Jonathan

"They're where?!" Viktor shouts, shooting up from his seat. The chair clatters to the floor with a loud crack, startling those around us.

Anne's gaze widens and switches from Viktor to me before drifting behind us to signal someone. My stomach drops and I check my phone but see nothing.

"Why, the fuck would you bring them there?!" Viktor roars. "No! I don't give a fuck what she said... No! Stay fucking put!"

He slams his cell down, sending the device flying across the table before running his hand through his hair.

"Unfucking believable." Viktor leans on the table and levels his gaze at mine. The look on his face tells me I'm about to join him. "We need to go."

I don't question him and follow his lead, tossing some cash on the table to cover my tab and grabbing my coat to head out. Anne joins us a moment later with Tony in tow.

Once outside, Viktor turns to me, visibly shaking. "They're at fucking Dante's hell hole."

My heart drops at the thought of someone so innocent as Izzy going to a place like that. Dante's Den is a poor excuse for a BDSM club and a bit of a stain on the community.

The patrons are more extreme which isn't the problem, it's the way they lure and prey on unsuspecting subs and newbies that has earned them a bad reputation. Consent is considered optional, and their practices are questionable at best.

"Why the hell are they there?!" Anne snaps. She's had her share of run-ins with Dante on many things over the years. If there is one person in life that she truly hates it's him.

Before Viktor can answer, the sleek, black Bliss shuttle pulls up with Taz and Demarcus driving. Normally I would prefer to handle something like this in private but something tells me I'm going to need all the help I can get!

Viktor frowns. "Best guess? They went to see Loni."

"For fucks sake!" I snap. "What has gotten into that woman?"

I want to pace but the speed at which the shuttle races towards its destination makes that nearly impossible. Heat rises as I stew over it. No matter how many times I tell her Loni was the past, she won't drop it.

"Just level with her." Anne purses her lips and crosses her arms over her chest. "You know she's got an active mind-"

"I did!" I pinch the bridge of my nose trying to calm my exploding temper. "She knows Loni was only my play partner... I don't know how many times I have to tell her she doesn't matter to me before she'll believe me."

"Maybe she needed to hear it from her?" Tony asks. He never had the misfortune of meeting Loni.

"That manipulative bitch is the last person Izzy needs to talk to," Anne spits. "She'd get her so twisted around that Izzy wouldn't know which way is up."

"What about the gala?" Tony mumbles. I frown thinking back to that night, knowing Loni said or did something but Izzy never gave me the specifics.

"Tasha no doubt put her up to it. When I get ahold of her," Viktor warns. "She's not going to be able to sit for a week!"

I furrow my brows and tick my jaw as my mind races. Regardless of whatever possessed her to go there, all I can focus on is getting her home before anything happens.

Demarcus pulls up in front of the club and throws the doors wide. The industrial surroundings in this run-down business district do nothing to quell my nerves.

Viktor snaps at a man nearby in Russian but I pay them no mind. My chest tightens, making it hard to breathe as I march up the crumbling front steps.

The front door is bathed in cigarette smoke and flanked by patrons looking more like hyenas than anything else. They mutter, no doubt knowing who we are but don't stop us from entering.

I throw the doors wide and wait for my eyes to adjust. To the left is a nook serving as the coat check and the rest of the area opens onto the play floor.

Where Bliss has a sensual atmosphere with mood lighting and a well laid out floor plan this is dim chaos. My nose crinkles as bo, stale smoke and other rank odours hit me.

"I think I'm gonna need a tetanus or rabies shot after this," Anne grumbles. A man steps up to her but a single glare from her has him slinking back into the shadows.

After a moment my eyes adjust to the lighting and I search the crowd for Izzy. Each moment that creeps by makes the knot in my stomach draw tighter. A commotion near the back in the center of a tightly pressed crowd draws out attention.

Bodies press against each other, purposely walling us off from the center. A single whimper barely reaches me but the desperation makes my heart drop. I push and pull against the men blocking my way but the wall is too thick.

"Jonathan, watch out!" Taz shouts. Anne's head of security is holding back a crowd but his gaze is fixed on the board swinging towards me.

I duck, missing the sailing wood but am pushed back. Taz wastes no time, sending the people crowding him back to land on their asses. He catches the plank mid-swing and rips it away from the reedy man. Splinters fly as he snaps it over his knee like a twig and tosses it away, daring the man to try him.

Someone jumps on his back but doesn't even phase him. Taz reaches behind him, grabs a fist full of harness and flings the man into the crowd, making a gap for me.

I seize the opportunity and rush forward but the scene in front of me has me seeing red. The girls are cowering against the crowd, wide-eyed as they shrink away from three uniformed people. My gaze immediately zeros in on Loni, her sadistic smirk has my blood boiling!

"Get the fuck away from them!" I can't hold back and shove the closest man back and put myself between the girls and them. Tony and Viktor are there a moment later but the air is charged, waiting for the slightest nudge to go off.

The ringleader that I faintly recognize as Dante, scowls at us. His gaze darkens to nearly black as he spots Anne.

"Big mistake," he growls. "Huge! Coming into my club, assaulting my members and staff... I'll have your club for this!" A confident smile creeps on his face like he can practically taste his victory.

"Try it asshole," Anne replies unbothered. She flicks something off of her arm and side-eyes a man standing too close, making him slink back.

"I can have the cops here in five minutes!" He warns, crossing his arms over his chest.

Anne steps closer and locks her green gaze on his, defiantly. She arches a brow as a ghost of a smirk tugs at her lips. "Do it. I dare you."

His smile falters as she calls his bluff. Anne slowly and pointedly scans the crowd before turning her attention back to him.

"Well? I'm waiting." She crosses her arms over her chest and lifts her chin. "Ignoring the three huddled women on the floor who I doubt gave any consent, how many other unconsenting people are here? Minors? And surely those playing are completely sober right?"

Dante ticks his jaw but has no retort. As one of the people screening all new members, Anne had heard horror story after horror story. She has seen firsthand the damage this place has done to people and vowed never to let that happen under her roof.

But it did... Izzy.

I keep my attention on the threat ahead of us but reach out to where I know she's crouched. A moment later I feel her fingers in mine and tuck her in close behind me.

"No one asked them to come," Loni deflects. She rolls her eyes like it's no big deal and I can't fathom what I once saw in her.

"Jezus Christ!" Viktor scoffs. "I thought you were warped before..."

Loni scowls at Viktor like a petulant child. Neither liked each other before, in fact, it was Viktor's urging that finally had me cut her lose.

I glare at the woman who I once lavished and shake my head, repulsed by her. "If I ever see or hear of your meddling around any of my friends, Izabella or any of my investments, I'll make you wish you were never born."

All of her confidence drops at my threat. She knows I have the resources to carry out my threat and she has too much to lose.

"I didn't ask her to come." Her sullen reply is almost an admission of guilt.

"You never have to ask someone for something, you plant a seed in their mind and wait to reap the harvest." I step forward pinning her in place with my glare before she finally breaks and looks away. "She is off bounds, do I make myself clear?"

Her angry gaze flickers one last time to me as tears well. "Crystal."

I take a final look around, making note of the faces in case I need to make an example. knowing their beat, the crowd parts and no one challenges us further. I tighten my grip on Izzy and head for the gap. "Let's go."