Page 82 of Beneath the Scars
Dread fills the man’s face. “Oh god. Who—what?—”
The door suddenly bursts open behind the guy as two huge security officers barge into the room.
“Nobody move,” the first officer demands. His brown hair has been gelled back off his face, making his features look sharper.
The Dom starts pleading. “I’m so sorry. I swear I didn’t know.”
The second officer moves toward me slowly. He also has brown hair, but it’s longer, curling around his ears. “You pushed the panic button?”
I nod.
The second officer crouches down in front of me. “What’s your name?”
“Addie.”
“Tell me what happened?”
It takes me a second to find my voice, too wrung out to speak much louder than a murmur. “Veronica, a member here, hit me over the head with something in the bathroom and tied me to that bed. I was blindfolded and gagged when that man came in and started a scene. I’m assuming Ronnie has been impersonating me and arranged for him to participate in this whole thing. He spoke to me as if he knew me, but I’ve never seen him before in my life.”
“I’m so sorry. I swear I thought she consented,” the man in question babbles. He’s got his hands laced on top of his head while the first security officer stands watch.
“Do you think you’re up for pointing out Veronica?” the second officer asks.
I nod again, but it’s mostly a lie. I just want to curl up against Michael and sleep for the next five days. I’m exhausted. But I can’t take the chance that Ronnie leaves before we can findher.
The second officer holds out his hand to help me out of the chair, wincing at the redness around my wrists.
He escorts me down a hallway I don’t recognize until we get back to the main lounge. I immediately look for Michael in the room, freezing in place when I see him holding Ronnie by her neck. My first thought is that it looks as if he’s about to kiss her, but then I see his expression. Harsh lines of anger have contorted his face, and Ronnie looks terrified.
Our entrance creates a stir. People crane their necks to find out what’s going on. It’s enough to grab Michael’s attention, his head whipping around until his gaze lands on me.
I don’t have to hear his voice to know what he says.
“Adalaide.”
Chapter 44
Michael
Ronnie’s pulse pounds against my palm. “I swear, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No?”
She tries to shake her head, but my grip keeps her from moving much. I’m not cutting off her air supply, though it’s taking quite a bit of control to refrain.
“Let her go, Michael,” the bartender pleads.
“Not until she tells me what she’s done. It’s all a little too convenient to be a coincidence.”
“I have no idea what’s going on. All I know is I saw her go down a hallway with a man. I assumed it was you until I saw you standing here without her.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Do you truly think I’m that much of an idiot? Addie would never willingly go with another man.”
The room begins to stir as everyone’s attention is drawn toward the hallway on the opposite side of the bar.
Keeping a hold of Ronnie, I turn my gaze. Her name is a thread of sound as I take in her ravaged face. “Adalaide.”
I drag a protesting Ronnie by her biceps as I race across the room to my girl. The second I’m standing in front of her, I shove Ronnie at the security officer and then palm Addie’s wet cheeks. “Who did this to you?”
