AllFreeNovel
Share Us
DAMON
The sun was high in the sky as Madden and I rolled into Claymore. The city was in the grips of revitalisation, new developments marked its outskirts, it was just a few years behind Southport, but there was no doubt the town council was trying to improve their image. Old buildings were either getting modern facelifts or torn down completely. As we pulled into the Weavers Hotel, we noticed a group of people arguing amongst each other.
“They look like the group that was in the picture with Paige,” Madden noted as he jumped off his bike. Taking a closer look, he was right but with one notable absence—Paige. An uneasy feeling started to settle, something wasn’t right here. “I’ll go check us in, you head over and find out what that’s all about, give ‘em the heads up before you go see the Princess.”
I gave him a look, what the hell was he thinking giving me orders, he may be my VP but hell he was stating the obvious here. As I pulled closer to the group bits and pieces of their conversation could be heard.
“How could you let that happen?” The short strawberry haired pixie shrieked, she was pacing up and down the veranda, clearly upset about something. “Where were you when they took her?”
Wait what?... What the hell were they talking about, and what did they mean? Had Paige been taken? The scene in front of me had a seed of dread starting to form in the pit of my stomach. I fucking should have left yesterday when Jonah had informed me that she could have been in danger.
“Someone took someone?” I echoed the strawberry blonde pixie, flipping the stand on my bike, I made my way towards the three. The two males instinctively pushed the little pixie behind them and stepped forward. Turning my back to them, a knowing smile started to form. I could forgive the Harry Styles wannabe because he didn’t know me, but Cian should have known better. Placing my helmet on my seat, I turned back around in time to see the look of realization wash across Cian’s features. “Hello Cian, long time no see.”
“You know this guy?” The dark haired guy turned and asked Cian, who was still staring at me, rooted in his spot. Yeah that’s right tough guy we’d found you and there was gonna be hell to pay.
“Yeah I know him,” Cian gave a resigned sigh. Turning to his friend and gesturing towards me, Cian did the introductions. “Tiernan this is Damon, he’s the guy I told you about a few months back, the one that owns the garage.”
“He’s the guy that Paige has been avoiding,” The pixie piped up, pushing her way forward. Close up she was pretty enough, petite but toned, light freckles dusted her nose and her red hair made the emerald green in her eyes stand out. “I’m Laoise.”
Normally, a friendly greeting would have been my reply, however after catching the last part of their conversation and the lack of Paige’s presence, now wasn’t the time for niceties. Giving her a nod, I turned back to the other two.
“Where’s Paige?” I broached the subject, hoping that the feeling I had was wrong, but I already knew the answer to that. I didn’t want to have to make that phone call. The Lennox family would be down here before we knew it, turning the city upside down and spooking those that were involved. Something I couldn’t allow just yet.
All three of them looked at each other, Laoise shifted uncomfortably as Tiernan and Cian looked to be having a silent conversation. There was nothing I hated more than stalling tactics. One way or another they would be telling me what the fuck was going on.
“Well, isn’t anyone going to answer me?” The annoyance in my voice was now clear. I stood there for a minute giving them the chance to respond, before I made my way to the room I knew to be Paige’s. Thanks to Jonah, I knew which rooms they were all staying in, I also had a copy of the key to get in thanks to his friend Ghost.
“Just tell him Cian, he may be able to help,” Laoise pleaded with the two. She stood there staring at them, hands on her hip. Something told me that this little spitfire could give both Paige and Phee a run for their money in the attitude department. She would make a valuable ally if I needed.
Cian glanced between her then to me and nodded. “Fine, let’s take this inside. But what I am about to tell you stays between us. It can’t get back to anyone, got me.”
Yeah enough of this shit, Cian was already in enough trouble with Killian and Stryker, now that they knew he lied about knowing where Paige was. And here he was trying to order me around.That was not bloody happening. He was not the one in charge now, and he never was, Paige would never run second fiddle to a guy, it was one thing I loved about my Princess, and it was time for me to remind him of it.
I moved quickly, taking him by surprise. With one hand around his throat I pushed him through the open door behind him and slammed him up against the nearest wall with my free hand. I pulled my .9mm from the back of my pants and pressed it firmly against his temple.
In all the chaos, I’d forgotten about the other dude he had with him, but luckily for me Madden had finished checking us in and was upon the scene in seconds.
“Don’t even think about it,” Madden growled behind me, I heard the click of a gun being cocked. I guess Tiernan had some game, he was brave but stupid, he should have known I wouldn’t have come alone. “Slowly put your fucking gun down, do anything stupid and I’ll put a bullet through the back of your skull.”
“Madden, once you got him settled, call Ty, tell him we’re gonna need more feet down here,” I ordered him before turning back to the fuck-knuckle that was currently pinned against the faded striped wall. “Let me enlighten you Cian, on how this is going to go. You’re gonna talk, you are going to tell me everything that’s happened up to this point, then you’re gonna tell me what went down last night, and I want every fucking minute detail, you got me?”
Cian swallowed, then nodded, his eyes crestfallen. He was already in a world of trouble and he knew it. There was this feeling telling me that what I would find out wasn’t gonna be an easy pill to swallow. Putting my gun away, I let Cian go, and took a seat at the old worn armchair that sat opposite the door and gestured for him to proceed.
“We’ve been trailing Alexander Ducane and his brother for weeks now, up until last night it was standard recon, his movements have been predictable, so Paige took a risk and decided to move the recon into the venues he frequents,” Cian paused, walked to the yellowing bar fridge and pulled out some beers, handing them out to everyone before taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “Last night was the first night, I told her that we should put it off until we had more bodies here, but you know what she’s like, Damon.”
“Yeah she is hard headed at times,” I agreed with him, when Paige set her mind too something she would drive a freight train through anyone that tried to stop her. Even more so if a guy was trying to tell her what to do, but it wasn’t an excuse to just let it slide. “You didn’t think to reach out to someone when she didn’t listen? So what went down last night?”
“I thought we would be enough, but I was wrong?” Cian admitted, defeat laden in his voice. He took a sip of his beer and then continued. “Everything was going fine, we were seated getting ready to watch the fight. From where we were, we could see Alexander Ducane, he was sitting with two guys. We don't know who they are just yet but I think they’re the owners of the Lion’s Den. The fight started and towards the end she decided she needed some fresh air.”
“And you just let her fucking go alone?” Fury had started to build deep within me, if my Princess was here she’d know exactly how to soothe the beast. Everything about this seemed a little haphazard. Paige had become uber focused and had made a rookie mistake.
“God fuck no I’m not that careless Damon,” Cian’s eyes bugged out as I snapped at him. I had him nervous and on edge, the sweat beading from his forehead a tell tale sign that there was more to this but he wasn’t willing to be that forthcoming. I’d bide my time with him, eventually I’ll get it out of him. “We were about to come back in when we heard someone yelling for help, as we made our way towards the commotion she noticed they were trying to push a girl into a black SUV.”
“Jesus Christ, she went on the attack.” It wasn’t a question but rather a statement, one I already knew the answer too. Paige for as much as she is brave, she was impulsive, she would have gone running in to save the fucking day.
“Yeah she did, we had the upper hand until the girl broke loose and I got distracted for a second, and was hit from behind,” His voice almost whispered as he hung his head in hands, it was a little too rehearsed for my liking and I couldn’t believe that the other two were buying it. “When I came too they were all gone.”
“And you’ve done what since then?” I boomed with anger, that had been steadily rising. She’d been gone almost twenty four hours and it would appear that they hadn’t done shit. “Have you been out looking? Did you contact anyone?”
“I’m sorry Damon, I was only released from the hospital a few hours ago.” He looked up at me, I could see the guilt eating away in his eyes. That was good, it meant that it would be easy to break him when I finally discovered his secret. He was fucking lucky if I didn’t string him up and deliver my own fucking beating now, but it wasn’t the time yet, I needed him to slip up.
“Do you have anything we can work with? Are there pictures of these men you saw with the Ducane fucker?” I questioned him, it was information we needed to know. With Ty sending some of the boys down, I’d need all the help I could get to if I wanted to get my girl back.
“I don’t know if it helps, but I think the owners of the Lion’s Den are about to jump into the Skin Trade. They have been meeting up with Ducane regularly over the last week,” Cian got up and walked over to his phone, scrolling through it he pulled up a picture of Ducane and three other guys and gave it to me. “They're planning on running an underground tournament, the prize is what's concerning and now that Paige is missing I think there is something to be concerned about.”
“Get that to the prospect. I want to know all there is to know about those three by the end of the day.” I handed the phone to Madden. If what Cian was saying is true, my princess was in some real trouble. “Also get him to find out what he can about this tournament.”
It was time to hit the streets, I needed to find Paige and I needed to find her fast.
