Chapter 24 Chapter 24
Violet
My fingers itched to do something. Anything at all. I couldn’t sit still.
I tore through my wardrobe for jeans and a jacket, grabbed my phone and keys, and nearly ran into Mom at the hallway door.
“Violet? Where are you going?” she asked, holding a bowl of popcorn. “It’s movie night! I canceled my kitty party for this!”
“I’m sorry, Mom. It's an emergency!” I called, already halfway out the front door, my phone placed awkwardly between my shoulder and ear as I kept calling Elijah relentlessly.
“What kind of emergency?!”
“I’ll explain later!”
I had climbed down the small flight of stairs of my home but ran back up, gave my mom a quick peck on the cheek and mumbled.
“Sorry!”
Her voice faded as I sprinted down the steps, waving at the first cab that passed. I didn’t want to drive when I could just sit beside Elijah and scream Cassie’s name until my throat ran dry.
The driver rolled down his window, giving me a look that said he wanted to just go home and sleep.
“Where to?”
I opened the door and got in and thankfully, Elijah picked up.
“Hello? Elijah, where are you right now?” I asked while the driver stared at me through the rearview mirror, waiting for the destination.
I could hear frantic voices again. Elijah and two other men.
It seemed like he hadn’t received the call but thanks to pocket dialing, I could vaguely make out the words being said.
“The Royale Club,” I repeated and the driver gave a nod without thinking.
I sat back anxiously, trying to recall our conversation from earlier.
If she had gone anywhere tonight, it would be somewhere wild. Somewhere she could drown out the fight in noise and neon. The Royale Club had everything she’d called paradise just a night ago.
The cab took off, tires hissing against the wet asphalt. I spent the whole ride refreshing Cassie’s last-seen status, redialing, and cursing every time the call went straight to voicemail.
By the time we pulled up in front of the club, my hands were shaking. The place was even louder than I remembered with bass thundering through the floor, lights pulsing against the foggy glass.
I paid the driver, pushed the door open, and ran inside.
The stench of alcohol and perfume hit me like a slap. My eyes adjusted to the chaos of bodies swaying to the music, and I began weaving my way through the crowd, scanning every corner, every flash of curly hair that might be Cassie’s.
“Cass!” I shouted over the music. “Cassie, are you here?”
No answer.
Then, through the haze, I spotted Elijah.
He stood near the bar, towering over two men who were both looking exasperated. One was stifling a yawn and the other was rubbing his red eyes while simultaneously typing something on his phone.
“Elijah!” I called.
I pushed through a cluster of dancers and nearly tripped as I reached him.
Elijah’s head snapped left, then right, eyes wild, jaw locked tight.
His shirt sleeves were rolled up, veins standing out on his forearms. He looked dangerous but not in the usual, controlled way.
This was raw panic simmering under his skin.
He turned instantly, his expression softening for half a second when he saw me and then hardening again.
“Have you found her?” I asked, breathless.
“What are you doing here?” He replied with a question of his own.
“Looking for Cassie, of course. Now answer the damn question!” I shouted, annoyed that he had ignored all my calls for the past half an hour or so.
“No, we are still looking for her.” His voice was hoarse like gravel scraping against steel.
“Did you check with her friends? She mentioned texting them yesterday.”
“Everywhere. She’s not answering her phone, her card hasn’t been used in hours.”
The dark haired, buff guy came up behind him, rubbing the back of his neck. “I showed her photo to the bouncers and staff. No one’s seen her today.”
He looked at me and gave a curt nod. “Name’s Tyler. Elijah’s beta. And that guy over there,” he pointed at the other man who was opening and closing all the doors as if she was hiding behind one, “is Gavin. Elijah’s gamma.”
I nodded absentmindedly as Gavin ran towards me and asked.
“Did she mention any other place she wanted to go to? Like this strip club? Any nude clubs or some other weird shit?”
I shook my head.
Elijah shot him a glare at the last question that could have cut through concrete.
“Just asking,” Gavin mumbled.
I bit my lip. “She was upset earlier, maybe she wanted to be alone.”
Elijah didn’t reply but just kept staring past me at the crowd, his jaw grinding.
Tyler was theorizing behind him.
“Is there some big concert tonight? Movie screening?”
I shook my head. “No, it is just a regular Tuesday today.”
I opened my phone to check the day to be sure and nodded. “Yeah, Tuesday."
But I caught Elijah looking at the screen and then his eyes went wide as if he suddenly realized something.
He ran towards the door without a word while Tyler, Gavin and I took a second to realize he wasn’t going to wait for us and rushed to keep up.
“Where the hell are you going?”
“Elijah!” I screamed and cursed myself for hastily putting on my worn out shoes because I slipped quite a few times on the polished floor.
Elijah didnt wait for the elevator and was jumping down the stairs, skipping four at a time while his warriors followed soon.
I didn’t want to waste my energy so I hit the elevator button several times before it showed up and was then running through the parking lot like a maniac.
Gasping for breath, I reached them getting in the car and waved frantically. Elijah opened the door and I got in, shouting and wheezing at the same time.
“Care to…explain what that was about?”
Elijah was gripping the steering wheel hard and looked stricken.
“I should have realized why she was being so cranky. I should have taken the goddamn hint.”
He swerved the car in an extreme turn that made me slam into the side and hit my head against the window.
“Elijah, can you please tell us where we are going?” Tyler asked from behind but Elijah saw cars slowing near the signal and cranked up the speed, cutting corners and driving through narrow spaces.
I held onto my seatbelt for dear life and saw an incoming truck on the left narrowly avoid us as Elijah slammed the accelerator and took off once again.
The three of us only sat gripping the seats hard as if we were in a roller coaster, nobody daring to ask him anything. I squeezed my eyes shut and felt my heart palpitate before the car screeched to a halt abruptly.
We had finally reached our destination.