Page 4 of Forever

“I don’t know if that’s the best idea if the mafia is involved,” Tanner said.

Yeah, probably not.

“And we don’t want them poking around in here, scaring off potential lovers. Besides, it wasn’t Mr. Pruitt. She was taken from one of the rooms. You have to be a member to even get access to this floor. Which Mr. Pruitt is not. And even if he did infiltrate somehow, he’d need the key. It had to be a member of Club Onyx.”

“Then one of his hitmen must be a member here.”

“None of his wet workers are club members either. I specifically checked. I wanted Brooklyn to be safe.”

Well, great job with that.“Then it’s someone he just hired. Specifically for this.”

“I really don’t think…”

“I don’t care what you think right now, Tanner! Brooklyn is in danger. That’s all I care about. And I’m going to get to the bottom of it by talking to Mr. Pruitt.”

“Okay,” he said. “But I’m worried we’re wasting time.”

I pulled out my phone and called Mr. Pruitt. It went straight to voicemail. Son of a bitch.“We need to go there. Now.”

“Why?” Nigel asked.

“Were you not listening to anything I just said? Even if Mr. Pruitt didn’t take her, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t someone with the mob. Poppy. Mrs. Pruitt. Fuck.” I had no idea which one of those was worse.

Nigel sighed like I was boring him. “A big, beefy man took her. Not a sexy woman or an old lady.”

I did not love the fact that Nigel thought Poppy was sexy. “What man? You got the video footage?”

“Of course I got the video footage,” Nigel said. “You told me to. I always do what I’m told.”

No, you don’t.“Why didn’t you lead with that?!”

“You didn’t ask.” He just stood there, staring up at me.

“I’m fucking asking now, Nigel. Who took Brooklyn?”

“Not Mr. Pruitt.”

“Told you,” Tanner said.

I glared at him. “Nigel, spit it out.” Every second we spent talking about this was a second I didn’t have to get Brooklyn back.

Nigel pulled out his phone. “Magnus King. He’s been a member of Club Onyx for quite some time.” He pointed to his phone where a video feed was playing. “There he is. See. The big, beefy man who’s stealing your helicopter for your special surprise for Brooklyn.”

I watched in horror as Magnus King carried Brooklyn into the helicopter.

“The escape is in poor taste in my humble opinion,” Nigel said. “Men never steal other men’s air carriages.”

Yeah, that was a dick move. But that wasn’t what I was worried about right now. “Is that video feed live? We can still stop them.” I just needed to make it to the roof.

“No. It’s from about five minutes ago.”

I watched as the helicopter took off from the roof. They could be going anywhere. “Who the fuck is Magnus King?”

“He’s a known enforcer for the Locatellis. I told you something sinister was afoot. They’re probably seekingrevenge for the death of their only heir. You know, since Poppy blew him up with that car bomb.”

Fuck.This was bad. Really bad. I pulled out my phone and tried to call Mr. Pruitt again. But it still went straight to voicemail. “We need to go to Mr. Pruitt’s apartment. He’ll know where to find the Locatellis.”

“No need,” Nigel said. “I’ve already checked in with my spy network of houseboys. Or in this case, housegirls. The Locatelli’s are very sexist and only hire housegirls. They forget that modern day boys can also do housework…”

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