Page 54 of The Masked King

I peer all around to get my bearings and make sure I have the right address.

Ignoring the pedestrians passing me by with their phones in front of their faces and earbuds in, I make my way around the side of the building to the exit where I found myself leaning up against a damp wall two nights ago. Before the Bratva invaded my personal space and let it be known that they could come and go from my apartment as they pleased.

The first door I find has a sign on the front that says STAFF ONLY. It’s padlocked, the chain rusty, leaves and mulch and rotting trash piled up in the corner of the step. The next door is the same but minus the sign.

I step away from the building and peer along the alleyway towards the street where I waited for a taxi home. My body reacts on muscle memory, my heart rate sluggish, my legs heavy as I walk away. Unless I’ve misplaced twenty-four hours and woken up in another time and dimension, I was carried out of here unconscious last night, so why does the place look as if it’s waiting for a new owner to come along and lavish it with love?

Partway down, a door opens in the building across the alleyway, and a young man steps out, halting when he sees me walking past.

“Do you work here?” I gaze at the open doorway he’s standing in.

“Yeah, man, the entrance is at the front of the building.” He narrows his eyes and hooks a thumb in the direction of the street.

“Do you know what happened to the nightclub in there?” I half-turn to look around at the building behind me.

“Nightclub?” He furrows his brow.

Okay, so the Bratva didn’t advertise it as a nightclub, but he must’ve seen some activity in the building even in daylight. I change tactic. “Has anyone been around today?”

He’s still watching me with a puzzled expression. “The place has been empty for months.”

My stomach tightens. “You’ve not seen the security team coming and going? What about the front entrance? There was a buzzer on the door last night, but it’s gone now; did you see anyone working on it?”

I realize I’m wasting my time when he watches me as if I’m standing here stark-bollock-naked with a unicorn horn stuck to my forehead.

“Never mind. Thanks for your time.”

I walk back around the front of the building, feeling his eyes boring into the back of my skull until I’m out of sight. At the entrance, I bang on the door with my fist.

A woman walking past having a video chat conversation on her cell phone, clucks her tongue at me and rolls her eyes before saying loudly, “Sorry, babe, can you repeat that?”

There’s no response from inside the building, so I bang again, the door vibrating beneath my fist. Adrenaline spikes in my veins when I hear footsteps approaching the door, but everything changes when it opens to reveal an older gentleman of Indian descent peering at me like I’m yet another unwanted cold caller.

“Can I help you?” He barely opens the door wide enough to squeeze his head through the gap and looks beyond me as if expecting me to have brought back-up.

“I was here last night,” I begin, keeping my tone pleasant; the guy looks intimidated enough half-hidden behind the door. “At the club.”

“The club?” He gives the same response as the guy next door. “You must have the wrong address.”

“No this is…” I reach into my pocket for the business card and remember that I didn’t find it when I was getting dressed earlier. “There was a club here called JADED. I don’t know the name of the woman on the door, but she had a flashlight and⁠—”

“I want you to leave. Right now. Or I’ll call the police.” He tries to close the door, and I reflexively jam my foot between it and the frame.

“Do you know what happened to the women who worked here?” Panic is pumping blood around my body and making my shirt collar feel too tight. “Have they moved someplace else? Can you just give me an address where I can find them?”

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. This building has been empty for six months, but my family owns it now, and you’re trespassing.” He straightens himself to his full unimpressive height and stares at my foot half across the threshold.

I swallow. I got too close to Nyx and now they’ve made her disappear because they want me to find her. They’ll use her like the proverbial carrot to lure me straight into a trap, and I’ll do it for one simple reason.

While I’m obsessing over Nyx, I’m not thinking about Demi.

“I’m sorry.” I raise both hands to chest height, palms facing the man in the doorway, and remove my foot from his property. “I apologize for the intrusion.”

Then I turn around and walk away without looking back.

14

DEMI