Page 57 of Taking What's Mine

“Are you sure they have her?”

He pulls up the security feed from his home he shares with his wife, Sophia. “Mother fucker,” he grits out when a van pulls onto the screen of his phone, and two men hop out. “Fuck.”

“We need to find them,” Ranger says, making his way toward the grand staircase in the center of the club. “We need to watch the security footage. See who took ‘em.”

“He’s right,” Orion says, clutching Dean’s shoulder. He tries to steer Dean away from the spot he’s rooted in.

“If they hurt her,” Dean whispers, his phone gripped tightly in his hand, his eyes still focused on the security footage playing from his home.

“We’ll find them,” Orion says, and we all follow Ranger up the stairs.

Devereaux greets us once we get to the top. “They’ve swiped my system. I’ve got a hacker friend trying to uncover the lost footage, but so far, it’s not looking good.” He leads us to a room with a bank of monitors.

There’s two men seated behind the monitors, scouring through the footage.

“There. Them,” I shout, moving toward one of the monitors. “That’s Trey and Vera. From earlier tonight.”

All the men look closer, as one of the men pulls up a closer shot of the couple.

“They don’t look familiar,” Devereaux says, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He makes a call, pacing the room. “Adele, I need the list to the VIP event tonight. There’s a couple here I don’t recognize, says their names are,” he waits for me to fill him in.

“Trey and Vera,” I say.

“Trey and Vera. What’s their last name?” He nods as Adele on the other line must say something in return. He hangs up, his brown eyes meeting mine. “Adele says there was no Vera or Trey, so I’m going to send her a screenshot of the couple and we’ll figure out who they are.”

Dean’s pacing the room, furious as he keeps watching the security footage from his phone. “I’ve just sent this footage to Asher, and he’s going to try to get some clues and such from the feed.”

“Smart thinking,” Ranger says, pulling his own phone out. “I’m calling BRAVO team, and getting them to your house so they can see if anyone saw anything.”

Dean blows out a frustrated breath. “Thanks, man. I was getting there. I just can’t think straight. My wife, and my sister. Both kidnapped by a man with a vendetta.”

“Who is Lazarus Delgado?” Orion asks, his eyes volleying back and forth between Dean and Devereaux.

“He’s the head of the Delgado crime syndicate. Really bad mother fucker, or so they say. He holds his meetings here, but I’ve never had too many problems with them before,” Devereaux says.

Dean’s lips thin, and for a moment, he just stands there, breathing hard. Then he turns to his men, voice cutting like a whip. “Some bad shit went down a while back between his brother and our mission when we were looking for Bishop.”

Ah, Bishop Blackstone, the asshole who threatened a lot of influential families. I’d watched Maddox Security while Dean left to finally rid the world of Bishop Blackstone and his brand of filth last year.

The door to the room opens and a taller, blonde woman walks in. Her heels click on the floor with purpose as she strides confidently toward Devereaux. “Tyler and Livvy Mayweather. That’s the couple in the picture you sent. They left the club about an hour or so ago. Not sure where they went,” the woman says.

“Thanks, Adele. Call Chloe, and get her and the rest of Saint Pierce PD in on this.” Devereaux nods. “My wife’s a detective with the Saint Pierce Police Department, and I’m going to have Adele get her up to speed.” Devereaux steps away from the group with Adele, obviously filling her in on the situation.

I don’t know how I feel about having the cops involved now. Part of me is relieved that we’ve got more hands on deck, but another part of me worries that this means the situation has escalated out of our control.

“Ranger, Orion, call everyone you know. I want video footage of all the streets. I want to know where that van leaving my house went. I want video footage surrounding this club, seeing where Isabel’s kidnappers went. I want answers. Now.” Dean’s furious as he grips his phone tight, making a call.

Orion and Ranger nod and hurry off, leaving me and Dean in the room. I press a hand to my forehead, reeling from theconversation. “We walked into a trap,” I say bitterly. “I should’ve known.”

Dean’s hand clamps on my shoulder, a heavy weight. “It’s not your fault,” he says, though his voice is tight with suppressed anger. “They fooled both of us. Right now, we need to figure out how to get them back.”

My mouth tastes like ashes. “I feel like I’m losing her.”

He exhales, posture rigid. “We’ll find her, Lincoln. You really care about my sister.” He doesn’t phrase it as a question because I fear he already knows the answer.

“I think I always have,” I tell him, worried about what he might make of our connection.

“I know you have,” he smiles briefly, “it’s why I put you on this job.”

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