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With a sigh of relief, I hang up from the operator and make my way out of my hiding spot, grateful that gran wasn’t home. Shaking, I can barely stand as the officer comes to my side and helps me calm my breath.
“Ma’am, it appears whoever was here has now left, but my partner and I will stay and fingerprint the door and other surfaces and get details from you so we can lodge a report. Do you have anyone you can call?”
Briefly I think of Stephen, but I know he is busy, and I don’t want to annoy him while he is working so I shake my head.
“Ma’am, I think you are in shock, are you sure there isn’t someone I can call?”
“No, there is no one. It’s okay. Let me change, and I will meet you in the kitchen and tell you everything that happened.”
He gives me a brief nod, concern etched in his face and lets me go. I take five minutes for myself in my room while I get changed to try and calm my breath. The full fear hits me, and I can barely do up my jeans zipper as my hands are shaking so much.
I manage to put on a hoodie, jeans, and sneakers, then make my way to the kitchen where I start preparing a cup of chamomile tea to help calm my nerves. I sit at the table, and I run through the events of the night with Officer Salon while his partner fingerprints around the front door.
I call a 24-hour locksmith, and along with a new lock, I am left with an invoice for over $500. I have no idea how I am going to pay for it, but the locksmith takes pity on me and tells me I can just pay it when I can, which somewhat alleviates my stress. I leave the invoice on the kitchen table, not wanting to think about it tonight.
It is nearly 4am when the officers leave, hesitantly, as they don’t want me alone in the house after what I have just experienced. I think about who I can call, but there are only a few more hours until daylight so I decide to secure myself in the house. I lock all the doors and windows and put chairs barricading each door as a double barrier. It may be overkill but I am fearful for my life now.
Are they still out there waiting for the police to leave before they pounce again? Who even are they and what do they want with me?
I sit quietly in an armchair in the living room, not wanting to lie down in bed for fear of sleeping. I want to keep my wits about me. I keep all the lights on, and I have a baseball bat by my side ready to jump into action if I need to. I am so tired, but I fight to stay awake. I am thankful that there are no other disturbances and as the sun comes up, I breathe a sigh of relief that the night is over and that I can finally fall asleep.
***
21
STEPHEN
The club is busy as usual tonight. The surprise visit from Molly has me riding on cloud nine, despite my bruises, which all feel much better after her touch. The new front door crew are doing well, and we have doubled the amount of staff so that there is full oversight of every person that comes into the club.
After Molly leaves, Jake comes into my office with Jai who finally decides to show up from wherever he has been hiding. I grab a bottle of water and take a seat at my desk ready to hear whatever he has for me.
“I have more information on our friend John. He has been using the club for months as a ground for securing women before drugging and kidnapping them to sell to the highest bidder on his own online platform.”
“Fuck. Right under our nose?” I reply, dismayed, looking at Jake.
Jake nods. “Yeah. He comes in semi regularly, usually with a different woman each time. They haven't had their ID scanned at the front door for months since our previous door crew was sloppy, and given he was such a regular, they let him pass without bothering to check ID.”
I run my hands through my hair. This is getting worse by the day.
Jake proceeds to tell me that his and Jai’s team have sifted through hours of security footage, and using facial recognition software were able to find John on previous nights. They now have photographic evidence of the different girls he brings in.
“He visits Nitro once a fortnight, so we assume that he visits other clubs around the city on other nights and has a good system in place for his criminal activities,” Jai adds, and knowing that my club isn’t the only one that is used is somewhat comforting.
John is currently on my blacklist, meaning that he can no longer access my club. Because of this, we think he is the one who jumped me at the side door of the club with the hit to the head that landed me in hospital over a week ago and also the one responsible for attacking me last night. While the blacklist may have made him angry, I think he knows that we are aware of his illegal activities and that has put a target on my back. How he would know, we are not sure, because we didn’t find any bugs when we swept my office or the club. Agent Jai wants me to introduce him to the owners of the other clubs in the area, the case now becoming a lot bigger than first thought.
After Jake finishes giving me all the information, I decide to call a few of my fellow club owners to spread the word on our friend John. I then spend the next few hours visiting three other clubs with Jai to make introductions and to tell them in detail about what is happening. It is no surprise that John is a regular at all of them. I put each of their security teams in touch with Jake so they can start viewing and assessing their camera footage, as we work together to build evidence of what John is doing, because none of us want that shit in our clubs.
It is 4am before I finally sit back at my desk, exhausted from the night's events, and I think about Molly. Who no doubt is all tucked up in bed like the perfect sleeping beauty she is, and I wonder not for the first time, what I did to deserve someone so special. She is so fucking gorgeous, and I just want to be with her every day, but I need to make sure she is safe, and at the moment, my clubs and I are not safe. In fact, being near me is probably the worst place she can be, but I do have security personnel all around me, and I plan to allocate a team to Molly tomorrow - because while the threat to her is small, it is still there.
After we have seen everyone we need to, I head home for a quick shower and a nap with the plan to grab breakfast for Molly and deliver it to her home this morning. Another night at the club is now over, and I have consumed only water and thoughts of Molly. The thumping in my head is not an ongoing occurrence as it once was.
* * *
It is 9am as my car turns into her driveway. I leave Chris in the car, and the security detail wait out the front as I grab the coffee and bagel I bought for her from Levend Bagelry. I make my way to her front door, where I stop dead in my tracks seeing a freshly fitted lock and fingerprint ink residue on the front door. Panicking, I thump on the front door.
“Molly. Molly, open up it’s Stephen!” I shout, not caring if I wake up the entire neighborhood.
I hear noise behind the door and the locks slowly opening, before a very groggy Molly answers the door, rubbing her eyes looking dead on her feet.
