Don't even fucking think about it," I growled, my eyes narrowed in warning. "Last time I let you finger fuck me in this car, I ended up getting arrested with no panties on."
Zed winced and turned his attention back to driving as he pulled out of the parking lot. "I'm so freaking sorry for that, Dare," he murmured. "That must have seemed like the worst kind of unforgivable move. Trust me, if I'd known they were waiting to arrest you..." He shook his head, the anger and frustration clear in his face. "Shit, if I'd known, I would have had you on a plane to the Bahamas before they even realized we were coming."
I scoffed. "As if I'd ever run."
He gave me a sad smile. "Yeah, I know. Sometimes I wish we could, though. Just take a vacation and never come back. Do nothing but lie on the sand and drink cocktails... and fuck. We wouldn't even bother with clothes, there would be so much sex. It'd be amazing, don't you think?"
"Yeah, for you. I'd be lurking under umbrellas and bathing in sunscreen constantly to avoid turning into a
lobster. Beach sun and my skin? Not friends, Zeddy Bear. Not all of us can tan as beautifully as you." Then I winced. "Sunscreen would probably sting if it got into places it shouldn't too."
Zed barked a loud laugh. "Thanks for ruining that fantasy for me. I'll start working on a new one. Maybe a cabin in the snow? Roaring fireplace? No clothes, of course, but also no sunscreen."
I smiled broadly. "Much better. That's one I can get on board with."
Zed slowed down as we drove through West Shadow Grove on our way to Magnolia Street—the trendy shopping area in downtown—and frowned through the windshield.
"Nadia's crew are working late," he murmured, nodding to the lights coming from Nadia's Cakes. The front windows were still all taped up because it was a construction site inside, but warm light spilled from around the edges of the paper.
"That's one of Rex's cars." I pointed across the street. "Seph must be here."
Zed arched a brow. "Want to stop by?"
I only pondered it for a split second before nodding. "Yeah, we've got time. Those tapes aren't going anywhere, and Hannah should be safe with Alexi."
"Should be," Zed murmured, pulling into a parking space behind the car that I recognized from Rex's garage. "We need to work out whether he's one of us or not. If not..."
I shook my head. "I'll rip his entrails out and stuff them down his throat until he chokes. He wouldn't be so stupid. Surely."
"I fucking hope not," Zed agreed. "Let's deal with him tomorrow so we can cross it off the list."
"Done," I agreed, wiggling back into my wet skirt before getting out of the car. Not that I gave two shits about anyone seeing my ass, but Hades had a reputation to uphold. One that didn't involve public nudity.
We crossed the road and tried the main door to Nadia's Cakes. It was locked, though, so I knocked and waited. Nadia was a smart woman; of course she kept the door locked if they were there in the evening. It didn't matter which gangs ran Shadow Grove, there was always going to be crime. There would always be random, opportunistic fucks willing to do immoral things... and now more than ever, Nadia had a target on her back for being associated with me.
