Page 115 of The Trouble With Bad Boys

Nevaeh.

It all came rushing back to me. Carina crashing into me, telling me her concerns about Nevaeh. Going to Bridgewater Security to meet with Carina’s exes before rushing back to the club. The videos of Nevaeh getting fucked by this piece of shit. My gun. Coming here.

Getting hit.

“Where is she?” I demanded, but the sound of my own voice hurt my head. I squeezed my eyes shut as something pounded inside my skull. When I forced them open again, two other men were standing near the door, each of them as big as my bouncer, Cole.

Sparacello’s smile was anything but friendly. He tucked his hands in his front pockets, and I waited for him to pull out a knife.

“That’s exactly what you asked when you came barging into my fucking house and pointed a gun at my head. And I’m going to ask the same damn question: Where is who?”

I swallowed hard—that hurt too. “Nevaeh Vega,” I forced out a little quieter, and the pain wasn’t quite so bad.

Sparacello’s lips curled up and my stomach rolled. “What’s it to you?”

“She’s missing.” I squeezed my eyes shut against the pain. “I’m trying to find her, and I know…” I looked back at him. “I know you’ve been with her at the club. Did you take her, you sick fuck?”

He shrugged and licked his lips. “What if I did?”

Before I could say more, one of his guards tilted his head and lifted a hand to his ear. I recognized the movement, and for a moment, I almost expected the man to tell me what was going on. Instead, he leaned forward and whispered something in Sparacello’s ear. Sparacello pulled back, the two men sharing a look I also recognized, and my stomach curled.

“You’ll have to excuse me,” Sparacello said, turning back to me. “It seems my home is a popular place tonight.” He and one of the guards left me there. The other stood at the door, thick arms crossed over his broad chest, his glare one I’d seen Cole send directly to the cheaters who left our club in the back of a white van.

The cold of the room washed over me, leaving me shivering, my hands frozen behind my back. I was torn between hanging my heavy head and trying to keep an eye on the guard.

I’d fucked this up. I’d come in here guns blazing without any sort of back up. I hadn’t even told Cole where I’d gone. Nobody knew I was here. Nobody would hear me if I yelled, and if they did, they wouldn’t care.

All I wanted was to hold Carina again. To tell her the words I’d been too fearful to say. I loved her. There was no other woman in the world that would ever compare to her, and I’d never want anyone else.

As footsteps sounded in the hallway, I lifted my pounding head. This was it. My own stupidity had brought me here, and now it was going to be my end.

Thirteen

CARINA

My feet clacked against the cement floor as I struggled to keep up with Lee’s long stride. My heart felt like it hadn’t slowed all night, and my breath was coming in short bursts that hurt as they raked through my chest. Every inch of me was on edge, like I was watching a car racing toward me and I was waiting on the crash.

I nearly ran into Lee as he slowed, and I grabbed his arm for support. He turned to me, the look on his face less calming than I’m sure he intended. He put his hand on my back, then ushered me forward through the door. Inside me, a dam burst.

“King!” I rushed forward as fast as I could, racing toward where he was sitting in the middle of the room. He had a wound behind his temple and blood smeared across the side of his face. I grabbed hold of him, pulling him to my breast.

“Carina?” he murmured against me, his voice woozy and weak. “Darling, what are you doing here?”

“I take it this is who you’re looking for?” a voice sounded behind me, and I peered over my shoulder at Anthony Sparacello.

Before I could respond, King spit out, “You stay the fuck away from her! She didn’t do anything to you!”

“I came here for you, you stupid man!” I edged back, looked down into King’s dark eyes. “What the hell were you thinking? Mr. Sparacello said you barged in and threatened him!”

King shook his head, then flinched like something had hit him. I cupped his face in my palms, trying to hold his attention. “He took Nevaeh, I know he did.”

“Of course he did, sugar.” I brushed my thumbs over his cheeks, trying to calm him down as one of Sparacello’s guards cut the ties from King’s wrists. Instead of inspecting the red indentations in his skin, King threw his arms around me and pulled me close. “They got?—”

“Carina? King? What are you doing here?”

King’s attention shot to the door, and I let go of him so I could look over my shoulder. Nevaeh was there, perfectly safe if not a little green around the edges.

“Nevaeh.” Her name left King’s mouth like a breath that’d been knocked out of him. “Are you okay?” He tried to stand, but his ankles were still attached to the chair, and honestly, with his head wound, I wasn’t sure he’d be steady even if he could get up.

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