DAMON
I’d let my anger get the best of me last night. I saw the hurt briefly flash in Paige’s eyes when I had the club whore grinding all over me. It gave me a small amount of satisfaction knowing that it had affected her, just as much as having to watch the little show she and Blaze put on affected me. The only difference was while mine was out of spite, I had trouble making out whether her little act was done in order to keep up the charade or if there was something little more starting between the two of them.
“You’re just lucky you didn’t do anything you couldn’t come back from Damon,” Madden had been giving me shit all morning over the night before, and it was starting to really piss me off. “You didn’t hear the hurt in her voice as she watched man, it fucking killed her.”
“Okay I bloody get it Madden, I fucked up,” I snapped at him, I’d had enough at this stage, and I didn’t need this shit right now, not when we were about to head into the final stages of the plan. “Can you just drop it already?”
“All I’m saying man is you’re gonna have your work cut out for you after this,” He took one last dig at me as he sat down at the table and grabbed the papers Blaze had managed to get to us.
I ignored what he said as I clicked send on the list of our fighters the asshole had requested. It was important to make sure all our men got out. The list included the people we had in place to take down the others involved in this little scheme. Killian had sent down his best for this, we both agreed that the only one we wanted out of there alive was Ducane, and after a lot of back and forth it was agreed we wouldn’t touch the Fed much to my chagrin.
“Have you sent these to Killian’s guys?” Madden asked as he handed over the floor plan to me. Blaze had been extremely thorough, all exits were marked even the few that were hidden to the general public, there were extra corridors marked that weren’t even on the ones we had obtained from the city planning department.
“Not yet, I just scanned them into the computer,” I answered, still a little annoyed with him. I opened my email again and sent the updated floor plans to Killian’s people. Blaze had made it easier for them as he had marked exactly where they would be seated through the tournament. “Call the rest of the team in, we need to go over everything now that we have more details on the venue.”
There was only six hours before the start of tonight, and I was gonna make sure it went as smoothly as it could. The safe house was in place, we had the cars ready to go, I had my bike parked down an alley just across from the Lion’s Den so if we needed to make a quick escape we could. I was not leaving anything to chance.
* * *
The seats were filling up quickly as people were piled into the Lion’s Den. The guys and I had been here for thirty minutes, we’d collected the draw and made our way over to the allocated seats we’d been given. The others in our team situated themselves around the arena, with direct lines of sight to all the major players.
Alexander was one sick fucking individual, just to the side of the ring was another cage, and seated in it was my Princess. She looked around the room with an anxious expression written on her face. The more I looked at her, the more I could see just how hard this ordeal has been on her. I longed to see her carefree smile and the sparkle in her eyes that she only reserved for me, but at the same time the guilt I harbored was eating me from within.
The heavy smell of aftershave and perfume mixed with the booze and cigars made my stomach turn. The crowd roared as Alexander made his way into the middle of the ring, looking like he was about to put on the show of his life.
“Is everyone in place?” I asked. Jonah had sent down some hidden coms for us to use tonight, making it easier to ensure tonight ran with minimal problems.
“All targets in sight Prez,” one of my guys answered through the comms. “Just say the word and we’ll get this shit done with.”
“Stand by, we can’t afford to mess this up tonight,” My reply was short, this would be our only shot and there was too much at stake to fuck it up.
As the room quieted down and listened to the asshole, I watched as more security filled the room. They had to be Blaze’s people. “Make sure you don’t hit the new security team that just entered.” I warned the guys. Even if our plan was to take out the Ducanes, we didn’t need any blow back that would come from hitting a Fed.
As Alexander announced the first round of fighters, a loud explosion echoed around the room, followed by smoke billowing out of one of the hallways. A gunshot rang out and everything seemed to slow down as adrenaline started to rapidly pump through me. The screams bounced off the walls as spectators ran for the exits. Looking around me, my guys were down low using the seats as shields. Great they were safe.
My eyes then went straight for the gilded cage my Princess was being kept. The chair she’d been sitting in was now empty. Ducane’s men were nowhere to be seen, then I noticed the floor, she was there on her back, not moving, the clothes she wore stained with something dark.
“Paige!” I yelled, my heart pounding in my chest as the gravity of what happened started to sink in. Without even thinking I launched myself over the seats in front, and started towards her. “Just hold on Princess I’m almost there.”
“Oh you didn’t really think we’d make this easy for you now, did you?” A menacing voice came from behind, just as I dove through the ropes of the ring, stopping me in my tracks. I knew before I even turned around that it was a mistake not to keep going but I couldn’t stop myself. Thankful I did though, as I narrowly missed being knifed in the back.
“Ah Eric fucking Turner,” I growled, and spat at his feet. Images from the online dinner party flooded back as the anger that had settled in since raged within. I didn’t care which fucker I got my hands on from this depraved organisation, they would all pay eventually.
I parried around him as he lunged towards me again, he didn’t appear too happy with that. The guy was too cocky with his movements and that also made him sloppy. He heavily relied on his right side, leaving himself open to attacks from the left. When he lunged at me again, I made my move, dodging the knife, I grabbed the arm that wielded the knife and sent an elbow into his left flank, before bringing the arm I had down over my knee. The crack from breaking bones would have made even the toughest man cringe just thinking of the pain.