Page 143 of Until I Own You

She holds up her hand. “Got it.” She tilts her head to the side and speaks into her earpiece. “We need eyes on Bridget Vance. Code red.”

I abandon Lourdes and continue my own search, stalking around the club.

So much time has passed.

What if he’s taken her away from here? Thrown her in a car and driven away? And what if I never see her again? What if he–

My heart beats so hard I think I might cough it up and spit it out.

I can’t live without her.

And I can’t live with myself if anything bad happens to her.

Security begins to mobilize around the club.

But I can’t stop with that. I need to find her.

It has to be me.

My eyes never stop skimming every corner.

In the darkest corners of the club is the back hallway to the bathrooms, the only light that isn’t dark and moody.

It’s also the way down to the employees’ breakroom and a fire exit. And in that spot where the light transitions from dark to light, I see a flurry of movement.

Skeins of dark hair, pale skin, the glint of a necklace.

Bridget being pulled along by that big fucking asshole that had his hands all over her, pulling so hard her feet barely touch the floor.

They disappear down the hallway.

I sprint after them, running smack into a bottle girl on the way over, sending a bottle of Dom to the floor. It shatters.

I don’t fucking care, put it on my tab.

Time is running out.

Every obstacle is a second closer to everything going wrong.

I can’t have that happen. She’s already so scared.

I can’t let her down.

I won’t.

When I enter the hallway, it is empty of people.

But I can hear them. Hear her cries.

The music isn’t nearly as loud down here, which means everything is audible.

“Hold the fuck still so I don’t have to hurt you… much,” the pitiful excuse for a man growls.

I follow the sound of his voice down the hall, follow Bridget’s cries.

He has her pinned into a small recess in the wall, a secret spot by the fire exit.

The guy must be fucking off his rocker to think there’s any way he’s going to get away with assaulting her here.