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Was it over now? Surely they would catch him down there, bleeding and in agony. It had to be over.
It just had to be.
Chapter Eleven
Nova
“Nova?” Dr. Loomis waved his hand in front of my face, and I blinked rapidly, focusing on his words once again. “What happened after you stabbed Ryzen in the eye?”
I scoffed, clenching and unclenching my fists in my lap. What had happened? A huge clusterfuck had happened, that was what.
Cian and his brothers ran to the back of the storage area, but Ryzen was nowhere to be found. They followed the trail of blood to a door that led to the parking area and out to the street. He was gone. In the blink of an eye, he had just disappeared.
The next few hours were filled with chaos. I sat wrapped in a blanket in the security room, watching the bank of security monitors as several police cruisers pulled up, the flashing red and blue lights lighting up the otherwise dark street. A SWAT team moved with a quickness throughout the club as partygoers were escorted out in a single-file line. Overhead, the sound of a helicopter circling around had me squeezing my eyes shut. It was either a news chopper or a police one, and the prospect of either wasn’t making me feel any better.
Delove’s face appeared on the camera in the storage room, and I wanted nothing more than to punch the screen. There were two cameras in the room Ryzen had attacked me in, one facing the entrance, the other facing the exit to the parking area. I would find out shortly that most of the attack had not been caught on camera. Thank God, because I didn’t need to have footage of that blasted all over the news. God forbid Piper Lawless got a copy. She would be merciless.
Cian was frantic when he came back to the security room. I ran into his arms and sobbed, letting the warmth of his body comfort me. He pulled back, looking me up and down. I shook my head when his eyes widened at the blood. “It’s his, not mine.” I mumbled and tried to control the panic threatening to bubble to the surface. My throat was killing me from where Ryzen had nearly choked me to death. There would be marks and bruises.
Again.
Cian barked out orders to his staff, pulling up the security footage. I grimaced as a bloody Ryzen ran out the back door, the outside camera catching him jumping into an old white van and speeding off. Cian rewound the footage, presumably looking for how Ryzen had even gotten into the club that night. There was nothing over the last hour, so he went back further to earlier that day and that was when we saw it. An employee had gone out the back door of the storage area to smoke a cigarette, and a few moments later, Ryzen came into view. Cian’s jaw clenched and he leaned closer to the screen.
“He’s wearing my mask?” Cian looked at me, and I nodded. “Fuck,” he bellowed and punched the desk. “Go find that employee and bring him up here.”
“Should we let the police know?” Valik raised his eyebrows.
“No, bring him to me first. If he had anything to do with this, he’s not leaving here alive,” Cian growled and the rock in my stomach grew to the size of a boulder.
I couldn’t let him do that, though. Not for me. I wouldn’t risk losing him because he couldn’t control his anger and frustration. No, we both had to be stronger than that. Now more than ever.
As it turned out, the only mistake the employee had made was not shutting the door behind him after smoking. Valik brought the employee into the security room, his face ashen. Cian pointed to the chair, and he sat, wringing his fingers.
“What’s your name?” Cian walked slowly around the chair in a circle, his entire body stiff as he tried to restrain himself.
“Ritchie, sir.” His voice shook, and I knew instantly that he had made an honest mistake by not shutting the door. He was definitely not working with Ryzen.
“Ritchie, I want you to watch this video and tell me what you see.” Valik pressed play on the video of Ritchie smoking and forgetting to shut the door.
Ritchie gulped and let out a shaking breath. “Sir, Mr. Blackwood, I’m sorry I forgot to close the door. I didn’t know something like this could happen.” His eyes darted to mine, a plea for help in them.
Cian dragged him up by the scruff of his neck. “You left the door open, and that son of a bitch tried to kill my fiancée. I should rip your fucking spine out of your body.” He shoved him against the wall with such force that Ritchie looked as if he might pass out.
Eros stepped over and placed his hand on Cian’s shoulder as Ritchie sobbed. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. Please don’t kill me.”
“Cian,” I whispered. His head snapped to me, a darkness on his face that I hadn’t seen in some time. “Let him go.”
Cian released him, and he crumpled to the ground. “You’re fired. Don’t let me ever see your face again,” Cian growled as Ritchie sprinted out of the room.
Dr. Loomis nodded as I explained the events of the night, his gaze dropping to my neck where the bruises Ryzen had given me stood out prominently, like a piece of jewelry. It had been four days of chaos as the news had gotten wind of the story. Cian and I had locked ourselves in our penthouse and just stayed with each other. He was overcome by guilt, although I’d tried so many times to tell him it wasn’t his fault.
And it wasn’t. I would never, ever blame him for what had happened. Time and time again I had tried explaining to him he could not protect me from everything. If Ryzen was determined to kill me, then the only thing we could do was fight back. Which was why I was letting Cian take me to the gun range after my session today. I had been adamant about not carrying a gun, but now, after all this. I had no choice. If I had had a gun when Ryzen was strangling me, then this would all be over. No, if anyone was going to take the blame, it was going to be me.
“Are you sure that’s wise?” Dr. Loomis looked at me with raised eyebrows. “Learning how to use a gun can feel empowering, but it’s not necessarily going to give you the peace you are searching for.”
I chuckled, the bitterness seeping out of me. “I’m not searching for peace, Doc. Revenge, that’s what I want.” My fists clenched in my lap, my back rigid. “I’m just so angry. This rage… it just keeps boiling up inside of me.”
“It’s natural to feel that way, Nova, but revenge won’t give you what you think you need. After everything you have gone through, you’re lucky to be alive. You have overcome so much. Don’t let this event drag you back into that anxious state of constantly being afraid.”
