The empty stool, the silhouette of where he once was.
“Where the fuck is he?” I growl as I approach the bar. My blood pressure exceeds what is healthy, but it doesn’t matter. Because Bane is gone.
I fumble with my phone and then curse. Fuck, right, it’s dead. I need to charge it. A portable charger appears in my vision and I thank the gods that Kit had the foresight to bring one in. It takes ages for me to plug it in and for it to power up.
When I’m able, I pull up the tracking app and see that Bane is still in the building. But the tracker I placed inside him is not specific enough and won’t pinpoint his exact location on the premises.
So he’s here, somewhere. But I can’t see him.
He’s hidden. They’ve hidden him away from me.
The cup of ice water Bane was sipping on sits in a puddle of condensation right before me. Like he just got up and left.
But he wouldn’t do that.
The bartender just stares back at me, his eyes cold and lifeless. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
The man is far too young to be fucking with me right now. I could have him lying prone in seconds, my syringe rendering him breathless.
It never feels good when your heart stops working.
I’ve heard the pain is indescribable.
But I need him alive to tell me where Bane is.
My property.
Mine.
My hand fists by my side, and I, once more, talk myself out of pressing a syringe into the vein in his neck. I don’t want to draw attention to this. I just want to find Bane as easily as possible.
And I have restraint. I will not do this messily.
“Youdoknow,” I hiss, my accent growing thicker, my eye twitching. My fingers curl around the specially made plasticsyringes in my pockets—the ones that a metal detector couldn’t pick up.
Restraint.
The throbbing in my head grows more insistent.
“If you have an issue, you can take it up with security. They have cameras all over this place. You can find him that way,” the bartender adds, looking smug. “Last I saw him, he was just sitting here, drinking his water. Probably got up to use the bathroom and got lost.”
He’s lying. Bane wouldn’t go anywhere without me, and there’s no way security will work with us. They’ll deceive and thwart, but they won’t help.
Casey must sense the way I’m tilting toward murder because he steps forward, leaning against the bar top, his hands fisted together.
“Yeah, all right, tell us where we can talk to security.”
The corner of the bartender’s lip curls up, taking in the entirety of Casey. “That way. Through the door and down the hallway.”
He points to his right, and Casey turns. He squints and then nods, tapping the counter and stepping back.
“Right? Thing is, I’m not entirely sure where it is. There are several doors that way. Can you show us?”
I huff in annoyance, hating that Casey is taking his time when Bane has been taken from me, but when the bartender tells his coworker he’s going to take a small break and slips from behind the counter, I see Casey’s hand go into his pocket and come out with a necklace wrapped around his fist.
My breathing grows steadier as Kit, Jax, and I follow the bartender and Casey toward the door, and when we finally get through it and into the hallway, Casey reaches out and taps the bartender on the shoulder. The man swivels to the right to ask what he needs when Casey’s fist lands on the man’s face.Blood spurts out of his nose, and the necklace in Casey’s hand is wrapped around the guy’s neck. I can see it cutting into his skin, choking him.
Casey drags him right into the middle of the hallway so he has no leverage.
