Page 97 of Beautiful Scars

Icanstillfeelher lips on my cheek.

Five minutes. I check my watch again. Three minutes have passed.

The hallway feels too narrow, too confined. Every laugh and shout from the main floor sets my nerves on edge. The earpiece crackles with routine check-ins—Jake at the front, Eddie by the back door, Chase in the van. Everything’s normal. Everything’s fine.

I hate this plan. Hate being this exposed. Hate using her as bait.

A crash from the main floor catches my attention. Raised voices follow, then Jade's voice, sharp with anger. More crashes. The earpiece erupts with voices talking over each other.

"Situation in section three—"

"Colt, stand down—"

"Need backup—"

My feet shift toward the noise instinctively, but I force myself to stay put. Whatever's happening out there—Sunny is safer away from it. Three minutes and counting. She said five minutes.

The comms are chaos now. I catch fragments about Jade, about a customer getting physical. Colt's voice rises above the others, furious. Z's barking orders.

"Status on Angel?" Chase's voice cuts through the noise.

"Still in dressing room," I respond, my voice tight. "Three minutes."

More crashes from the main floor. The sound of breaking glass. Someone screams.

"Levi," Z's voice is strained. "We need—"

The earpiece goes dead.

Two minutes.

I pound on the dressing room door. "Angel? Time's up."

Nothing.

"Angel?" Louder this time.

The silence on the other side of the door makes my blood run cold.

Zane

Thesituationspiralsoutof control in seconds. One minute Jade's pushing away a handsy customer, the next she's stumbling backward with blood pouring from her nose. The customer grabs her arm hard enough to bruise.

Colt moves before I can stop him, all pretense of cover forgotten. His fist connects with the guy's jaw just as three more men stand up from different tables. How did we miss this?

"Chase, I need eyes on those exits," I bark into my comm, already moving toward the fight. "Jake, Eddie, lock it down."

Glass shatters. Someone screams. Wolf and his team converge on the new threats, but it's chaos. Too many bodies, too much movement.

"Status on Angel?" Chase's voice crackles through.

"Still in dressing room," Levi responds. "Three minutes."

My gut twists. This is wrong. All wrong. The timing—

"Check the camera feeds," I order Chase, ducking under a thrown bottle. "Dressing room, now."

Static fills the comm line.

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