Page 162 of Fallen Princess: Shadow Stalker

Eden’s looking around the room, which means she’s searching for Rick, or she’s assessing the situation and looking for alternative ways out. As soon as she spots the masked men, she shoves Brittney into a group of people, most likely not wanting to associate her friend with her and endangering her further.

Brittney gives her a look of confusion and worry; Eden takes one apologetic look at her friend and runs in the opposite direction, most likely the service area. Clever girl, that would have also been my reaction. But three masked men literally climb over people and run after Eden. My eyes dart around, waiting for something else, but thescene isn’t captured further than the main dining room, and my heart and mind are about to crash from worry.

Did Eden make it out?My eyes dart across the screen, silently praying and looking for confirmation.

My heart sinks further into my gut as the men re-emerge.

“Son of a fucking piece of shite!” Callum's exclamation echoes through the room. His frustration reflects mine as well.

One man steps into view, followed by two others carrying Eden slumped over their shoulders.

“She’s been drugged,” I state the obvious, my voice trembling with worry for Eden's well-being.

The room falls into a heavy silence as it all sinks in.

They took her.

My girlfriend. Mine.

I look up, and Haze looks devastated while Jagger clenches his jaw, trying to process the information.

What about Brittney?Have they found her? Maybe she can shed some light.

The agent is still playing the clip. There’s more, and we all lean back to watch the screen. The men holding Eden are looking towards the entrance. It’s empty of people except for Brittney, who’s talking to a tall man. He’s masked, but his hand grips her arm, and he’s chatting to her. She looks at him searchingly as if she recognizes his voice. She hasn’t seen Eden yet, but the tall masked man is holding her, pulling her away. But it almost looks like he’s urging her to leave the restaurant. The video ends.

The room is filled with heavy silence as we try and absorb what the fuck we just witnessed and the reality of the situation settles in. I exchange glances with my bandmates, grappling with the shock and uncertainty of Eden’s fate.

“Brittney Davis left willingly with a masked man she recognized who seemed to be the crew's leader. We’re working on identifying him and tracing their whereabouts. Is there anything you might know about the individual she may have left with? Boyfriend, relative, friend?”

“She left willingly?” I ask, still stuck on what I just saw. “But why?”

Of course, I don’t expect anyone to have answers.

“We're still piecing together the puzzle, but she may have had prior connections or knowledge about the situation. My tech guy istrying to get access to street camera footage that might be able to give us the car plates they drove off with.”

“Cricky!” Haze sits on the sofa, his entire face shocked and thoughtful.

“Brittney is Eden’s best friend,” Jagger clarifies. “We’ve known her since we all competed on Tone Wars. But none of us really got to know her. Not properly. But Eden trusted her, and judging by that video, she tried to sacrifice herself to save her friend.”

“Is there anything to suggest Brittney had something against Eden?” The agent looks at all of us as she pockets her phone.

“Brit didn’t like us all that much, but she was pretty tight with Eden.”

“Why didn’t she like you?”

“Well, if you do your research, you’ll find that a video of us with Eden circulated online about ten years ago, and a massive scandal erupted, forcing Eden into hiding. Brittney blamed us for releasing the video and ruining Eden’s career. When Eden fled from LA, we went looking for her, and Brittney, along with Eden’s old bandmates from the Sugar Vixens, exploded on us. They even got court orders against us to never approach them again because of what they think we did.”

“And did you release that video?”

I look at the other three.

“No, we didn’t.”

“Do you know who did?”

“Yes, but we can’t disclose that info. Eden also knows who released it, but we can tell you that it’s not connected to the stalker.”

“When you say stalker, you’re referring to the cases Rick Madden was cooperating with the LAPD.”

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