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“Thayer!” I turn to find Cosette in the lobby flagging me down. “Lyam says he needs you in the break room.”
Her widened eyes tell me something’s wrong.
“Is everything okay?”
Her brows draw together, and she shakes her head. “I don’t know.”
Dammit. I send Savannah a text.
Me:
I went to check on you, but Lyam called. I’ll be there in a few minutes.
She doesn’t respond.
I walk quickly to the break room, located behind the lobby. Lyam’s with our head of security and a few of our other guards. They have a tablet in front of them.
Lyam’s uncharacteristically grim. “Thayer, there’s been another security breach. You know we never discovered who it was last time and chalked it up to being a glitch in the system.” He scowls. “But it’s clear someone’s bypassed our security measures.”
“So someone’s in the club unannounced?” I ask, making a quick mental tally of the weapons I have on hand.
Lyam’s gaze darkens. He’s as ruthless as I am, only Lyam has much more creative methods than I do.
I shake my head. “Lock down all community rooms.”
“Already done.”
“I want a list of every guest we have on the premises as well as their partners, and every staff member who’s checked in today. If they’re here to cut the grass or dust the goddamn chandeliers, I want their names.”
“On it.”
Lyam flicks his finger across a tablet, and it springs to life. He taps and scrolls, pinches and pulls. Seconds later, my phone dings with a text.
“That was fast.”
“I was already on it before you arrived.”
Savannah.
“I need to check on Savannah.” I jerk my chin to our head of security and his chief operator. “You sweep the first quadrant, Lyam and I will sweep the second through fourth.”
“Yessir.”
They quickly rise, weapons drawn. This is no conventional club where I make everyone keep weapons secured. If we need them, we use them, which is partly why we rarely need to.
“Do we have any leads at all? Anything out of place?”
Lyam shakes his head. “That’s the bitch of it, nothing at all.”
Fuck it. I’m getting Savannah before we do any sweep at all.
There’s a tentative knock at the door. I stand and flick on the overhead security camera. Cosette stands there, wringing her hands. “Sir?”
“Yes?” Lyam and I both say in unison. I give him a sharp look then blow out a breath. He’s not allowed to consort with our employees, so I wonder what’s going on, but we have no time to talk about it.
“May I come in?”
I open the door to let her in, even while I’m ready to burst out of here and check on Savannah. I don’t like feeling like I’m being held back from locating her. Cosette comes in, her cheeks flushed and eyes bright. “I’m so sorry to interrupt,” she says. Something’s off. I can’t put my finger on it, but something isn’t quite right.
“What is it?” I want to shake her to get her to say what’s on her mind so I can get out of here.
“The girls’ dressing room,” she says. “There were various outfits out of place, sir.” She looks as if she’s going to be sick.
My phone buzzes with a text and I want to whip it against the wall.
“Look into that,” I snap at Lyam as the two of them head out.
I won’t investigate another damn thing until I have her safely beside me. The fear I had from the very beginning rears its ugly head. I don’t want to leave anything to chance. I don’t want to lose the woman I love.
I make it back to our room and yank open the door. “Savannah!”
No answer. My heart threatens to pound out of my chest as I quickly scan the room. No sign of a struggle or an intrusion, but she’s nowhere to be seen.
“Savannah!”
I call her phone and it goes to voicemail. I’m pacing, racking my brain to see if I can remember which camera will show me where she went, when I see a folded piece of paper on the small entryway table next to my keys. When I pick it up, I see the broken, mangled collar.
No.
A cold feeling of dread washes through me. I pick it up and unfold it.
Thayer,
I found out about the collar. You can keep it.
I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me. But I can’t stay here hiding any longer. If you had your way, I’d be under lock and key for the rest of my life, and I can’t do that anymore. I’m not an animal to be locked up and tracked. I’m a human being with a will of her own. It’s probably fruitless to ask, but I’m going to anyway.
Please don’t look for me.
Savannah
I wad up the paper and whip it against the wall.
Where did she go?
What the fuck is she thinking?
