Chapter 26

When they pulled up to Cassidy's Cave, the pathway to destruction was clear. Spray paint marred the exterior in senseless patterns and the spiderwebs of cracked glass adorned the exterior windows.Trash was strewn about the sidewalk right out front.

Layne wanted to believe the outside of the building was the worst of it, but realistically she knew that the inside had to be far worse. She spotted Gage's Jeep already parked outside, indicating he was likely inside assessing what had transpired during the early morning hours.

She and Joey entered the strip club and the sight they were greeted with was far beyond even their wildest imaginations. The club wasn't just vandalized, but it had been thoroughly wrecked. Holes were in the walls, shattered glass everywhere, and broken furniture—the whole nine yards.

This wasn't just a small-time crime spree or random strike. Everything about the sight laid out before them screamed intentional and deeply personal like a fit of rage. Flashbacks of what she had seen at McGregor's came rushing forth from her memory.

They weren't the only ones to show up. The bar manager, Rory, was cleaning behind the bar and disposing of busted liquor bottles. A couple of dancers were sweeping off the stages of scattered trash and debris. Even the dressing rooms had been struck by the looks of it as Danielle carried out a handful of colorful pieces of lingerie and dropped them into a large trash can.

Joey's hand came to the crook of her neck and squeezed affectionately to find comfort for them both. He stopped one of the girls on her way to take a bag of trash outside. "Where's Gage?"

The redhead gestured towards his office. "He said he'd be in his office making phone calls."

Layne didn't wait to head that way, stepping over piles of busted electronics and trash strewn about. The door to Gage's office was left partly ajar. Her hand slowly pushed it open wider so she could look inside. "Gage?"

His head shot up from its position on top of his desk. "Yeah, come in." He shook off the emotions that came with seeing the business he had poured so much time and energy into in such a state of disrepair.

With a frown partly filled with sympathy, she looked over at him while noticing the signs of distress in how he pushed his eyebrows up into his forehead. "It looks like you have a few hands to help out around here at least."

Gage nodded and looked at both her and Joey. "This place belongs to the girls just as much as it belongs to me. It gives them a home in a sense." His fingers pinched at the bridge of his nose trying to rub the worst of his thoughts away.

Joey shook off his black leather jacket and draped it over one of the chairs. "Where do you want us to start?"

The offering of help gave Gage some relief and perhaps even a smidgen of hope that they could salvage this place. "Fuck, I don't know. Anywhere you can."

With that simple instruction, they got to work. The three of them began to tackle the harder projects like busted speakers and closing several of the bathroom stalls until replacement sinks, toilets, and plumbing could be installed to replace anything that had been smashed.

Layne walked to the back door to grab a few more contractor bags for the guys. Danielle followed behind her. "Layne?"

Hearing her name, she glanced back at the girl while looking for the next box of bags that Gage told her had been back there. "Yeah?"

"Do you mind helping me? I took some bags of trash out back earlier and they were too heavy for me to lift into the dumpster. I could use another set of hands if you don't mind." She looked at Layne hopefully.

Stopping her search for the bags, she looked at the door next to her that led into the back alley where all the dumpsters were located. "Sure."

"Oh my God, thank you! The other girls just told me to get one of the guys to do it. I guess they didn't want to get their hands dirty or whatever." She shrugged and walked out the backdoor, holding it open for Layne to follow.

Quickly following Danielle out back, the door shut behind Layne. Danielle stopped and turned to Layne before they reached the dumpster. "You know… I expected better."

Layne scrunched up her face. "What?"

That's when from behind her, a hand clamped down over her nose and mouth muffling her immediate yells as it yanked her back into a massive body. When she felt a sharp jab into her thigh, she initially assumed it to be a pitiful excuse for a knife. Following the impact was a burning sensation of something being injected into her. The drug rushed through her veins from her adrenaline pumping her blood fast and hard.

Each of her limbs, despite her will to keep them fighting, grew heavier. As pervasive as Layne's stubbornness was, she couldn't fight the dissociative anesthetic disarming her body's ability to remain under her control. While her vision grew blurry, one of the last things she saw was Danielle's sick smile as she stood there with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

After her vision blacked out entirely, her body went limp in the arms of the man who had administered the needleful of the heavy dose of an anesthetic. The burly man easily scooped her up and hoisted her over his shoulder.

Noticing Layne's phone sticking out of her back pocket, Danielle approached and plucked it from her jeans. She pitched it down at the concrete as hard as she could, ensuring the screen got all smashed up and rendered useless.

"Get her in the back of the van before anyone starts missing her." Danielle gestured toward the grungy-looking van with some electrician's faded logo on it.

The man Danielle had hired was a good little listener and brought Layne's unconscious body to the back of the vehicle, tossing her into it carelessly like she was nothing but a bag of garbage being tossed into a dumpster to be disposed of.

After the crony got into the driver's seat, Danielle joined him and just like that, they were gone before Joey or Gage could intervene.

Joey finished unscrewing the bashed-in paper towel holder from the bathroom wall and looked at Gage who was looking at one of the stall's doors which was crookedly hanging on its hinges. "Layne said she was bringing back another box of bags, right?"

With a sigh, Gage gave up on trying to come up with a plan for the broken door. "Yeah, let me go see what's taking her so long. The box should have been right there by the back door." He wiped his hands on the thighs of his jeans and left the men's room.

When he got to the back, he saw no sign of Layne and the box she was supposed to get was sitting right there in plain view. Gage's gut began to form a knot of apprehension as his instincts immediately began to swirl like a cyclone inside him. Trying to be rational, he took a step out back to see if maybe she was throwing out some garbage or grabbing some fresh air.

After realizing she was nowhere to be found outside, his worries began to escalate. Before walking back inside he caught sight of something on the ground. He bent down and picked it up. The back of the phone case had the image of chains forming the shape of a shamrock on it. Upon recognition that it was Layne's phone, his thoughts spiraled out of control. "Layne?!" He yelled as he spun around looking for any sign of her, and when he saw nothing to quell his fear he ran back inside.

"LAYNE!" He frantically checked the other rooms inside the club despite knowing deep down he wouldn't find her there. He looked anywhere and everywhere, even places that were illogical for someone to be found.

Hearing Gage's voice booming out for their girl, Joey came out of the bathroom nearly crashing into his brother. "What's wrong?"

Gage was filled with a storm of emotions, his jaw ticking with anger at some unknown person and at himself. The guilt and worry only added to it all. "She's gone."

Groggily, Layne lifted her head that had been slumped forward, causing an ache along the back of her neck right into the base of her skull. Her brains felt so goddamned scrambled. Trying to lift her hands to her face, she found them unable to move. As her green eyes fluttered open, she noticed several ropes wrapped around her forearms, keeping her stuck to the uncomfortable metal chair she was sitting in.

Part of her just wanted to vomit after coming out of the fog of the ketamine dosage. She groaned and closed her eyes again. It was unclear if she took another nap or another minute or so passed by, but her eyes gradually opened again when her head was forced back by a grip on her hair. Layne found herself looking at the blonde bitch that worked for Gage at Cassidy's.

"What…the…fuck?" Her mouth felt dry as shit and of all people to see in front of her, Danielle wasn't who she expected.

Giving a painful tug on Layne's hair, Danielle smirked. "Did you have a good little nap?" Her words came off her tongue in a mocking tone.

Progressively getting a little bit more of her wits about her, she winced at the pain tugging at her scalp on top of the headache that was making itself more known by the second. Hoarsely she spat out, "Fuck you."

The next thing she felt was a harsh slap across her cheek. The pain helped Layne shake off a little more of the grogginess. It had been a lighter slap in comparison to the experience of a heavy smack of a man's hand, but still left a stinging sensation and a red mark on her skin.

Looking around the room now that she was trying to piece everything together, she discovered that it couldn't have been a space bigger than a single-car garage. The concrete floor had dirt and stains, and it was lit up with a single lightbulb in the ceiling. There were no windows and nothing else other than the bitch standing in front of her.

"You know what your problem is, Layne?" Danielle began to pace in front of Layne.

In response she couldn't hold back a scoff, Layne could make a list of things that were her problems. Danielle was very quickly making her way to the top of that list. "Why don't you tell me?"

Giving Layne a hard glare, Danielle continued her thoughts. "You don't know when to give it up."

"A character flaw, I know. I give it up to Gage just fine though." Yes, Layne was feeling fucking sassy despite not being in a position to be sassing anyone. It helped keep her head focused to push buttons and assess just how much of a threat Danielle truly was.

Mission accomplished, blondie's face turned bright red with anger, and stalked over to her getting up in Layne's face. "You're a fucking slut who slept her way into power! You'd be nothing but a sex toy like the rest of us if you didn't go around opening your legs for anything that resembled a dick with money and resources!"

Danielle drew back a fist and unleashed it on Layne. The small hand connected with the corner of her mouth, Layne's teeth cutting against the inside of her cheek and spilling the taste of copper inside. Layne spat out the blood toward the floor.

Layne's face remained unfazed even as she was verbally assaulted with false accusations, and physically assaulted with a pitiful punch. "Is that what you think I did to get to where I am?" Her words were dangerously calm. This chick was walking a very fine line between injury and death once Layne figured a way out of the whole being tied to a chair situation.

She was curious as to what the hell Danielle was on and who everyone was that she referred to. "I don't know what your game is here. If you're just pissed because some guy doesn't fawn over you or what. You clearly have some fucking mental issues, so why don't you clue me in as to why you're trying to take them out on me."

Danielle straightened back up and gave a broad smile. "I'm going to be the one that takes your place and snatches up all the power in this damn city. There's only room for one queen amongst all the kings."

Layne outright laughed; this girl was on some seriously good drugs with the lack of sense she was making. "Good luck with that. Who the hell is going to listen to some delusional stripper?"

Now it was Danielle's turn to laugh. "You don't know? Oh, gee, this is awkward." Her voice made it clear that this girl didn't feel the least bit bad about any awkwardness.

She squatted down in front of Layne so she could watch her reaction. "I only took that job at Cassidy's so I could keep tabs on Italo and his pathetic little crew. Then, you came along and disposed of him and it was clear that it was worthwhile sticking around. You see, I have a vested interest in making sure Daddy gets his way if I'm ever going to rise to the top."

Layne had been good at controlling her face up until this point, but the more Danielle spoke the more she realized this was far worse than a case of a psycho chick with jealousy issues.

With the confusion in Layne's eyes growing, Danielle smirked. "You didn't know my last name is Spencer, did you?"

That may as well have been the atomic bomb on Layne's brain. Everything began to snap into place as all the events that had transpired to this point were on rewind in her brain. The interest Danielle showed in Gage. Being present at all of Italo's meetings as the entertainment. Straight back to the day she had barged into the souvenir shop Russ owned to confront him about poaching Andrew Correlli.

Layne walked into the retail storefront ignoring the girl at the cash register scrolling through her phone.

Even Alexei Kuznetsov had tried to warn her.

"I think you will find the answers you are looking for over at a little souvenir shop across from the Empire State Building."

She had thought he was referring to Russell's offices hidden in the back of that building. Not the girl who worked at the front counter. The very same girl that stood at the front of the store that day wasn't just someone looking to earn a few bucks, it had been Russell's daughter—Danielle. Fuck. This just went from being an inconvenience to being a goddamn crisis with potentially fatal consequences.

The realization left Layne speechless as she tried to sort through all the frantic thoughts in her brain. Even Alexei's cryptic words to her during their meeting were floating to the forefront of her mind.

"Be sure of your actions, pchelka. You do not want to lay judgment on the tiger only to be bitten by the snake."

She was snatched out of the things going on inside her head when the snake's hand grabbed her by the face. "Just wait until he gets here, he's going to be so proud to see what I have wrapped up in a slutty little package for him. I bet you'll even spread your legs and beg for him, too."

Layne didn't avert her eyes from Danielle's scornful face. "You have no idea what you've just done…" Her heart may have been beating faster than it should have but she had never felt more sure of what needed to happen.

Danielle stood up, releasing her hold on Layne. Her eyes lit up with excitement. "Oo, is this where you tell me that your two boy toys are going to come save you? That they'll come here and save their damsel in distress?"

Layne shook her head. "No." She made direct eye contact with Danielle, a gaze filled with violent promises. "This is where I tell you that you've started a war. A war that I promised I would bring to your dad's front door if he crossed me ever again. A war he won't win."

It seemed that Danielle wasn't too concerned by the shrug she gave. The stupid girl was clueless about how the city's criminal politics were played. "In case you haven't noticed, you're not in a position to be doing much of anything. You would have been much smarter to start the war after I convinced my own boy toys to do a little redecorating at that little dive bar you love so much. I heard the owner put up a hell of a fight."

"You sick fuckin' bitch!" she screamed out. There was the temper flare that Layne was known so well for. She yanked at her arms bound by those ropes and thrashed in her seat wanting to cover every inch of Danielle's face with the bottom of her boots.

Danielle cackled in amusement as she backed up towards the door. "You don't know the half of it. Maybe I will send my boys in here to teach you a lesson or three, a lesson for each of your holes. See you in a bit!" She blew Layne a kiss before she left the room slamming the door shut behind her and clicking the locks in place.

Layne yelled out in utter frustration as she pulled at her restraints despite the pain it caused. This bitch needed to die and Layne decided that it would be her life's mission to end it in a spectacularly glorious fashion.