Page 59
CONAN
I nearly kick Drago’s door off its hinges.
“Drago!” I shout, storming down the hallway like a fucking bomb about to blow.
“In here,” he calls from the left.
I spin around and burst into his office—red-faced, heart jackhammering, breath all over the place.
“Can you pull up all the applications Enzo sent and the addresses the men were sent to to collect the contestants?”
Drago squints. “Yeah. What’s going on?”
I rub my temples, trying to push back the pounding in my skull. My head feels like it’s about to crack open.
“Hallie. My girlfriend? She’s a contestant.”
His eyes widen and my heart is threatening to explode.
“How?”
“I have no fucking idea.” I throw my hands up. “Enzo said this was about sex clubs. That the contestants were either the partners of or worked for the men who frequented them. Hallie is neither. As far as I know, she’s not involved in anything like that. Not even close.”
“This doesn’t feel right, Conan,” Drago mutters, already typing.
I collapse into the chair beside him, my gut twisted in knots.
“Okay,” he says, clicking through files. “So, the girls’ names are aliases. But Enzo will have the full names stored somewhere. Still, we have descriptions. And addresses. Here.”
He pushes the laptop toward me and checks his phone, leaving me to scan the file.
And there it is. Hallie’s address.
I blink. My stomach churns.
“I think I might throw up.”
Drago inches his chair back.
“Conan, I know I’m the new guy around here. But I’ve been in this world a long time. Stay calm. Read the documents. Then we’ll make a plan.”
I click through until Contestant Ten’s profile comes up.
The description is her.
The address is hers.
I knew it. I knew . But this…this is confirmation. This is worse than any fear I’ve ever had. One I never saw coming.
But it’s one that is going to shatter my fucking life.
“Who entered her?” I demand, voice rising.
Drago stays composed. “Only way I’ll find that out is by hacking Enzo. And I’m not sure that’s the smartest move.”
“No. But I can speak to the fucking asshole myself. Call him.”
Behind me, my brother clears his throat. I spin around in the chair, now facing both of them—Declan and Finn—standing in the doorway.
“What’s happened?” Finn asks, already striding in.
“Hallie. She’s Contestant Ten. She’s in the fucking games, and I need Enzo to explain himself. Now.”
Finn and Declan trade a look. The tension is thick in the air.
“You’re one hundred percent sure?” Declan asks, scratching at his stubble.
“Yes. I can fucking read.” I shove the laptop in front of him.
“Is this really a coincidence, Dec?” Finn cuts in, anger tightening every word. “First Charlotte for you. Now Hallie for Conan? There’s only one man who selects the contestants. The man himself. Our God. Enzo. So yeah, I agree with Conan. Get that asshole on the line.”
Cracking my knuckles, a new fear rolls through me. One I’ve never felt before. One that settles in my bones.
Declan pulls out his phone and dials, putting it on speaker.
“We play this smart, Con,” he warns.
“Declan?” Enzo answers.
My hands clench into fists. I want to rip his fucking head clean off—and I know Finn would help.
“Enzo,” Declan says evenly. “We need to know who entered Contestant Ten into the games. It’s important.”
No more waiting around for weeks for Finn’s elimination list. No more quiet compliance.
“I’m sort of in the middle of something?—”
“I don’t fucking care, Enzo. Send the damn list,” I snap.
Finn smirks, eyes glinting with shared rage.
“Excuse me?”
“I know you’re not deaf. My girlfriend’s in the games, and I want to fucking know why. Now.”
Declan clears his throat, glaring at me hard enough to pierce skin. Then it hits me like a ton of bricks.
Sex clubs.
Hallie.
There is only one man who is the common denominator here, and he’s lying in Finn’s hospital bed, with his death in our hands.
“It’s a sensitive issue, Enzo. But we’re going to need those names in the next ten minutes. Or we might have to reconsider this entire arrangement.”
My jaw drops.
Did Declan just threaten to cut Enzo out of Decadence?
I’m proud of him.
Yeah, we needed Enzo to build this empire. But we don’t need him anymore. He doesn’t own us. And Dad would roll in his grave if he saw us bending over for that bastard.
The line goes silent.
“I’ll have Romeo do it now,” Enzo snaps, irritated.
I don’t care. He can be as pissed as he wants. This isn’t just business. Not anymore.
“Look, Conan,” Enzo adds, “for what it’s worth, I had no idea you even had a girlfriend. I’m not invested in your love life. Business is business. Clearly, she has some tie to it somewhere. Maybe if you’d looked over the applications when I sent them in?—”
I chew my lip. I was busy. With Hallie. With rebuilding my MMA career. This chase wasn’t my priority.
I never thought she’d end up in it. I didn’t look over the applications because I didn’t care who was entered. I didn’t want to find a sub. It meant nothing to me.
And now my mistake has cost me everything.
“Noted. Thanks,” Declan says, cutting the call.
He looks pissed as hell, sliding the phone back into his pocket with a sharp exhale.
“Conan. Don’t ever fucking talk over me like that again.” He steps in front of me.
I rise to my feet. We’re nose to nose.
“What would you have done in my shoes, huh?”
“It was only a few weeks ago we ran to Russia to save your wife. We’ve always had your back. Now have mine,” I growl.
Finn shoves between us, arms out.
“Enough. We don’t turn on each other. Declan, give Conan a break. We’re lucky he hasn’t already hunted Enzo down and gutted him.”
He turns to me.
“But have some respect. Declan’s our brother, but he’s also our leader. You’d never have spoken to Dad like that. Don’t do it to him.”
I nod once, tight.
“Friends?” I offer my hand to Declan.
He stares at it for a beat, then grins.
“Brothers.” He clasps it hard.
His phone pings.
He glances at the screen, face going pale, then red with fury.
“What?” I ask, already dreading the answer.
“You won’t fucking believe this, brother.”
He turns the phone around.
My stomach caves in. My heart drops.
The name on the screen punches the air from my lungs.
I grab a glass from the desk and smash it against the wall, screaming until my voice breaks. I fucking knew that asshole was up to something. But me and my fists had to shut him up too quickly before he could give me the truth.
The games. It’s too late. That’s what he’d been warning Hallie about. The threat was real.
He meant this. The Decadence Chase.
That motherfucker.
“He owned a strip club,” Finn mutters, rubbing the back of his neck. His face unreadable.
“You know what that means...” His voice trails off.
I’m trembling.
With rage.
With purpose.
“We get to bring a dead man back to life,” I say flatly.
And this time, I’m going to find out why. There are no coincidences in this world. Not like this. What doesn’t make sense is he got to Hallie first, before I even knew her name.
Was she always a pawn in this game?
Or did I walk right into a trap?
I know in my heart my girl has nothing to do with this. She’s caught in the crossfire of a war she doesn’t even know exists.
But I vow to make it right. I won’t stop. No one, including myself, will hurt her again. And I will die protecting her if I have to.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59 (Reading here)
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113