“I’ve been waiting for you to come in here.”
Spinning on my heels, I tripped and felt myself going down. The only thing that stopped me was the sink beside me. Unfortunately, because of the alcohol running through my veins, my reaction time was slow. Instead of bracing myself against the sink, I crashed against it, clipping my wrist against it.
I hissed in pain.
I looked up to see the man approaching me. Blinking, I looked up into his light blue eyes, trying to figure out what was happening. He wore a sardonic smile as if he knew me, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out who the hell he was.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” he’d said.
“I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else,” I told him, my words coming out slower than normal and slurred.
“Oh no.” His mouth tightened. “I have the right person. That motherfucker made me lose everything!” the man seethed, baring his teeth. “I’m blacklisted, can’t get a job, my wife fucking left me.” He became more frantic by the second. “And because he caused me to lose everything, I’m going to cause him to lose what’s precious to him,” the stranger hissed.
It took a few beats for my mind to process what he was saying. When my cognitive function finally caught on, I gasped. “It was you.” I pointed at him while backing away. “You tried to break into my shop.”
He cackled. “That was just the start of what I planned to do to you to make him suffer.”
The gleam in his eyes was demonic. It terrified me, and I opened my mouth to scream for help, but before I could, I felt the first strike across my face.
CHAPTER33
Brutus
I surveyed the club around us. People had begun to file out of the club even though there was about an hour until it closed. Nothing was off from what I could see, but there was a twisting in my gut that kept me vigilant.
Since Mia told me that her sister and friend wanted to take her out for a bachelorette party before Carlene’s wedding, everything in me protested it. I still hadn’t figured out who the fuck was behind her shop’s vandalism. It wasn’t Vincent.
And there wasn’t another soul who had any sort of vendetta against Mia.
With one final sweep of the club, I pulled out my cell phone. I had a text from Jameson that I hadn’t had a chance to check earlier.
Jameson:Congratulations on the upcoming nuptials! You know I’ll be there. Just give me a time and place. Listen, about a month ago, one of my employers heard from a Taggert Billings. Said he worked for you and the Townsends. He tried to get a job with my employer.
A cold chill ran down my spine.
Me:Thanks. You didn’t hire him, did you?
A strange feeling overcame me. I peered over my shoulder in the direction of the woman’s bathroom. Everything seemed calm. It’d only been about two minutes since Mia went to the restroom.
Jameson:Not at all. I had my guy contact your staff for a reference andlearned all I needed to know. It took less than half a day to find out you blacklisted his ass.
I started to type a reply, but another text came in from Jameson before I could finish.
Jameson:When I told him he wouldn’t get the job with me or any other security staff, he lost it, though. Said how you ruined his fucking life. I’ve heard other guys we’ve fired say shit like that, so I didn’t think much of it. I’ve been out of town on a sensitive op for the past three weeks, which is why I’m just telling you all of this now.
Another one of those chills ran down my spine. Yeah, guys in my line of work often talked shit, but finding this out from Jameson made something snap into place for me like the missing piece of a puzzle.
“Where’s Mia?” Kayla asked, with Joshua standing beside her. “We’re about to head out.”
Mia.
I didn’t bother answering her or Jameson’s last text. Instead, I took off toward the women's restroom. Before I even reached the door, I heard a woman’s shrill scream.
“Get off of me!”
My head snapped in the direction of the scream. There, I saw Mia flailing her one free arm while someone dragged her toward the door at the end of the hallway. The man who had her was towering over her. His back was to me, but I didn’t need to see his fucking face.
“Taggert!” I yelled, rushing toward them.
