Page 44 of Stolen Sun

“I’ve never heard of it,” she says. “What does a gentlemen’s club have to do with Nate? Did he go there?”

“Apparently so. Isaiah owns it, and Nate was part owner,” I tell her and shrug my shoulders in defeat.

“What the fuck?” Her reaction mimics my own.

We talk ourselves in circles with reasons why Nate would’ve kept secrets. Kate texts her most questionable friends to ask about the club. All of which are dead ends. She suggests asking Isaiah straight up, but I’m not going to him for answers. If he hid his entire identity, he isn’t going to like that I know now.

She agrees to save the unanswered questions for later, so we turn on some music and start putting my house back together.

Chapter twelve

Declan

The men who broke into Noel’s house last night sit tied to chairs in front of me. Zander and I are waiting for them to wake up, and I’m growing more impatient by the second.

Chance had been able to catch a plate from one of the outside camera recordings. He traced it back to one of these assholes. A little more digging got us the other one. After collecting them for me, he brought them to the warehouse.

The one on the right begins to move, so I grab the bucket of ice and toss the contents at him. He yells out and tries to jump up but almost knocks his chair over instead. Looking around the room, his eyes settle on me, and he tries to pull himself out of the ropes like a desperate animal.

“What the fuck is this?” He yells, panicking.

“This is what the fuck happens when you mess with the wrong girl,” I answer him.

Zander positions himself behind the man. The fucker slams his mouth shut, breathing heavy through his nose.Even better.I pull the knife out of my pocket and walk over to him.

“I was hoping you didn’t want to talk. I’m not in the mood for conversation, either. In fact, I want to try something out.”

My knife clicks open when I get close enough to touch him. His chair clangs as he tries to move away from me. Zander presses down on his shoulders to keep him still.

Pulling his shirt away from him, I slice through it with the sharp blade. My pulse quickens as the tip of the blade breaks skin. The way it glides across without resistance quickly followed by blood calms my frayed nerves. The X on the right side of his chest looks as angry as I felt when I saw her fear.

He screams like a bitch, and I frown at him in disappointment. I was hoping he’d be harder to break.

His friend starts to wake beside us, so I retreat to toss ice at his friend’s face. Everyone deserves a proper greeting after all.

“You’re just in time, Mark. Colby and I were just about to play a game.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Mark yells, still fighting the ropes tied around his arms and legs.

“I just told you. I’m about to play darts with Colby.”

Colby fights harder against Zander and the ropes when my words sink in. Zander elbows him in the side of the head, and Colby hollers out but stops fighting. Mark starts yelling about letting them go, and it’s a whole fucking drama fest.

Instead of listening to this dumb shit, I pull my gun and point it at Mark. Everyone gets real quiet then.

“Rule #1: Stop fucking yelling,” I grind out through clenched teeth. “Now, I was trying to explain the situation to Colby. Since none of us are in the mood to talk about the break-in last night, we’re going toplay a game instead,” I tell Mark.

“What do you want to know?” He starts out shouting but lowers his voice when I raise my eyebrow.

I stare at Mark for a minute before I nod my head.

“Alright.” I slip the gun back into my jeans and close my knife.

“What were you looking for last night?” I ask, my composure restored.

“Journals,” he answers plainly.

I look between Colby and Mark to decide if I believe him, and they both appear to be on the same page with that answer.

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