Page 22 of Vow of Vengeance (Destruction & Vengeance Duet #2)

nineteen

Declan

Even going ninety miles per hour the whole way there, by the time I pull up outside the bar, Khan has already beat me here.

I see his shiny black car close to the back door entrance.

His isn't the only one here. Soren's blue car is parked between two others.

As I walk by them, I see that the van to the left of her parked so close she wouldn't even be able to open her driver's side door.

I break into a run, not letting my mind entertain the ideas that are trying to surface.

The back door was left open, thanks to Khan, who called me the minute he was off the phone with Soren.

I pull it back so hard it slams against the hinges before closing with a thud behind me.

I blaze a path through the back room and erupt into the main bar, ready to commit murder with my bare hands.

Soren leans back against the counter, her hands braced on the surface behind her. Anxiety is written all over her, even though she tries to hide it behind a smile as Tony prattles before her.

My heart's been beating in my ears since Khan called to tell me Tony was with her, so I haven't heard a word of what he's saying to her, but it's clear she's unamused.

Khan stands at her side; he's the one who spots me first. Relief spills across his face, but he schools it quickly before Soren or Tony can follow his gaze to me.

"Soren Palmer," I say coldly, reverting back to her maiden name, the way I referred to her when we first met. Before she simply became mine . "You're late."

Soren straightens, managing to look a little scared as she looks from Tony to me. "I... got tied up."

"Evers." Tony grunts, looking at me in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Collecting what's mine." I don't bother mincing my words. "Miss Palmer is my contracted employee. I need her to meet my demands without being distracted. Are you keeping her from work?"

"It's fine." Soren says, straightening and pushing past Tony. "We were just catching up."

She's nearly past him when Tony puts his hands on her, grabbing her by the arms so that she has to stop to face him.

I swear to God my vision goes red, rage coloring the inside of the bar.

I flex my knuckles, reigning in my sense of self-control, but when he tries to shove her behind him, any sense of composure I have is lost. I'm in his face in an instant; I'd have him on the ground already bleeding if I weren't worried about what seeing a murder would do to her fragile mental health.

The only thing that saves him is my love for her.

Soren takes advantage of Tony's attention being on me to shake out from under his grip and walk around him, placing a hand on my chest to try and guide me away before any violence can ensue.

"It's fine." She says, though I don't know if she's assuring me, or Tony, or herself.

"I told you. Soren is mine . If you lay a hand on her again, I'll cut it off."

Despite visibly shrinking before me, Tony only laughs, trying to come across unbothered. "You're awfully stupid to threaten me, kid. Do you know the things I'm capable of?"

"Do you know what I'm capable of?" I challenge, matching his laugh. "No, you don't. If you did, you wouldn't dare breathe the same air as her again."

I watch his lip curl in amusement before his eyes flicker to her. "Whatever he's paying you, it ain't worth it to be his whore, princess. Walk away."

I don't see her response to that because she grabs me by the shoulder in an attempt to tug me away. It only takes one look at her to see the fear in her eyes, the unease written in the tension of her body.

"Declan..." She doesn't have to say anything more.

I catch Khan's eye briefly before I turn to go, wrapping my arm around her to bring her in close.

"You're better off dead than with him, Soren. Remember that." His voice follows us to the exit, full of venom. "Vin must be rollin' in his grave that his wife's fucking his killer."

I squeeze her tighter against me, feeling the way she trembles ever so slightly.

"Ignore him, Ren." I mutter, kicking the door open so that we can get to the car. Tony follows us as far as the exit, and I grip her arm when she tries to break off to get her car. "We'll have to come back for that later."

When she takes in the way she was boxed out of opening her driver's side door, I see her swallow back her objections. She manages to keep them at bay until we're safely inside my car, the doors locked behind us.

My hand is on the button to start the ignition when she lunges for it, stopping me short.

When I turn to her, seeking an explanation, she's pale, her lips parted like the words died before they made it to her tongue. She looks like she's seen a ghost, and her hand clutches mine tightly.

"Wait. We can't leave."

"The hell we can't." I snort, turning the car on. "We're going to get as far from that piece of shit as we can manage and then you need a shower so that I can wash his filthy touch off of you."

"Dec-" She swallows, shaking her head. "There's a hidden room in the bar. It was behind the stock shelves, like no one wanted it to be found."

"A hidden room?" I appraise her face, waiting for more. "And you just... happened to find it?"

"I never spend long in the backroom, but I was getting cleaning supplies, and I noticed it. I slid the shelf out of the way and opened it, but it was just... dark. And then Tony came and..."

I nod, understanding the direction her thoughts are headed. "Marissa?"

"What if they're hiding her in there?"

I don't tell her that seems ridiculous. I don't say anything that could crush her, all the progress she's made over these last few weeks.

"We'll come back when they're gone. Early morning or something."

"No." She shakes her head curtly. "What if she is in there and they move her? What if we leave and they torch the place? We can't take the chance of losing her, Declan."

Her wide eyes are so innocent, so full of hope.

"Should we call the police?"

It's not that I expect them to be more competent than we could be, but there's a possibility that Soren is right about her suspicion, that her best friend could be inside her own bar. I don't want her to be the one to find her best friend's dead body... or worse.

"No." She shakes her head. "It's my name on the bar, right? I own it."

Convenient.

I wondered why Soren Palmer, who barely drinks, would own a bar.

It seemed like such a random business from the woman who's obsessed with coffee and reading and the color blue.

Now the realization hits that it was probably never hers in any sense of the word.

.. not her idea, not her business to run, not her building to maintain. But on paper, of course, she owns it.

"Well, we can't stay in this spot all night. They'll know something's up."

"They may already. Tony was cagey about me being there.” She shakes her head. “It’s like…”

When she doesn’t continue, I prompt her to go on. “Like what?”

“It’s like he was annoyed to see me. Like he thought I was gone and then…”

And then he realized she wasn’t. He realized that I wasn’t going to kill her… that I wasn’t going to take care of his problems for him.

I stare at the bar where I know Tony is inside, wondering if he’d really have it in him to kill his own nephew.

Something tells me I already know the answer.