“Carlos, can you handle the trash?” Luke yells.
“Sure thing,” he hollers back, and I can’t help but hear the excitement in his voice. He couldn’t stand her either.
Luca is already making his way up the stairs, Nic and Luke following behind him.
“Hank, aren’t you going to do anything?” Jennalyn whines from where she sits on the floor.
I shake my head and rush up the stairs behind them.
The door to Bash’s office is already open, and Doc is sitting on the edge of the desk.
“I want the video,” Luca growls. “I want to see everyone in the club tonight. I want to see the parking lot. I want to see the fucker who dared to take my sister.” His eyes go blank, his hands fisted at his sides. His rage is barely contained.
Bash steps over to his desk, turning his laptop so that it faces us as we all crowd around it. He types in something, and pulls up the security feed.
“The first one is the front of the building. The camera is on the door and covers the area where she’s parked.”
My stomach twists tighter with every second that passes. He fast-forwards it to her walking out the door, her finger held high in the air.
“Who’s she flipping off?” Nic asks.
“Me and Jennalyn. The girl from downstairs,” I admit.
No one says anything. We watch as she comes out the door and turns left, heading in the direction of her car. She stops, looks to the right and heads that way. She goes out of frame for a couple of minutes before stepping back on the screen and heads straight to her car. She doesn’t get in. Instead, she heads to the trunk, pops it open, and pulls out a black box looking thing. Jumper cables. I got her that. She heads back in the direction she came from and disappears again.
“She doesn’t show up again after that,” Bash says. “We kept fast-forwarding until you showed up and nothing.” “Where’s the camera that covers that area?” Luca asks.
“The footage was snow, so I had Luke check. Someone cut the wire.”
“So we don’t know what happened after that. But…” Luca exhales slowly. “Just that someone intentionally made sure the camera wasn’t working so they couldn’t be seen.”
The room goes dead silent.
“And we don’t see anyone else either. There’s no one on camera around the time she disappears.”
My gut twists violently. Broken cameras. A woman walking out of frame. Then disappearing. This feels way too damn familiar. I rub a hand over my face. Bash tried to warn me about something like this, and I was too damn stupid to listen.
Now she’s gone.
“Run the bar footage,” Luca snaps.
Bash pulls it up and starts skimming through the night.
We watch. Fast-forwarding through hours of people drinking, dancing, moving through the crowd. Looking. Searching. Waiting for something that doesn’t feel right.
Then suddenly, both Luca and Nic lean forward.
“Fuck,” Luca exclaims, his hands gripping the edge of the desk, knuckles white.
“Rewind it,” Nic growls.
Bash drags the timeline back, and my heart starts pounding. This isn’t good.
“I know where she is,” Luca says slowly as he and Nic share a knowing look. “And I know who has her.”
Chapter 29
Vee
