Dr. Patel released a hard breath. “I knew she wouldn’t just bail on work without calling in. Follow me.”
I trailed behind the doctor as she led me to a small office. The young security guard looked up from the game he was playing on his phone. Dr. Patel quickly explained the situation.
“When did she get here?” the guard asked.
“Her shift started at four. Her truck is at the back of the lot.”
The guard clicked around in a few files before widening the recording on the screen. He backtracked until we saw Merci’s truck park. He pressed play, and silence fell across the room as we watched a man approach Merci from behind.
“It’s Dr. Rossi,” the guard said. “Nothing to worry about. They’re a couple.”
“I can assure you they’re not,” I growled.
My fists tightened as I watched the video. Luca lifted her slack body and carried her to his car. He set her in the backseat, looked around for any witnesses, and drove away. I was already storming from the room, calling Merrick, before the guard closed the clip. He answered on the first ring.
“Luca has Merci. He drugged her.” I rattled off the make and model of the car he drove, along with the plate. “We need to find her.” My voice cracked.
“We will,” Merrick assured me. “Get back here. Linc’s working on it.”
I drove like a bat out of hell to the clubhouse. Linc sat at the bar with his laptop open.
“I doubt anyone’s there, but Coast and Reaper are searching his house right now,” Merrick explained moments after I burst in.
I nodded, not sure what to say without voicing my concern that Luca would kill the woman I loved.
Thane’s meaty hand hit my shoulder. “Where’s your cut?”
My eyes flicked to Merrick’s. “You didn’t tell him?”
Merrick shrugged. “Not yet. Told Reaper.”
“Tell me what?” Thane’s gravely growl bounced off the walls in the nearly empty clubhouse.
“I’m with Merci,” I explained. “I know the rules. But I’m not giving her up. I love her. So, I gave up my cut.”
Thane shook his head. “Boy, I ought to let Merrick shoot you in the kneecaps right now.”
The president saw the world in black and white. I’d crossed a line, and I’d pay for it, if it were up to him.
“We’ll deal with that later,” Merrick gruffed. “Right now, all I care about is getting my sister back, safe and alive. And killing that motherfucker who thought he could kidnap her.”
I wouldn’t argue with Merrick out loud, but I’d be the one to end Luca. That much I knew.
“Find anything?” I asked Linc, tapping the bar beside him anxiously.
“Nothing yet.”
Fuse walked into the clubhouse, his expression grim. “Reaper called. I’m here to help.”
I paced in front of the bar, my mind slowly spiraling to a dark world without Merci. “We need to do something. Anything. He’s had her for a few hours already. We can’t just sit here and wait for something to happen. I can’t fucking lose her.”
Fuse stared at me, then shifted his eyes to Merrick and Thane with unspoken questions. Thane murmured something to Fuse, and his eyes widened.
“I told him he was playing with fire,” Fuse said under his breath.
The door flew open, and Reaper and Coast strode in, each carrying a laundry basket filled with papers.
“The bastard wasn’t at his townhouse, but we grabbed everything from his office. We’ll sort through it and see if we can figure out where he might be hiding her,” Coast explained.
