Never a Night without Drama

Two o’clock came and went, and my mind began to race.

“Conner, where are they? They should’ve been back by now,” I said, my feet tracing the same path back and forth near the door.

He pulled up the limo’s tracking device. It had been stuck in the same spot for the past four hours.

“That’s odd,” Conner said, his brow furrowing. “Why hasn’t the car moved?”

I tried to call Shay’s phone, but it went straight to voicemail. The guys tried the others, and the bodyguards too, but no one was picking up.

“We’re going now,” I declared. “Something’s not right. The car hasn’t moved, they’re not answering their phones, and the club should’ve closed hours ago.”

I grabbed some guns from a cabinet that only opened with my palm print.

“Dad, I want you two to stay here in case they come back. We’ll be tracking the car, but just in case something happened to it and they had to get a cab or something.”

Shay’s dad and mine nodded, and the guys and I left, armed to the teeth and flanked by bodyguards.

“Do you know that club?” Forest asked, a hint of worry in his eyes.

“Yes, it’s owned by a good friend of mine, but he didn’t answer when I called him. That’s really freaking me out right now. He always picks up when I call. So do the bodyguards with them.”

The four of us piled into our car while the guards got into theirs. When we arrived at the club, the lights were on but there was no music.

I handed out earpieces to everyone, and we crept up to the windows to see what was happening inside. I pointed to the roof across the street, and my snipers nodded, taking off to get set up.

We made our way to the back, where a guard was standing with a machine gun cradled in his arm. I pointed to the roof and motioned for Forest and two guards to go up there and see if they could get in that way.

“Conner,” I whispered, “we need to take out this guard without making a sound. Do you have those sleeping darts on you?”

He nodded, pulling one out of his jacket. He loaded a gun with it and fired it into the guy’s neck. The guard dropped like a stone. We dragged him into some bushes and tied and gagged him.

I handed his gun to a bodyguard. “Take his position out here. I don’t think anyone will bother you, but just in case.”

He took the gun and the post while the rest of us crept down the hall. I heard voices coming from the main floor.

“What the hell are you doing, Christoph?” my mom’s voice echoed from down the hall. “You know that when Zane finds you, the prison you escaped from will be nothing compared to what he will do.”

Christoph used to work for us until we caught him stealing valuable heirlooms about ten years ago. I wanted to end his life, but my dad let the courts take care of him. He was sentenced to twenty-five years to life.

Conner looked at me and mouthed, “What should we do now?”

I held up a finger, slowly creeping toward the edge, where I carefully peered around the corner. Christoph and his men had their backs to us, their attention focused on the front door. He had Shay in his arms too.

“Shut up, you old hag,” he snarled at my mother.

My blood was boiling now. He had just insulted my mother and had his hands on my baby. I crept back around the corner, speaking to Forest in a hushed tone through my earpiece. “Do you have a clear shot at this asshole?”

“Yeah, I’ve got him in my sights. Their bodyguards are tied up, bleeding against the wall; looks like they put up a hell of a fight. He’s got about twenty men in there, and almost every one of them has marks on their bodies.”

“We’ll have to take them out quickly. As soon as the first one drops, they’ll attack the women. Forest, take out as many as you can without hitting the women.

“Snipers, if any of their men run out that front door, shoot to kill. We’ll come out from the back here and take out as many as we can. Forest, keep your sights on Christoph. If he does anything to Shay…”

Forest cut me off. “Don’t worry. As soon as you make the first shot, he’s going down.”

I smiled at his eagerness to get back to the house with these women safely. I slowly crept toward the corner to get a better look at the floor. I saw how they were positioned and went back to Connor and Noah.

“He’s got three men with guns aimed at all the women,” I told them. “Shay’s in his arms, but the other men are scattered around the room.

“Two are at the bar, four with guns trained on the front door, three on the bodyguards, then the others are standing around the walls.

“We need to take out the three guarding the girls. Forest will take Christoph out, while the others can take out the three on the guards first, then focus on the men at the bar.

“We’ll take them out one by one until they’re all dead. No man with him leaves here tonight alive, understand?” I looked at the guys with me.

They nodded and we got into position in the shadows to scout the floor better. I raised my finger to give the signal when Christoph spoke again.

“Where the hell is he? Phones were going off all over the place; now, there’s nothing. If he doesn’t come in the next minute, I’m going to cut this child out of your stomach.”

That’s when I saw a flash of a knife in his hand under Shay’s stomach.

“Forest, he’s got a knife under her belly,” I said into the earpiece. “Make sure your shot on him is a kill shot through the head. I can’t risk him stabbing her anywhere near our child.”

“Got it,” Forest responded. “My bullet is going right through the back of his head. In three, two, one—”

We all rushed out of the hallway, firing as Forest took out Christoph just like he said he would. His men started dropping left and right as our bullets found their marks.

The moment some of them bolted for the door, shots rang out from outside, dropping them in their tracks.

Shay hit the deck, covering her head as the other women did the same. In a matter of minutes, Christoph and his crew were all dead, their bodies strewn across the room.

I darted over to Shay, sweeping her up into my arms. Conner and Noah did the same with their girlfriends.

“Thank God you showed up,” Shay murmured, her arms winding tightly around my neck. “We were starting to think you hadn’t found us.”

“When you didn’t show by two, we knew something was off. How did he manage to grab all of you?” I asked, glancing at the bodyguards.

“We were just hanging out in the VIP section, having drinks, when they stormed in. They took out the guards first, then nabbed us. Our guys fought until they were knocked out cold with bottles by Christoph’s men.

“We tried to warn them, but the guys holding us clamped their hands over our mouths. Our guards managed to take down about ten of Christoph’s men before they were overpowered.

“We didn’t see it coming. Your mom said she thought she spotted him at the bar when we walked in, but she couldn’t get a clear view through the crowd.”

Shay shivered, and I pulled her closer against my chest.

“We’d been here for about an hour before the club cleared out, and then they ambushed us,” my mom chimed in. “I thought I recognized him when we walked in, but it’s been so long since we last saw him and he looked different with long hair.”

She wandered around, surveying the bodies littering the floor.

Conner glanced our way. “When I noticed your car hadn’t moved for over an hour, we knew something was up. Nothing like a little pre-wedding drama, right?”

We all chuckled as we began to make our exit. I found my buddy tied up behind the bar. Forest, who had joined us, untied him.

The bodyguards hoisted up the others to take back to the castle for the doctor to examine. Noah handed them our car keys as we all piled into the limo.

“We need to head home and get some sleep. You do realize we have a wedding tomorrow at four, right?” Noah flicked his hair out of his face.

Shay glanced at him. “Maybe we should—”

I silenced her with a kiss.

“Don’t even suggest we postpone it. We’re all heading home right now to get some sleep. As long as we’re up by eleven, you’ll have plenty of time to get ready. We’ll text the ladies to come at twelve instead of ten.”

She rested her head on my chest and closed her eyes. “Don’t forget to put me in the guest room for the night.”

I stiffened at the ridiculous agreement I’d made with her.

“No way. We’ve already broken tradition since it’s three in the morning on our wedding day. You’re sleeping in our bed with me. I’ll get up around ten to leave. I’m not leaving you right now, so don’t argue with me.”

She drifted off on my chest just as I finished speaking. The other girls were already asleep, as was my mom. When we arrived back at the castle, Shay’s dad and mine came out to collect their wives.

I helped Shay out of her dress, then stripped off my own clothes and slid under the covers, holding her close and cradling her stomach.