Page 7 of Queen of Madness

My mind takes only a few seconds to catch on before my lips form a perfect O in understanding. A strip club.

A mischievous smile takes over my face as I send a quiet thanks to whoever wove my web of fate for the night. “I may have something you’re interested in, if you’re still looking.”

He arches a dark brow, taking a tentative sip of his new drink. “Oh yeah?”

My smile grows, but I let my voice take on a more serious edge. “Sure do. My friend is looking for a... bodyguard.”

With the recent tension rising with the scum across the way, our guys are getting harder and harder to keep alive. More so, the ones that worked on the estate. Those fuckers are difficult to find, and after being vetted and trained for months on end, it was a pain in the ass for the twins to replace them. After the fourth one, Onyx made them move into the estate and upped the security all the way to the edge of the property line.

After a little digging, we found out they were somehow being watched as they left to go home and some of them made the mistake of letting their guard down when they crossed over territory lines. We still can’t figure how someone is watching our every move without us knowing, and it churns my stomach into horrific knots. The knowledge I’m not completely in control of protecting the woman who saved us all eats at my conscience when I let it, reminding me how much I owe her. How I need to do more to protect her so she can save others.

“I’m not sure if I should be intrigued or intimidated, but that wide, far-off gaze of yours tells me the latter.”

His rough voice pulls me from the brink, and I shake my head to rid it of the lingering worries. “Accurate assumption. But the money’s good and the woman of the house will more than likely add a little extra for any after-hours extracurriculars.”

No point in lying. Onyx has a type, and our guy here checks all the boxes. She’ll probably fuck him before his background check comes through. “What’s your name?”

“Ezekiel Kane.”

“Hmmm. I like Z better. So what do you say?” I tug a bill from the side of my boot and drop it on the bar to pay his bill.

His dark eyes track the movement before snapping to me as I hop off the stool. “I didn’t get your name.”

“You didn’t ask.”

Z smirks, a dimple I hadn’t noticed popping on his left cheek. “What’s your name?”

Shi slides up beside me, handing me a folded piece of paper. I look down briefly, my heart fluttering in my chest when I see the curl of a y and a heart sticking out. Harlow’s number. When I return my focus to Z, he’s up, his hands in his pockets as he watches us.

“Madeline. But you can call me Maddy. And I think I can get you in for an interview, if you’re interested.” Shi hands me a card, which I flip through my fingers twice before holding it out for him.

It’s a tattered queen of hearts card, just the remnants of the queen’s face still visible under the thick black Sharpie with my contact information.

Z takes it and examines it briefly before I see the moment recognition flashes in his green orbs. His pupils dilate slightly, and his shoulders lift inward, but a second later, he schools himself and stands up straight. He looks back at the fifty-dollar bill I left on a twenty-dollar tab and nods. “Thank you. Can I take a couple days to think about it?”

“Of course.” I run my tongue along my bottom lip, my eyes flashing to a fan of brown hair at the corner of the bar. My heart thumps at the same time my cunt squeezes as I watch Harlow take a tray of drinks away from the counter.

“Thanks again, I’ll be talking to you soon.”

I let my gaze travel back to Z, my smile widening. “Splendid.”

Alot can happen in forty-eight hours.

The annoying to the unthinkable. The triumphant to life changing. All of it can go from nothing to tragic in the blink of an eye.

One wrong decision.

One bad choice.

Even the smallest of catalysts can set an entire forest on fire. And right now, I feel as though everything around me is burning to the fucking ground.

After meeting with Maddy, I decided to take a couple of days before reaching out. It was more of a strategic move on my end at the time. I didn’t want to seem too eager to go with them, especially after the confirmation of the heart card telling exactly who I’d be working for. I already knew, but to look down at the worn edges of a trinket Onyx is known to leave on hervictimswas something else entirely. Also, I just wanted a fucking minute to digest everything that had happened in such a short time. Besides, I hadn’t gotten to say much to Fi before Sam was cramming directions into my GPS, and I needed to talk to her.

But when I got home, she wasn’t there.

Turns out, she was taken the second I got into my car, and the realization was like a freight train barreling into my body and knocking me on my ass.

This isreal, and not only that, but I have no fucking clue where she is, how to reach her, or what they could be doing to her. That notion alone curdles in my stomach, forcing hot bile in my throat when I close my eyes for too long.

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