Night has fallen, and while that might scare some people, it’s my element. I operate best under the cover of darkness. My nervousness for Meg isn’t displaced, but I feel a ripple of adrenaline as I crest the first floor, knowing that I am operating in the zone where I am most comfortable.
Just as I turn the corner to walk toward Meg’s stairwell, a cat jumps down from a windowsill, and my heart lurches into my throat. I turn my gun toward it, but I don’t fire. Instead, I pause for a moment, watching the kitty run away while I try to regain my ability to breathe.
That cat is familiar, though. I’ve seen it before. It takes me a moment to place it, but then I realize it belongs to the neighbor lady, the one who lives right next to Meg. I’m pretty sure that’s an inside cat, one that’s probably spoiled rotten by its doting owner. So why the hell is it out here by itself?
Before I take any more steps toward Meg’s apartment, I pull my phone and send a quick text, just to be safe. I might be jumping to conclusions, but I would rather take the teasing later for being overly cautious than to end up dead.
With my phone back in my pocket and my gun at the ready, I continue my slow walk toward Meg’s apartment. When I see her door standing open, my breath leaves my lungs.
Movement inside catches my attention, and I advance on the door, trying to see what’s going on. I walk in with my gun drawn, and when the scene before me unfolds, I realize that Leah was right—Meg is in danger just because she works at Club Limelight. She’s in grave danger.
“Well, if it isn’t the doting boss,” Mr. Waylen Nyx says from where he stands behind Meg. She’s tied to a chair, blood splattered down her bruised temple, onto her cheek, and he doesn’t seem content with that being the only damage he’ll cause her tonight. He has a gun pressed against the back of her head.
“What the fuck is happening?” I ask, wanting to shoot him right now, but I can’t take the chance that I’m faster on the trigger than he is.
“Now, now, Hunter. I know your employees are important to you. Perhaps this one in particular. But…if you know what’s best for you—and for her—you’ll turn around and walk away. Now.” Mr. Nyx narrows his eyes at me, and I see one of his goons across the room. He has two SUVs out there, so he has to have more men somewhere.
It doesn’t matter that I’m outnumbered, and I have no idea whether or not Ethan got my text to send reinforcements. I’ve got to handle this situation now so that Meg doesn’t get hurt. She hasn’t said anything, but I can see in her eyes that she’s terrified.
“You know I can’t do that, Nyx,” I tell him. “Now why don’t you tell me what the fuck you’re looking for? Maybe I can help you.”
Rather than responding to my comment, Waylen Nyx laughs a maniacal laugh. He is the embodiment of pure evil, and he has my Meg’s life in his hands.
CHAPTER34
MEGHAN
My mind is still fuzzy, and my whole body hurts. I don’t even know how long I’ve been sitting in this chair, but it seems like forever, and I just want this nightmare to be over. But I don’t want to die, either, so for now, I am stuck between a rock and a really fucking hard place.
And then I hear a voice that sounds like it has to be out of a dream. Hunter is here! And he’s speaking to Mr. Nyx. Of course, the old, fat bastard is trying to tell him to fuck off, but he won’t do it.
It’s then that I realize Mr. Nyx has a gun lodged in the back of my neck. Fuck! How did he manage to get over here so quickly? I must’ve dozed off…
“Maybe I can help you,” Hunter says. “What is it exactly that you are looking for?”
Both Mr. Nyx and his one goon are laughing. Before the asshole with the gun shoved into my cranium can answer the question, another couple of his thugs come into the room. I don’t think I’ve seen these two before. They all kind of look the same—tall, muscular, and ugly. These two force Hunter to reposition himself. He takes a few steps closer to me, but we have the dining room table between us. I really wish he were close enough to touch me. I think I’d feel better about the whole thing if only his hands could be on me for a moment.
“What are we looking for?” Mr. Nyx says as he continues to laugh. “Do you honestly not know? I would’ve thought Jonathan would’ve mentioned the situation to you at some point. I truly thought the two of you were supposed to be really good friends. Of course, since he hasn’t resurfaced since I handed his sorry ass over to you, it makes me wonder if maybe the two of you weren’t as close as I thought. Did you knock him off?”
Hunter has an uneasy look on his face, and I get the impression he doesn’t really want to talk about Jonathan or anyone else with Mr. Nyx. But since there’s not much else to do at the moment, other than dying, he says, “What happened between Jonathan and me is our business and no one else’s.” His tone is calm. “As to what you might be looking for here…I have no idea why you or anyone else would think there is a possibility my stolen money might be in this building. It's not as if Jonathan ever lived here or anything.”
Mr. Nyx begins to laugh, and as he chuckles, the gun moves up and down, clocking me in the head a time or two. It hurts, but I am already in so much pain, I try not to flinch. “I guess he didn’t tell you, then. You didn’t know that the same bastard who owned Silver Towers once owned this building, too? That would be Jonathan’s stepfather, and it was his stepbrother who ran this piece of shit apartment complex.”
With all of the haziness going on in my mind, I am confused. I stare at Hunter, waiting to see if he understands what it is Mr. Nyx is telling him. Perhaps someday, if I live, he will explain it to me.
Hunter swears under his breath, dropping his eyes from my face for a moment to look at the torn-up floor. Even now, he is straddling two giant holes, his expensive shoes covered with sawdust from all of the burglars’ efforts to tear up my apartment.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Hunter says, loudly enough for me to make out what he’s saying this time. “So… that asshole I took care of for breaking into Meg’s apartment the first time was Jonathan’s stepbrother?”
“That’s right,” Mr. Nyx says, “assuming you’re talking about her former landlord. And the only reason I wanted Silver Towers from you to begin with is because that place was owned by a family member back at the time that Jonathan disappeared on your ass, too. So…I thought there was a good chance the money might be there. Since I’ve torn the place to hell looking for it and haven’t found a damn thing, well, I decided to try and buy this place from you. But you refused.” He swings the gun again, and I feel it thunk into the back of my skull as he asks, “Honestly, Hunter, what choice did I fucking have, you know? I couldn’t just leave the money sitting over here and have you or your little bitch find it. Now I don’t know for a fact that it was in this apartment, but since the other landlord was in here looking, and I know that one of Jonathan’s ex-girlfriends used to rent this place, I’m thinking it just might be.”
All of the pieces of the puzzle are clear to me now. Jonathan stole money from Hunter. That’s why he killed him—although, I’m not sure I would’ve done that before the money was found, had it been me. Thankfully, I am not a mafia crime lord, so it doesn’t really matter what I would do. Now, it seems, Mr. Nyx is tearing up this apartment building looking for that money.
“Well, shit,” I say, knowing I should probably keep my mouth shut. “It’s not here! Do you see it anywhere?”
“Be quiet, you little bitch!” He yanks my hair, and I can’t help but yelp a little.
“Get your fucking hands off of her!” Hunter says, but they make him back up farther, and now, he’s on the other side of my coffee table. He’s outnumbered three to one, and all of them have their guns drawn on him. While I am pretty sure that Hunter wouldn’t have come in here looking for me without a gun, I don’t see it anymore, and I’m nervous.