Chapter 38

Dominick

Seeing the look on Chloe's face is payment enough. Though, if I have to arrange a "payment plan" with her, that'll be fun, too.

You're terrible, Dom.

As I stare down at her, I pull Chloe close, kissing the top of her head.

"I'm thinking I need to remeet Grace now, though. It's been a few years since I've seen your Gran, and if I'm paying for her medical bills, I think our relationship has achieved a certain level."

Chloe laughs, nodding against my chest.

"Yeah." She sounds intrigued by the idea. "You should. I got to hang out with all the Shaw boys. You should totally come visit her at the nursing facility with me."

"I can't imagine it'll be quite the same experience as getting grilled by Jay." I chuckle.

"You'd be surprised." Chloe glances up, leaning back into the hold I have around her waist. "She'll definitely have something to say about how you've… grown up , shall we say."

Fighting the laugh wanting to burst out of me, Chloe just grins, and soon, we're both giggling at the ridiculousness of it all.

As I lose myself to her smile, my mind whirls. I am truly glad just to help her. I don't want anything from it, and it occurs to me why that might be.

Fuck. Do I love this woman?

I've never gotten to that place with anyone, ever, and yet, here I am. Somehow, it makes sense that of all the people out there, it would be Chloe to finally break through my walls.

Meeting her eyes and having no idea what I'm about to say, words start to tumble from my mouth.

"Chloe, I?—"

Bam, bam, bam.

The slamming on my door makes both of us jump slightly, and it sets my nerves on edge. That's not a normal knock.

I glare over at it before hurrying over, careful to tuck Chloe behind me.

When I open the thing wide, Luke is there with Cam and Jay running up behind him.

"The fuck is?—"

"Opal. There's a fire. We have to go. Now."

My stomach drops, and for a second, I can't breathe. I start to move, but my fingers brushing over Chloe's pull me to a stop.

I can't leave her here. This is clearly Ethan's doing.

When I look back at her, she shakes her head. "I'm going with you."

"It's not safe. This has to be?—"

"I know it's him, and I'm not about to stand around and let him destroy Opal."

Jay steps forward in my peripheral vision. "Dom, we need to go."

"Fuck," I growl. "Fine. Just stay close."

I snag my coat to throw on over my tee and sweats, knowing Chloe is doing the same. Yanking on our shoes, we're out the door in seconds.

The drive over is tense and silent. I can't stand this. I don't want Chloe at the scene of a fire most likely set by her violent ex, but I can't exactly leave her alone, either.

Venom courses through my veins as I consider what this asshole has done to my club. When I find Ethan, I'm going to tear him limb from limb.

As we reach the highway, and I know we're just a few minutes out, I nudge Jay.

"What happened?"

"Just got the call. The fire was spotted by a neighboring business. Must have been set not too long ago because the staff was just there doing inventory. The place had only been empty for about an hour."

A tiny part of me relaxes. "So there was no one inside. Good."

Sirens blare outside the car as we approach, and I can see the flashing lights and roaring flames surrounding the building.

It's just a club, but my heart sinks. I put a lot of fucking effort into that business, and it's being burned to the ground.

Firefighters are calling out directions as we park on the street and run down through the parking lot toward Opal.

The air smells like burned plastic, and I see Chloe cover her mouth.

"Stay here. Right by this truck. I need to talk to them."

She just nods, and I can see the worry clouding her eyes.

Jogging over to the firefighter managing the scene, I feel Luke and Jay right behind me. Cam sprints past me, going to the officer who's on his radio a few feet away.

"What happened?" I have to shout over the fire and water hoses screaming around me like a storm.

"You the owner?" The heavily geared-up woman looks over at me.

"Yes. I'm Dominick Shaw. I own Opal." I nod behind me. "Luke and Jeremiah Shaw, partners."

"Well, it looks like an accelerant was used. The fire moved quickly, and we're having a hell of a time controlling it. Your neighbor—" the woman gestures toward the office building just past Opal "—called it in."

I'm not surprised that it's clear the fire was foul play, but it still grates on my nerves all the harder that I'm not wrong.

"Was anyone spotted?" Jay steps next to me, nodding at the back of the building. "We have backup camera footage we can offer as well."

The fire chief shakes her head. "Didn't have a report of anyone. But we'll review the footage with the PD. Is it secured on a server?"

I nod. "Yes."

"Cops have their computer system running in the car. See if he can help you pull it up."

It's definitely a little unorthodox for us to be assisting this much with the investigation, but something tells me Cameron has made quite the impression down at the station.

Thank God for lawyer best friends.

Jogging over to the police vehicle and getting Cam's attention, the three of us explain the backup footage to the officer.

"Well—" he looks over at Cam "—okay. As your lawyer was explaining, Mr. Shaw, it sounds like you might have an idea who's behind this. So why wait to survey the recordings?"

I can hear the annoyance in his voice. I look at the name on his badge and reach forward for his computer.

"Officer Newton, I understand the procedure, but in the spirit of haste, why don't you just let me pull it up. No funny business."

He glares for a moment, but then Newton hands me the laptop, and I go to the cloud storage we've set up for the autosaves. The investment continues to prove to be one of the best I've made.

On the security website, I go to the last recording from today. My brothers lean in around me as the footage loads.

I'm momentarily distracted by the snap of something inside Opal, and I clench my jaw as I hear more of my damn club falling apart.

Fucker is going to pay.

"Okay, here we go."

I hit play once the thing is done buffering, and the tape shows the empty club a few minutes after everyone left. From the back door, someone breaks in, but the alarm doesn't appear to go off.

Cam sighs. "He must have cut the hard line outside."

We go back to the screen and see the guy, wearing a ski mask and fully black attire, head to the bar and throw several bottles onto the floor in front of it.

Reaching into his pocket, the guy pulls out what looks like a long wad of playdough.

"Plastic explosives." Jay points to the stuff. "They're easy to transport, and you can control how much of a bang you want."

"And how, exactly, do you know that, Mr. Shaw?" The cop raises a brow at him.

Jay glares, pulling up the leg of his pants, revealing his prosthetic. "I'm familiar."

The guy on the tape does as expected, laying out the shit and helping the blaze to get going. Alcohol catches fire quickly, and he rushes out of the building toward the back exit.

"Can you pull up outside? The parking lot cam?" Luke asks.

I click back and find the footage for outside. Opening the thing up, I have to fast-forward to the guy's exit from the building. It's difficult to see because he sticks to the shadows.

But then we all notice it.

The arsonist didn't leave the property. He followed along one of the shared edges of the parking lot next door, slipping into a bush, of all things.

We keep watching, waiting for any obvious clues. As I crank up the playback speed slightly, our target doesn't appear from the bush again, but something happens at the back of it, out of the frame.

Then, a firefighter comes around from the neighboring building's parking lot, headed for ours.

"When was that?" Jay puts a hand on my arm to pause it.

Looking at the time stamp, I lean past the computer to speak to Officer Newton. "When did the response first get here?"

"Seven fifty three. It looks like it was about twenty minutes after the fire was started."

I slam the computer shut, my heart rocking into overdrive behind my sternum.

"That firefighter walked by at seven forty six."

A single second passes, when my brothers and I are frozen as we realize the gravity of the situation. Then I'm whipping around and looking frantically at the truck where I told Chloe to wait.

She's gone.

"Chloe!"

I drop everything, sprinting to the spot where she's supposed to be standing.

"Chloe!"

Circling the truck, I scan the ground and the surrounding area for any sign of her. There has to be something.

"Goddamn it, Chloe! Where are you?"

Nothing. There's fucking nothing.

I'm about to take off running when a hand on my shoulder stops me. I turn to see Jay.

"I'm going after her!" I tear my arm free. "You're not fucking stopping me."

"I don't plan to." He eyes me hard. "But we won't find her here. Too public. Where would he take her?"

I hate that Jay's right, but we've dealt with hostage situations before in the military, and I know as much as he does that sticking this close to the authorities would be a no-go.

Cam and Luke are right next to me as I pound my fist into the side of the fire truck.

"He fucking got her, and we were just standing here like a bunch of clueless assholes!"

A hand squeezes my shoulder. "So let's get her back."

It's Luke, and when I look over at him, I see that rare hardness behind his eyes. There's no sign of the carefree attitude he's well-known for.

Which is exactly what I need right now.

I hold Luke's hard stare before Cam grabs our attention.

"I think I might have something that can help us. But not here. My place. Now."

We all nod, stalking over to the car parked up the street. As we get in and take off for Cam's, I'm in the front seat, staring at the dash.

"I'm getting Chloe back. No matter what."