Page 72 of In Darkness We Claim

“I’m sorry you were caught up in that. I’ll get everything cleaned up, and you can grab another drink—on the house, of course,” he adds, and I thank him with a smile.

As he continues bossing around his staff as they try to get everything put right, I glance back over to the bar, my gaze seeking Harper. When I don’t find her where I expect her to be, my stomach sinks and panic sets in.

My eyes dart across the room, catching sight of Wren and Bram hurrying toward me, their faces etched with matching worry. The thumping bass of the dance music fades as my own heartbeat pounds loudly in my ears. A cold dread washes over me, like a prickling sensation on my skin, as the sickening certainty that something is terribly wrong dawns on me.

Both Harper and Nigel are missing. She would never leave with him, and she sure as shit wouldn’t go anywhere without telling me. Which means he’s done something to her, and that thought freezes my veins to ice.

Bram and Wren reach me a second later, and even though I’m certain they don’t know the answer, I ask anyway. “Where’s Harper?”

Wren’s eyes are full of fear as she slowly shakes her head. “I don’t know. We were hoping you’d know. She’s not at the bar anymore.”

Kincaid, who had been standing off to the side, barking orders at his team, must be able to tell something is wrong, as he walks over to us, assessing us with his piercing gaze. “What’s going on?”

Bram replies, “Harper is gone. She was with a Pledge at the bar. Wren came over to show me the evidence they collected, and when we looked over at Harper, getting ready to pull her out, she was gone. We looked all around the bar, but found nothing, so we came to get Lawson, hoping he had seen her.”

I shake my head, unable to find the words. Wren’s voice shakes as she says, “She wouldn’t have just left with him. She has to be here somewhere.”

The panic in her tone matches how I feel, but I do my best to keep all the emotions off my face, knowing I need to approach this the way I would any other task. Unfortunately, the emotions I try to keep out of my voice are running rampant in my head, making it hard for me to formulate any kind of plan.

Luckily, Kincaid is an emotionless arsehole, and his brain is working fully, so he quickly pulls out his phone once more, pressing the touchscreen before lifting it to his ear. Just a second later, the call connects, and we hear him talking to his security team, asking them to review the cameras in the club.

After giving them a description of Harper, there’s a brief pause, and I can only assume the person on the other end of the line is doing their job, scouring the footage for my girl.

It’s not long before Kincaid hangs up the phone, an angry scowl on his face that a lesser man would be terrified of. “My team has watched the footage. Apparently, your Pledge spiked her drink. He was seen carrying her out of the staff-only back exit around seven minutes ago. It appears he used the fight as a distraction.”

Kincaid has barely finished speaking when I take off in a run, heading straight for the door where Harper was last seen. The sound of Bram, Kincaid, and Wren chasing after me is a distant echo, but I don’t pay them any attention, not even when they call out to me.

All I can think about is getting to Harper. Once I know she’s safe, I will cut both his arms off and beat him with them. How fucking dare he take what belongs to me?

As soon as the cool air hits me, I pause, taking a second to look around the car park. It’s big, and I don’t want to set off running in the wrong direction, as that will only waste time.

Just as the others catch up to me, I spot Nigel in the far corner of the car park, to the right of where I’m standing now. He’s trying to push Harper into a black car, but her limp body is hard to manoeuvre, giving me the time I need.

Without thinking, I take off running in his direction, knowing if I don’t get to him in time… Fuck, I don’t even want to think about what he might do if he gets Harper into the car and takes off. It’s not an outcome I can even consider, and I push myself harder until my lungs and thighs are burning from the speed and force of my exertion.

A sickening fear builds in me as Nigel roughly shoves Harper into the backseat, the slamming of the door echoing in the sudden quiet. As he takes a step back, straightening out his shirt, he casts furtive glances around. The harsh lights over the carpark glint off his eyes, betraying his unease, as he no doubt makes sure no one saw him abducting the terrified girl now trapped in his car.

A glint of surprise, then raw fear, flashes in his eyes as he sees me. His smug smirk crumbles, replaced by frozen dread as I thunder towards him, the sound of my feet breaking his sudden silence.

The metallic tang of exertion fills my nostrils as I bolt towards the car, a blur of motion. My feet, clumsy from the speed, send a spray of fine gravel skittering behind me. I slam into the Pledge’s side, the impact vibrating through my limbs as we tumble onto the rough, gritty ground. His startled grunt rips through the air, only to be drowned out by a sharp, pained squeal as my fist connects with his face, a dull thud echoing the blow.

A shooting pain slices through my knuckles from the force of the punch, but it does nothing except spur me on as I hit him over and over again, my fist landing on any exposed area.

His cries of pain as he begs me to stop barely register over the adrenaline pounding in my ears. The rough gravel beneath us scrapes at our skin as he squirms, trying desperately to get away from me, but I have him pinned down. There’s no escaping my fury.

My punch to his nose causes a sickening crack, and blood spurts onto us both, adding to the splatter that already covers us. My knuckles are stained red, and I’m not entirely sure it’s all his.

I’m so lost to the rage that when Bram wraps his arms around my shoulders, using all of his body weight to pull me off the sobbing Pledge, who is now curled into a ball beneath me, I turn to hit him. I try to push him away from me, as I don’t want anything to stop me from killing the arsehole on the ground.

Unfortunately, Bram is a fucking underground fighter, with much more skill and strength than me, and I’m barely able to move him—though I get a couple of good hits in to let him know I’m not happy.

Eventually, he drags me away from Nigel’s battered and bruised body, but he keeps his arms wrapped around me as I desperately gasp for air, my heart pounding from the fury burning through me.

“Calm down, Lawson. Take some deep breaths and get your shit together,” Bram tells me, keeping his hold tight so I can feel his measured breathing.

Nigel’s sobs grow louder as he tries to roll into a sitting position, but Wren stops him with a kick to his stomach. “You sick fuck. What the hell is your problem? Do you get off on abusing women?”

Bram keeps one arm around me and uses the other to gently push Wren away from the sack of shit on the ground. She looks at Bram with a fierce glare, letting him know she doesn’t appreciate being held back, and I know the fucking feeling.