Page 141 of Theirs to Desire (Club M: Boxed Set)

CALEB

M ost of the year, Club M is closed on Sundays.

Just our luck, this Sunday is not one of them.

Over a hundred members from Rafael’s club are visiting Club M, and Xavier’s determined to put on a good show.

There’s a masquerade ball that kicks off at midnight.

Floor demos run all night long. It’s a security nightmare.

“Tell me again why you can’t cancel tonight’s event.” I give Xavier Leforte a death glare.

It bounces off him. “We’ve beefed up our security,” he says calmly. “Adrian and Brody’s teams are patrolling the perimeter. There’s only one entrance into the club grounds. Every vehicle entering tonight will be searched. Nobody who isn’t on the guest list will enter the club.”

We’re in Club M’s control room. It’s ten at night; the club’s been open for an hour. There are banks of monitors here, and more than a dozen people, all of who have their eyes glued to the screens in front of them.

“It’s dark,” Nolan says grimly. “It won’t take a lot of effort to climb a fence between patrols.”

“The fence is electrified. The teams patrol with dogs. If anyone approaches within twenty-five feet of the castle, motion-sensitive lights will flood the lawn.”

He surveys the two of us with a disapproving frown. Nolan looks as awful as I feel. Neither of us got much sleep last night. I lay awake a long time after we made the call to Miles Armstrong and explained to the corrupt detective exactly what we needed him to do.

I’ve lost people I’ve loved; I know exactly how much it hurts. Nolan couldn’t prevent Lina from dying. Right now, he’s feeling helpless and so am I, and it isn’t a good sensation. This situation is both our worst nightmare come to life.

“You look like ass,” Xavier says finally. “You’re too close to Kiera; you care too much. Sit this one out and let the pros handle it.”

“The pros?” Nolan snarls. “Are you fucking kidding me with this shit?”

“No,” I say flatly. “We’re not walking away from this.”

A woman next to us raises her hand. “Mr. Leforte,” she says. “I think you need to see this.”

We crowd around the monitor. A van pulls up at the gate. The window rolls down, and a woman sticks her head out. The guard says something to her. She nods and gets out of the van.

She’s dressed in a red dress that hugs her curves. “She’s not a delivery driver,” Nolan says, pointing out the obvious.

“We shut down deliveries for the next couple of days,” Xavier says. “That’s Elise Gordon. She’s been a member for a year. She works on Capitol Hill. For obvious reasons, she wants to keep her membership secret.”

“So, she drives a delivery truck?”

“She told me she’s afraid of being followed.”

Seems rather paranoid to me, but hey, it’s not my life. I watch the screen. The security guards at the booth shine a flashlight into the front seat. Then they open the back, and finally give Ms. Gordon the all-clear.

“What am I missing, Tina?”

The woman rewinds the video to before the van showed up. “Look here,” she says, tapping the screen and enlarging the image. “It’s a dark spot on the driveway. It hasn’t been raining, so it’s probably an oil slick.”

“Okay.”

She forwards the video to just after the van rolls away. “Look at the slick now.”

I stare at the enlarged image, the hair on the back of my neck prickling. “It’s smudged.”

Nolan swears out loud. “Somebody rolled through it.”

“That was my deduction as well,” Tina confirms. “False bottom on the van, in all likelihood.” She taps the screen, and the van is back in front of the security booth.

“We can’t see the passenger side. It’s possible that someone could have lowered themselves to the driveway, and then, when the guards were checking the back, rolled to the tree cover. ”

“How long ago did this happen?”

“Ten minutes, Mr. Leforte. Something kept bothering me about the footage, so I went back to review it.”

“Where’s Kiera?”

“Working,” I reply.

“Why?”

Strangling Xavier isn’t the solution. “She works here, Xavier,” I remind him pointedly. “You’re throwing a masquerade ball tonight. Henri’s had her on the schedule for months.”

Tina’s already pulling up the bar cameras. I see Kelli and Farid pouring drinks, but Kiera’s nowhere to be seen.

I have a very bad feeling about this.

I grab my gun and break into a sprint, Nolan at my heels. “Text me if you find her,” I yell over my shoulder. I dial her number as I run for the elevator. Damn it, Kiera. Pick up your phone.

But there’s no answer.